Website designer for travel/photo blog?

[Fuzz]

I've been wanting to create a travel/photo blog-type website. I'm looking for a simple website designer. What I'm thinking in terms of the website:
1. The homepage will contain links to lots of TRs for different trips and events, mainly for updating friends and family; do not need to sell pictures.
2. Clicking on a TR will take the user to the dedicated page for that TR (i.e. lots of text) + lots of thumbnails; clicking on each thumbnail will bring up larger size images.
3. Already have my own domain and hosting service (which I think rules out most regular blog publishing sites).

Is there a simple website designer a relative jong can use to create something like this? Something like the old Microsoft Frontpage maybe. I tried Dreamweaver, but it's way overkill for my needs + doesn't have easy thumbnail creation (don't want to sit around creating and linking hundreds of thumbnails for each TR). Looked up some website creation apps online (e.g. Yola), but they're all bundled with the full hosting package and seem very expensive ($10 per month for one website with 5 pages -- I'll definitely have more than 5 pages!). I just need an offline website builder where I can design/update the site and then upload (again, like Frontpage used to do). Any ideas on what I could use? Thanks.

[kalisto]

If you have hosting/domain.. something like mine = free. Just a free framework I grabbed online. Not trying to look fancy, but gets the job done. For friends/family as well.

http://blog.jesseparis.com

[Fuzz]

^ Very similar homepage idea. But inside each TR page, I don't want all the thumbnails to show up as a gallery. The thumbnails will be interspersed throughout the text. The text will tell the story, and the thumbnails will go right by the relevant text, throughout the page.

[AlpiNord]

Wordpress is highly versatile for what I think you are wanting. Here's our weblog using one of the zillion themes available at zero or low cost. You can customize it with an array of add-ons including galleries. Embedding videos, links and categorization is super easy and versatile.

[Fuzz]

^ Thanks. Didn't know you could have your own domain w/ WordPress. Checking it out right now.

[OverTurn]

Yeah wordpress is the way to go. If your host has fantastico on the cpanel it's a 1-click install and 1-click install once you find a theme you like and then you're good to go. Nextgen gallery has been my goto for images and thumbnails but you might check out the stock wordpress image solution - that might work just fine for what you need.

[Vandeezy]

Wordpress is pretty amazing and incredibly easy to use. You'd be amazed as to how many websites use it and you would never know.

My website is wordpress based using a theme I paid a little money for. However there are so many good free themes that you can create an awesome site for free.

http://andylibrande.com/news/

[nfaust]

+1 for wordpress, but be careful of a lot of the "free" themes out there - many of them contain malicious source code, spam, etc. There are a few plugins out there that scan themes so you can be sure you're performing a clean install.

A few links of interest on the subject:
http://wpmu.org/why-you-should-never...anywhere-else/
http://techie-buzz.com/webmaster-tip...emes-scam.html

I've had good luck with Themeforest for premium Wordpress (and other) themes.

[Fuzz]

Thanks all. I've been playing around with Wordpress since last night, and it seems like it might fit the bill. Building out some sample posts before transferring my domain name and all. Since all my pictures are hosted on Flickr, I won't really be using much space.

Thanks for the warning on the free themes. I'm using one of the free themes through the WordPress site/editor itself, so I'm guessing that's probably clean.

Now I just have to write up all the TRs, which is going to take the most time!

[SchralphMacchio]

Hey Fuzz,

How did WP end up for you?

I want to do more stuff with my website (no content right now).

I want the following:
- clean homepage with links to: About me, Gallery, Trip Reports, Blog
- featured trip report on homepage, with cover image and first 4 lines of text

It sounds like Wordpress can do this?
It sounds like if I want something that looks a bit like www.coreyrich.com, I'd be paying for a template?

Time to start doing some homework ...

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Hey Fuzz,

How did WP end up for you?

I want to do more stuff with my website (no content right now).

I want the following:
- clean homepage with links to: About me, Gallery, Trip Reports, Blog
- featured trip report on homepage, with cover image and first 4 lines of text

It sounds like Wordpress can do this?
It sounds like if I want something that looks a bit like www.coreyrich.com, I'd be paying for a template?

Time to start doing some homework ...

Email me if you have questions. I use WP and what you are describing is my exact setup. I just don't pay for the site name without wordpress in it (e.g., I use wordpress.com instead of wordpres.org). I took a standard default template, paid for customized CSS and did a lot of research to modify mine to how I have it. (Clean homepage with tabs for others, TRS with smaller pictures and however much text I want, then links to separate page with TR and photos in 800x size (I could always have links to bigger reso if I wanted).

[nfaust]

Hey Fuzz,

How did WP end up for you?

I want to do more stuff with my website (no content right now).

I want the following:
- clean homepage with links to: About me, Gallery, Trip Reports, Blog
- featured trip report on homepage, with cover image and first 4 lines of text

It sounds like Wordpress can do this?
It sounds like if I want something that looks a bit like www.coreyrich.com, I'd be paying for a template?

Time to start doing some homework ...

I'm not sure how web-savvy your are, but you should be able to find a free theme that will do this for you. Most will have a "featured post" option that can sticky it to a slider/homepage, etc.

Here's an example of one.

[SchralphMacchio]

I'm not super web savvy. We use Expression Engine at my company and I usually have my consultant doing stuff to it, but if I need to make really fast updates I'll go in and do it myself. So I'm familiar with CMS once up and running ... but not setting it up from bare ground.

My friend is hosting my domain. Hopefully he can install WP and the interface / template for me ... and hopefully it won't cost me more than a bottle of aged RR Damnation 69th batch ... but then again my buddy makes way more in an hour than that's worth at his day job and might be way too busy to help me out ...

[SchralphMacchio]

I'm not sure how web-savvy your are, but you should be able to find a free theme that will do this for you. Most will have a "featured post" option that can sticky it to a slider/homepage, etc.

Here's an example of one.

Thanks for that suggestion. Do you or anyone else know of good clean photojournalism-ish themes? I can pay money ...

I want to separate a blog section - which would be short updates with 1-2 photos, from a trip reports, which would be multi-page writing with inlaid photographs.

I like this theme a lot but want to look at other options:
http://demo.graphpaperpress.com/reportage/

[Supermoon]

I use WP for my website, and setup this current iteration in just a couple of hours. It could def need a few more tweaks, etc., but it was free and super easy. The theme's called Widephoto I think.

ETA - something like you posted before is built all in Flash. That can make a really pretty site, but they don't show up on mobile, are hard to update, and don't search well. I would shy away from that if at all possible. You can do all of the same stuff with HTML5 if you're savvy, but it would probably cost you a bunch to hire a coder to do it for you.

[Fuzz]

I really like WP. Works for my needs. I wanted something clean and not too flashy (like you, I wanted just a short paragraph for each post/report on the home page) and found theme that I liked and that I could customize some. My pics are hosted on Flickr, so I just link from my WP blog to the pics inside the posts -- takes a bit of extra work when writing the blogs, but much better than re-uploading all my pics to WP as well. I use the blog mostly for keeping our far-flung family (N. America, Europe, Asia) updated on our goings on. http://fuzzphotography.wordpress.com/

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Schralph - I would recommend going through the WP list of themes with a couple of caveats in what you look at:

1. Make sure the theme is fully customizable. For $30/year (if I recall the figure amount), you can pay for the CSS editor which enables you to start with a theme but go to town on it beyond the basic controls. This is key if you want to do things like change the width of the theme, change what size photos will be displayed, delete columns within the theme, etc..

2. When I originally looked years ago, I only focused on 2 column themes. The reason I did this was because on the full TR page, I actually only wanted 1 column (e.g. so the text and pictures would take up the entire site). When you have a theme will 3-4 columns, it can take a bit of work to get rid of the rest on a TR page.

3. The result was on the home page I *could* technically have two columns, where I would have had a side bar with categories of posts, recent info, etc... I just chose not to use it because similar to Fuzz I wanted the entire thing very clean. So rather than a sidebar, I use tabbed pages on the top.

As you know, mine was just for TRs for family and friends, so nothing at all commercially aspirational. So this basic setup may not be what you are looking for. But I found that going with a 2 column theme as a start and then using custom CSS as an editor is the way to go.

As I noted, this is all predicated on using wordpress.com rather than wordpress.org. I believe wordpress.org may have have more customization, but you do have to pay to separate host. In your case, if you are going the commercial route, I might suggest going with wordpress.org so you can have a site that doesn't have "wordpress.com" in the name like Fuzz's or mine.

http://sierratripreports.wordpress.com/

I started out with Mistylook theme and changed a ton. If you go to Mistylook (the original theme), you can see what I mean about the columns being changed.

I have recently been thinking about changing for the helluv it, but don't have the time. I may just change the color pallet and the header picture just to tweak things up, as well as add some other "tabs" on the top. But I have always been pleased how mine works.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Additionally, like Fuzz noted, I put the embedded links in my posts to SmugMug, rather than uploading to WP.

I just looked at Fuzz's - nice site! To add some clarity on my post above, Fuzz's site is a 3 column version - you can see the difference between 3 column and 1 column (mine after I dis-engaged the Side Bar).

I would note that on some themes it is possible through custom CSS to delete the Side Bar on some pages, but not others. In others, it is all or nothing accross all pages. That was originally the issue with mine - I wanted the Side Bar on the home page with tags and categories, etc... - but I did not want it on the actual TR pages when you clicked through. I found through research and contacting the developer that on wordpress.com, through custom CSS you could get ride of the Side Bar (so I could post 800x (e.g., site wide)) pictures in the actual TR page. But if I did that, it also go rid of the Side Bar on the Home Page. This was years ago, so I never went to see if there was an update to where I could re-insert the Side Bar (back to a 2-column format) just on the Home Page.

I think through Wordpress.org there is even more flexibility and I could make those edits.

[nfaust]

Thanks for that suggestion. Do you or anyone else know of good clean photojournalism-ish themes? I can pay money ...

I want to separate a blog section - which would be short updates with 1-2 photos, from a trip reports, which would be multi-page writing with inlaid photographs.

I like this theme a lot but want to look at other options:
http://demo.graphpaperpress.com/reportage/

I was going to recommend Graph Paper Press - they seem to have a few nice photo-specific themes. Otherwise, I've had good luck using Themeforest to browse for premium (paid) themes.

1. Make sure the theme is fully customizable. For $30/year (if I recall the figure amount), you can pay for the CSS editor which enables you to start with a theme but go to town on it beyond the basic controls. This is key if you want to do things like change the width of the theme, change what size photos will be displayed, delete columns within the theme, etc..

...

As I noted, this is all predicated on using wordpress.com rather than wordpress.org. I believe wordpress.org may have have more customization, but you do have to pay to separate host. In your case, if you are going the commercial route, I might suggest going with wordpress.org so you can have a site that doesn't have "wordpress.com" in the name like Fuzz's or mine.

Yes, that paid editor only applies if you're using wordpress.com.

Wordpress.org will give you more flexibility and more options in terms of themes, plugins, etc. On the downside, it will take a bit longer to set up and configure, and you will have to pay for hosting as Unfrozen pointed out. Nearly Free Speech can be a very cheap hosting option (you're only charged based on the bandwidth you use, so if you don't expect a lot of traffic, it's a decent option), but lacks support and will be more difficult to set up. Dreamhost or any of these will cost more, but have more support, including tutorials/walk-throughs on getting wordpress installed. I use Namecheap to register domains (google around for a coupon for new domain name registration).

Wordpress.com will get you going right away, but offer less in terms of customization and force you to use the domain.wordpress.com. I believe you could also set up domain forwarding to have YourDomain.com forwarded to YourDomain.wordpress.com.

[Supermoon]

I believe you could also set up domain forwarding to have YourDomain.com forwarded to YourDomain.wordpress.com.

Yes. You can do this. It's actually even better than just plain forwarding. You can have your Wordpress.com site say yourdomain.com for something like $15/year. You can also purchase/renew your domain through Wordpress. I had this set up before I moved to wordpress.org for my site.

[powdork]

powdork.com is on wordpress. You can choose from zillions of themes, and if you do have web experience you can then alter them however much you like by changing the css and some php. It's pretty much how i design now for clients too since they all seem to want to be able to update everything themselves. plus it's free. you can purchase themes but i have never found it necessary