Many of us here create various kind of products as side projects - web app, mobile app, e-books etc. Some of us launch startups. Most of these need a marketing/front-end website.<p>What you do to create that website?
I've bounced around a bit.<p>Way back in the day, I had no budget, so I used OSS web themes with very light customization. Then when I actually started selling appreciable amounts of software, I had that website redone by freelancers (twice). It has not been my experience that cutting-edge web design has made huge differences to sales in the sort of markets I tend to operate in, though, so these days I mostly just get a themeforest/etc theme, have designers add in decent graphics (if required), and then do a bit of munging by myself.<p>Designers, cover your ears for a moment: There are many businesses which have sold many millions of dollars of product, including in our industry, with web design which is less impressive than things you can get on Themeforest/WooThemes/etc for whole tens of dollars. (This is not just applicable to marketing sites, by the way. There are plenty of applications which end up looking like they were designed by a software engineer which, for $15, could have had that same engineer just extract a Rails template from a Themeforest project and end up looking 100x better. Search for [admin] on Themeforest and feast your eyes.)
I write open source libraries primarily. A nicely formatted readme on github tends to be best, since most people will be there anyway. Fancy websites tend to drive me crazy for code libraries, since they tend to distract people from the thing they are really looking for; a simple pitch and documentation.<p>That being said... I have been working on a javascript geoprocessing library lately and am considering a full blown interactive website. The reason being that many of the features are difficult for people to understand without being visualized. I still want to keep it fairly simple though.<p>The idea would basically be to have a page for each operation with 2 maps and a description of the algorithm. The first map would show the example input and the second map would show the output. I think this would allow developers who may not be familiar with more advanced geo statistical methodologies to be able to see what is possible with their data and spark some creativity. The existing readme tries its best to get the ideas across, but I doubt it would be that effective in its current form for someone who is not very familiar with traditional gis analysis already. <a href="https://github.com/morganherlocker/geo.js" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/morganherlocker/geo.js</a>
End up wasting hours and hours choosing the right colour scheme for the website... in the end the side project ends up getting put on hold while I work out the best framework to use for the website.<p>edit: wait until I have to choose the 'right' font...
In the past, I always wanted to build everything on my own, I thought that only then it will be "good enough". Now, I'm quite the opposite - I value time. Every task is just one of many and it's more important to finish them all, than to be stuck with one trying to make it "perfect". Sure, quality is important, but from my experience the real question is when something is "good enough", i.e it meets given criteria and spending more time would give little to no value. Spending countless hours on a website polishing every little detail is just a waste of time, so I choose to either outsource it or use a ready hosted service, even though I worked as a web developer for several years.
As far as mechanics go, I've found a great compromise between the power and convenience of a CMS and the simplicity of a static page: using a static site generator. I personally prefer Hakyll[1], as you might have guessed :P.<p>This makes managing a structured site easy without having to configure a complicated server. Of course, it also means you can't have much dynamic content. For something simple--say comments--you could use an external service like Disqus, but you won't be able to do much beyond that without running your own server.<p>[1]: <a href="http://jaspervdj.be/hakyll/" rel="nofollow">http://jaspervdj.be/hakyll/</a>
I just launched Rate My App[0] yesterday evening on Hacker News, so this is great timing. :)<p>In the four days between idea and launch, how much time did I spend on the landing page, and would I do it again?<p>As an experienced engineer, I realized the first thing I had to worry about was the marketing content, so I spent the first day configuring my social accounts and creating and uploading a video.<p>Short version:<p>Yesterday, I implemented my own design because I wanted a simple site that had exactly the code I needed. I would do it again, especially since the next time I can re-use the build process I created.<p>Longer version:<p>Assuming you're familiar with CSS and HTML, you're better off finding a decent template or web site and re-creating the few parts about it you like yourself. Using a fancy template will be a time sink, both in understanding all the complicated things the author threw in, but also focusing your time on making your site perfect (since you just paid for it) rather than focusing on launching.<p>And in the two days in-between, I figured out the value I could bring to customers. I also spent a lot of time configuring payments, emails, form submissions, etc.<p>Establishing some process to collect feedback and getting your name and purpose out there is the main point of launching, so worry about that more than the landing page.<p>TL;DR: as far as systems, you're better off establishing some kind of a process (hopefully an off-the-shelf system that can function independent of your concerns) that allows you to iterate on your actual product quickly. As far as visuals, though, spending lots of time on making this tiny part of your product perfectly integrated with a particular template can make it emotionally difficult or time-consuming for you to replace or modify as necessary later on.<p>I'm writing a series of blog posts (@vla on twitter) about this, by the way.<p>[0] the app: www.ratemyapp.com
This is exactly what Drywall was designed for. It's a website and user system for Node.js<p>Feedback is welcomed.<p><a href="http://jedireza.github.io/drywall/" rel="nofollow">http://jedireza.github.io/drywall/</a><p>Edit: more so for a functional side project, not a static website.
I've tried a few.<p>The problem with Themeforest is how muddled and complicated the HTML DOM in themes usually are - and even if the design is intuitive, it's not yours, so it's rather difficult to own completely. With that said, I've used it for some excellent WordPress projects before, and if you are willing to pay there is quality work there.<p>I prefer using a bootstrap framework to get stuff out there. Depending on the project, I'll spend some time customizing the defaults, adding plugins, etc. If the project is small enough, I won't even bother with that.
Bringing in a design agency is only useful is you have VC cash to burn. It's usually far cheaper/effective to find a design freelancer to partner with. A decent designer can help you create a logo as well, which is an essential step, and something that's difficult for laymen to pull off well.<p>Remember the enemy of progress is the perfect. A side project/startup needs to iterate as fast as possible, so it's far better to throw something out there than to languish in design mode for months before giving up on your cool idea.<p>For my side projects, my rule of thumb is:
a) the site isn't embarrassingly bad, and could be publicly associated with me.
b) site design took less than 20% of my overall effort on the project.
I've used them all but settled on Themeforest. Yes you can make your own, but why would you when you can choose something that's already well designed for a couple of dollars. Save the design practice for the app itself.
I've been thinking about making the code I wrapped around gae-boilerplate on <a href="http://stackgeek.com" rel="nofollow">http://stackgeek.com</a> and <a href="http://tinyprobe.com" rel="nofollow">http://tinyprobe.com</a> a bit more modular to make it easy to get something running quick. The code comes with Oauth logins, blogging with Gists, and Bootstrap templates. If anyone's interested in the code, it's on Github: <a href="https://github.com/StackGeek/stackgeek-gaeb" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/StackGeek/stackgeek-gaeb</a>.
Bootstrap/Foundation, strip out what I don't need (read: delete some of the LESS imports) and customise it. Both frameworks are actually fairly easy to customise these days, and it doesn't take a significant amount of effort to end up with a Bootstrap site that doesn't "look like a Bootstrap site". I'm nowhere near skilled enough (nor do I have the time) to write my own grid system, panels, basic buttons, etc.<p>The blog attached to my side-project will use the same CSS and just leverage jekyll/GitHub Pages/prose.io to keep things simple.
For something that actually matters to me, I'll work with a designer on the core visual concept, meaning usually the logo, color palette, and overall feel. Once I have that, I feel competent staying within the given parameters to put together a pretty solid design.<p>It really helps to spend some effort learning the basic rules of typography and visual design. It won't make you a great designer, but it will make you a much smarter customer of designers, and make you able to execute someone else's design concepts gracefully.
Being an old trombone myself, I find the learning curve to get proficient in any recent UI framework isn't worth my time.<p>I use an old school text editor to write html/js manually, and then maybe I play a bit with photoshop. Results are not jaw-dropping but not too shabby either, and I can put together a landing page in a couple of hours. ( eg. <a href="http://newspo.st" rel="nofollow">http://newspo.st</a> )<p>So yes, I'm here just to brag about it. I'm a terrible person. :)
I have couple of websites. The first one[0] is done with basic Bootstrap. Second[1], I bought BootStrap theme from WrapBootStrap and reducing it to my needs.<p>Apart from this, the main issue is designing logos and graphics. Eventhough it takes time, I somehow do it myself(with GIMP) and enjoy it as well :)<p>[0] <a href="http://www.computeloops.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.computeloops.com</a>
[1] <a href="http://www.remotewaker.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.remotewaker.com</a>
Unless you really know who you're selling to, putting a lot of effort into a site design is probably a premature optimization. Just grab a reasonable free template or learn enough design [1] to do it yourself.<p>[1] I like the Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams: <a href="http://www.peachpit.com/store/non-designers-design-book-9780321534040" rel="nofollow">http://www.peachpit.com/store/non-designers-design-book-9780...</a>
Although i can build a site on my own from scratch. I am not a designer so it takes a lot of time to come up with something which i am satisfied with. So this is what i do to produce decent looking ones in short span of time.<p>I normally bookmark sites/admin which are impressive under different categories. I do lot of scouting in builtwithbootstrap.com and builtwithbootstrap.com. This helps me to arrive at a layout idea and color scheme to make the website look professional. I steal small css snippets from many different places(not all from one place) i have scouted and put them all together. After the layout is done - i do the customization to all the snippets till i feel it has a look of it's own. Then it's usually bit of jquery, follow little seo recommendation and google analytics. Newsletter/contact form is normally done with a bit of php. This process helps me to come with something decent in very little time. Once uploaded and if the product/project gains traction - will immediately outsource the website development.
I checked three, because I do those three every time!<p>Note: I tend to build political blogs or tiny campaign websites, not actual apps.<p>1) download wordpress.<p>2) pick a theme to start hacking on, either one of the defaults, or a "write me some CSS" plain theme.<p>3) hack around in CSS and the PHP to get the exact layout and spacing I want. I did make several projects that used custom web fonts, custom javascript, etc.<p>Note: my latest blog is just a very basic customisation of Octopress. I <i>really</i> liked the HTML5 theme that scales down onto my phone perfectly, and being able to write in Markdown.<p>EDIT: Oh, people are worried about doing their own design?! I was entirely happy with doing my own web design, and have made maybe 10 wordpress themes, including some <i>as</i> a freelance designer for others (by accident). I only charge a tiny amount for my work, because I do it for charities and political activist friends, neither of whom have any money!
Er.. I've tried most of them :)<p>For the latest one I bought a template from ThemeForest. (so I voted that)<p>The one before that was a Bootstrap (the framework) effort, which ended up not very nice.<p>Before that, I tried Joomla.<p>And before that, I had a very basic HTML page :)<p>I've realized I'm really bad at the "design" part, I'm better off doing the backend stuff.
Since I don't know how to design I used to hire a designer until Twitter Bootstrap came in. Now I am hiring the same designer but for modifying the twitter bootstrap css.<p>At the end I am using Mezzanine as the Django CMS that includes bootstrap. The result can be seen at <a href="http://www.nektra.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.nektra.com</a><p>The customized parts are:<p>- CSS<p>- Mezzanine/Django templates<p>- Added my own page class. When the visitors displays a product it shows the related services/solutions and when the visitor displays a service/solution it shows the related products.<p>One more thing: in the near future I will try to add more functionality adding services via Javascript widgets like mailchimp instead of modifying the backend as much as possible.
I know absolutely nothing about design. I use bootstrap and more or less copy pre-existing designs that have the desired aesthetic.<p>Problem is that I can tell when a UI is terrible, but coming up with the right one is not as simple as the inverse of terrible :(
Amber frontend, Pharo backend. Persistence on MongoDB and scalable observation/reaction on Redis.<p>But for me these days the prototype or beta is way less important than offline validation. The MVP is more a vehicle to engage people than anything else.
I know UI Design and a just a little bit of backend. My sideprojects are always more about design and less about technical part, however whatever little technical part it requires, it gives me enough to learn something new.<p>For <a href="http://typezebra.com/" rel="nofollow">http://typezebra.com/</a> I learnt a bit of Javascript while for <a href="https://bootmystrap.com/" rel="nofollow">https://bootmystrap.com/</a> I learnt to design websites properly using LESS CSS.<p>The way I keep myself motivated to finish sideprojects is that most of the part is right up my alley, design which gives me confidence I can finish it.
I have a side project that I fiddle with in my spare time. Reading about something unrelated, I stumbled across a site with a really nice layout/presentation.<p>I'll be honest: My side project is a straight-up rip off of that other site's layout. I did all my own assets in photoshop but the actual design is theirs. I don't feel bad, either. I reverse-engineered their design into piecrust and just rolled with it.<p>Made me feel like I was 13 years old again, viewing the source for someone's Geocities page so I could figure out how they wrote their javascript to move things around sinusoidally.
Good ol Twitter Bootstrap, Jekyll, and S3. Even an incompetent like me can put up website:<p><a href="http://www.smalldatajournalism.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.smalldatajournalism.com/</a>
I don't get why people don't always start from a bootstrap theme. It's 10$. 10$! Even if you hire a designer or an agency, tell them to start with a bootstrap theme!
I bought a template from themeforest, and then customize it with a text editor and Firebug, but then I tired of that, after tweaking css with Firebug, I had to manually copy back the changes to the text editor; moreover, I wanted to see result <i></i>in real-time<i></i> after I edited the html, so I decided to develop my own live editor to do the task: <a href="http://liveditor.com" rel="nofollow">http://liveditor.com</a>
For my recently-launched consulting site (<a href="http://www.acceliva.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.acceliva.com</a>), I used a static site generator with a custom bootstrap-based design. I started off with a Node.js stack (Wintersmith + Jade + Stylus) but eventually switched to a Ruby stack (Middleman + HAML + SASS) because Middleman came with better plugins for S3 Sync, Cloudfront invalidation, and asset hashing.
We don't have a service component (yet) and a designer did the logo/app design so the icon/screenshots of the app was the most important to showcase.<p>We used CloudFormation to build a Wordpress server on EC2. Then I used Apptamin's free app launch theme (based on Thematic).<p>It was pretty easy, but it could probably be more customized longer term...<p>Check it out here: <a href="http://whizzlearning.com" rel="nofollow">http://whizzlearning.com</a>.
I voted for both themeforest template and bootstrap as the static 'sales' site for BugMuncher is a slightly customised themeforest template, but the control panel is all customised bootstrap.<p>I did initially use a paid theme for the admin area, but bootstrap allowed me to build something that worked much better for BugMuncher, instead of trying to shoehorn in a one-size-fits-all admin template.
I think most of us don't have budgets for hiring designers for side projects, because they are just side projects which may not merit spending more money on design, as a lot of hackers do know the very basics of design. If it does grow out of the side project phase and is actually showing potential to generate some serious cash flow, then more money is spent on proper design.
I love Weebly for quick and dirty sites that I can hand off to a non-techie to fill in the content.<p>For example: <a href="http://mhsp75th.weebly.com" rel="nofollow">http://mhsp75th.weebly.com</a><p>It's very fast to get something decent looking that has forms (and easy access to the data) and payments <i>and</i> layouts for desktop and mobile.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Middleman. It's a static page generator used by several big players (it claims MailChimp and Mandrill here [1]).<p>Or Jekyll for that matter.<p>[1] <a href="http://middlemanapp.com/community/built-using-middleman/" rel="nofollow">http://middlemanapp.com/community/built-using-middleman/</a>
We at <a href="http://codedose.com" rel="nofollow">http://codedose.com</a> favor Bootstrap for business/CRUD-like applications as it's super easy to build a sound design with it and prefer to create a dedicated design for consumer web apps, like stock market analytics app we are working on now.
I like to connect developing design myself and using bootstrap. First to give unique touch to a website, second to speed things up since I have already written my part of floats for webdesign industry and will be fine with just adding proper classes now. That's why it's there after all, to use it. :)
I used to obsess over style and color and fonts and stuff. Now i'm likely to just to Slim/Laravel + Twig + Bootstrap and try to move on with my life.<p>Which is weird... I was the "art kid" for most of my life but I realized that when it comes to this I like the code a lot more than the design.
We've just launched a startup that helps with design feedback (free while in beta) - if any of you is interested in checking it out <a href="http://www.viewflux.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.viewflux.com</a>
We've used it internally for another project and it worked great.
I use a combination of framework and build it myself. It really depends on the aim of the site. Frameworks are nice for larger sites but if it's just something small, with a limited feature set, knocking up my own css and minimising the size of the assets is a good thing in my opinion.
I use bootstrap and either customize the css, or use something from bootswatch.com<p>When you guys use ThemeForest themes for a Saas app, do you get the extended license?<p>The license details are a little murky, so I'm not sure, but leaning towards it being the extended license that's needed.
Hey Guys is this the write Place to ask this question? I mean I think we are all some kind of tech geeks, I assume and most of will design a web site ourself isn't it? I don't know this is My humble opinion.
I've done the last couple on "Middleman, SASS, Coffeescript, Bootstrap". This stack coupled with github for deploy/updates is the quickest to develop on for me. Good stuff there.
Web design and web development are two very different things that overlap heavily. Judging from the options you have provided I suggest you pay someone to do it and focus on what you do well.
we're developing a website for non-designers who have built or maintain websites<p>the basic idea is to get a quick review of your website from an expert designer. They'll give you tips on what they would fix if it was their website.<p>if anyone has a website they'd like an expert designer to take a quick-ish look at and give you feedback please see my thread here (note: its FREE whilst we get it going):<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6621909" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6621909</a>
For side project I use my own web-side make program. Really fast. You can download this at:<p><a href="http://download.jdlab.org/" rel="nofollow">http://download.jdlab.org/</a><p>I hope this can help you.
neocities if it's small enough, tornado for internal demos of ideas. As a person whp develops deep learning back end stuff I often find that a decent UI to show case an idea is far more successful than circulating a paper (and I despise PPT)
use a WP theme from themeforest.
Use mailchimp to capture emails.
Grab a twitter handle
use a mobile first design.
get hosting and make sure they have 1 click install of WP.
Buy a twitter handle
Find hosting in USA
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