Thread

I am currently working on setting up an EE website.I have signed up with a hosting service, bought EE, and also the Discussion Forums module.
I have installed all the modules on my website but am now trying to learn how to set it up. I’ll have the following sections:

-Discussion Forums with several forum sections/topics

-Several areas along the top such as About Us, FAQ, Contact US, a link to another website that we have, possibly for Blog.

-As for the blog, I am new to EE but assume we can have several topics so that someone can just view one topic and when we make a blog post we can choose which topic to list it in.  I’m not sure if this blog would appear by default when the website would come up or if someone could click on Blog at the top to go into it.

-I also want to install the LG Bookmarks that’s on the internet and also have RSS feeds.

-We would need the template designed and have an idea of what colors we want.  For now it would just say the name of the website at the top but we are working on getting a professional logo designed for it that would be added at later time.

-Another thing is we are getting connected with a lot of affiliate programs and want to be able to advertise and link to them.  Often I’ll do that in the actual blog post but also I want to if possible have a store section that either people can enter or maybe even have it set up so that the affiliate links can show up on the left and right side of the screen.

I had wanted to design this on my own but it’s taking awhile to do and am considering now hiring a company/person to help me get it launched and set it up for us.  At a later time I figured I can learn more about CSS, HTML, etc. for future expansion/redesign, and changes to it.  Does anyone know anyone who does this type of work?

Dear Mark,

I think this thread should go into the Job Board area as you would be hiring a developer. In any case, many of the things you want to do are pretty standard with ExpressionEngine.

There are some pretty solid tutorials at http://www.train-ee.com and also at http://www.devot-ee.com that might help you. I remember Michael Boyink had written a step-by-step guide on his own site about a year ago (maybe a bit longer) that covers everything from start to finish. You can also check out http://www.eescreencasts.com by Ryan Irelan, which costs $5 per episode in a 12 part series I believe.

I’m not sure which route you’d want to go, but if you don’t know some basic CSS and HTML, you might have to hire a developer. Most of the things I listed above assume prior knowledge of them. Although, even if you don’t know - it’s never too late to learn it. Seeing that you want to become an entrepreneurial online publisher, I think it is a requirement in your repertoire of skills.

If you opt to hire somebody, that is of course, a valid option as well.

Thank you for the suggestions.  I had planned to do it all on my own but unfortunately with time pressures of getting the website launched and other items in the company keeping me busy I had come up with the idea of having someone else help set it up.  Of course I prefer the price of doing it on my own and also feel I’ll do a much better job with the website if I do it on my own and know it in and out for future modifications.
I have research some CSS and HTML books which I expect to order shortly.  I hope I can still do it on my own but if not I will still learn more about HTML and CSS for future reference.  I don’t know any CSS or very little and for HTML, just some very basic HTML but with time I know I can learn them.

Hi Mark

I’d agree with Danny Tam. You can always get a few quotes - if you get a good company to do the work then I’d say that they’d do something in line with what you’d do in any case; and could always include some specific training of course…

If you want to build up your EE skills quickly then I’d highly recommend the Build a Business Site and Build a Church Site by Mike over at http://www.train-ee.com/courseware/free-tutorials/category/building-a-small-business-site/

All the best

There are some pretty solid tutorials at http://www.train-ee.com and also at http://www.devot-ee.com that might help you. I remember Michael Boyink had written a step-by-step guide on his own site about a year ago (maybe a bit longer) that covers everything from start to finish.

Just to be clear:  The tutorials on Boyink.com were the genesis of Train-ee, and have all been moved from Boyink.com to Train-ee.com.

Thanks for the mentions folks…;)

To answer your initial question, there are two options for finding professionals:

1. Professionals Network,

2. Job Board which requires a $20 credit to post.