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sparticus

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Hello ,

I need some advice. I started my new venture into webdesigning. My problem is I am building my portfolio (read free site for family members lol) but I also approached some people who previously showed interest in websites , for many i did free site on sites like yola and the likes etc.

Now I want to proffesionally design their sites to their needs and show them the power of wordpress and joomla for example , I was thinking about creating a domain and calling it www.sparticustestveiw.co.za or something like where I can create the site and let them log on to see how it looks. Is this a good idea ? I have my own reseller account so it wont be too difficult to setup , also this way I can work with just about anyone as long as they have an internet access.

I tried doing it locally on my PC but I just cannot seem to be able to save all the functionality and when I go back the next day it looks different.

What do you guys think , anyone else do this ? I am sure its not a revolutionary idea ?
 
sparticus said:
Hello ,

I need some advice. I started my new venture into webdesigning. My problem is I am building my portfolio (read free site for family members lol) but I also approached some people who previously showed interest in websites , for many i did free site on sites like yola and the likes etc.

Now I want to proffesionally design their sites to their needs and show them the power of wordpress and joomla for example , I was thinking about creating a domain and calling it www.sparticustestveiw.co.za or something like where I can create the site and let them log on to see how it looks. Is this a good idea ? I have my own reseller account so it wont be too difficult to setup , also this way I can work with just about anyone as long as they have an internet access.

I tried doing it locally on my PC but I just cannot seem to be able to save all the functionality and when I go back the next day it looks different.

What do you guys think , anyone else do this ? I am sure its not a revolutionary idea ?
Click to expand...

Register a normal name (you'd use to promote your business anyway) then use subdomains for client demo's, like

client1website.sparticus.co.za
client2website.sparticus.co.za
client3website.sparticus.co.za

As for your local machine not "saving all the functionality" and going back the next day and it looks different... I call PEBKAC

Download VirtualBox and a copy of CentOS (headless) and setup your own webserver you'll run on a proper linux environment (no WAMP kak). I do all my development like that and I point my Windows host file to the IP of the VirtualBox so I start developing on the client's site (if they already have a domain) but locally, so that when I go live with it, it doesn't behave erratically.

I've never experienced going back to whatever I've done the next day and it just looking different/not saving whatever I did.
 
Last edited:
AcidRaZor said:
Register a normal name (you'd use to promote your business anyway) then use subdomains for client demo's, like

client1website.sparticus.co.za
client2website.sparticus.co.za
client3website.sparticus.co.za

As for your local machine not "saving all the functionality" and going back the next day and it looks different... I call PEBKAC

Download VirtualBox and a copy of CentOS (headless) and setup your own webserver you'll run on a proper linux environment (no WAMP kak). I do all my development like that and I point my Windows host file to the IP of the VirtualBox so I start developing on the client's site (if they already have a domain) but locally, so that when I go live with it, it doesn't behave erratically.

I've never experienced going back to whatever I've done the next day and it just looking different/not saving whatever I did.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. I wanted to say aomething re the PEBKAC but you did help me and its probably true !!! LOL
 
sparticus said:
Thanks for the help. I wanted to say aomething re the PEBKAC but you did help me and its probably true !!! LOL
Click to expand...

I've been doing this for a while now, and I know it's true. There's a saying, "The PC only does what you tell it to do". Yea sure, **** happens which you might not have touched (graphics card drivers screws up etc) but all those things someone wrote some code to tell it what to do, and that's why there's updates :)

So if it just suddenly doesn't save or show. Remember, YOU told it to do that ;)
 
I use free subdomains from http://freedns.afraid.org/ as temporary domains for clients who either don't have a domain yet or don't whant their site live before its finished. For example if a clients site was going to be superstore.co.za I would register superstore.us.to and set that up on my reseller account. Then when the site is done its simply a matter of changing the domain in WHM to the co.za version. Hope that helps you ;)
 
sparticus said:
Hello ,

I need some advice. I started my new venture into webdesigning. My problem is I am building my portfolio (read free site for family members lol) but I also approached some people who previously showed interest in websites , for many i did free site on sites like yola and the likes etc.

Now I want to proffesionally design their sites to their needs and show them the power of wordpress and joomla for example , I was thinking about creating a domain and calling it www.sparticustestveiw.co.za or something like where I can create the site and let them log on to see how it looks. Is this a good idea ? I have my own reseller account so it wont be too difficult to setup , also this way I can work with just about anyone as long as they have an internet access.

I tried doing it locally on my PC but I just cannot seem to be able to save all the functionality and when I go back the next day it looks different.

What do you guys think , anyone else do this ? I am sure its not a revolutionary idea ?
Click to expand...

If you are a professional coder/designer it is a necessity to setup demo accounts on your server where your clients can view progress as you are busy coding. This also helps a lot to make changes early on when they need them to be made. This is also a more professional approach to show your clients what they will get at the end of the day.

How you go about in creating a section for them to access the account is totally up to you. You can create sub domains on your current hosting account (if your host allow this) and setup the whole site from there. You can then provide access to your client and have them play around and make use of the system.

You can also make use of scripts that will reset demo accounts on specific times, especially for Wordpress and Joomla installations.

Services like Hostgator.com offer unlimited databases, sub domains, etc. So, you can also consider setting up a whole new testing/demo environment separately from your current site. Here you can set up demo accounts for your clients, but also display demo set ups for the general public if you are selling specific scripts, etc.

Working on a server environment is much better than doing it locally. I also do this for my clients. I have a dedicated server, and also registered a domain specifically for showing off demo accounts / scripts.

This allow my customers to point out changes they need to design or code, and I also pick up on error logs while they test their sites.

I have coded my own demo setup which take care of resetting accounts, trunctuating databases, etc, which ensure that demo accounts are not messed up and keep functioning.

Any person who ask you to design a website will obviously have Internet access, so this is a better way to go about it.
 
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Wow some great advice , thanks guys. I will fiddle around and see whats best for me. Once again thanks !!!
 
Okay , so after many trials I went the route of setting up a sub-domain and creating the site from there for example - www.testsite.sparty.co.za It worked very well and I just had to increase some settings like database , storage space etc on my home domain which was very easy to do.

Gents , thanks from a happy customer. I hope to showcase my site this week. I spend about 2 hours on it and its taken shape stunningly if I may so myself. I would love some cristism/reveiw -

Its called www.serenity.spartydesigns.co.za and its very far from finish so please go easy lol.
 
sparticus said:
Okay , so after many trials I went the route of setting up a sub-domain and creating the site from there for example - www.testsite.sparty.co.za It worked very well and I just had to increase some settings like database , storage space etc on my home domain which was very easy to do.

Gents , thanks from a happy customer. I hope to showcase my site this week. I spend about 2 hours on it and its taken shape stunningly if I may so myself. I would love some cristism/reveiw -

Its called www.serenity.spartydesigns.co.za and its very far from finish so please go easy lol.
Click to expand...

Oh just some more info , I am using dryicons for the icons but I have not decided which ones yet (on the below 3 widgets) and the pics are royalty free pics from corbissimages (I love this site)

anyone know where i can design a free logo ? I used to use logosnap but they are no longer free sadly
 
House said:
For your logo, you can try http://www.graphicsprings.com/ - it's a new online startup and quite a cool service from what I have seen. For my logos I prefer to make use of Photoshop.
Click to expand...


Great !! Thanks , I also use photoshop actually a lot but since I started using it for work that will generate income my concious got the better of me and I deleted my "borrowed" copy. I am using Gimp now but sometimes you dont need these tools. I created a nice logo in minutes in the above site
 
sparticus said:
Great !! Thanks , I also use photoshop actually a lot but since I started using it for work that will generate income my concious got the better of me and I deleted my "borrowed" copy. I am using Gimp now but sometimes you dont need these tools. I created a nice logo in minutes in the above site
Click to expand...

Hey, no problem. I just recommended it as the owner asked me a week ago to do a review as part of his launch as a new startup. I found it very user-friendly and they have professional logos as well.
 
House said:
Hey, no problem. I just recommended it as the owner asked me a week ago to do a review as part of his launch as a new startup. I found it very user-friendly and they have professional logos as well.
Click to expand...

Cool , the only problem I had was that the search function did not work which meant I had to go through page by page of pics and if possible some more fonts would be cool , having said all that beggars cant be choosers so big ups for your buddy !
 
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