Website Design Is Dead

[ksigmtsu]

Wordpress studio designers are having this very issue do to the way WP is licensed. There's a lot of back and forth about the ability to copyright a design and the owner of Studio Press said in a recent interview that there is "nothing he can do" if someone takes one of his themes, grabs the code and calls it their own.

Lucky for him, his free language (php/mysql), free server operating system (likely centos), free codebase he builds templates for (wordpress), and likely free graphic editors(gimp) and free test system operating systems keep his costs down.

If it were not for millions of hours of community / free work, the internet wouldn't even exist. The whole internet would be crippled if linus torvalds hadn't written the linux kernel and given it away, and the GNU community hadn't written all the software that drives it. Imagine what software companies would have charged, it would have never even gotten off the ground, unix used to cost several thousand for license fee for 1 server back when Bell labs had a monopoly.

People who want to make more and more forget where they got the tools to make money in the first place, and it wasn't some jackass crying about license fees.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I couldn't agree more with that entire post. That said, there should be a code of ethics people follow so they don't take a Studio Press theme and sell it as their own design.

There are more than a few web "designers" out there who do nothing but simply grab code from other sites; "Ok, your website is done - thanks for the $800."

 

[ltcadviser]

Thanks Josh, i am sure there are a TON of mistakes, but i have no time any more to do anything!! Brook also told me to take their link off my site. I think they said they would do it, but I guess they are busy.
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Might I suggest that some of you concentrate on the content of your site and not the design?

Many of you have beautiful sites, with some of the most boring, trite, hackneyed, 'blah' content (and graphics) I've ever seen. I think you all copy it from one another!

Some of you need to hire a good copy writer instead of a good web designer. (And no, I'm not seeking any writing assignments!)

YMMV.

Al
I am at this ugly website.

I wrote all of my content, Al. It is how i kept the price down

 

[tlmarketing]

Until recently I had always paid for custom sites with all the features I was looking for....now I'm experimenting with WP themes on some newer domains....pretty easy so far..For less than $60, templatetuning.com will add the logo and get the site up and running for you.

now instead of paying for design, i put the $$ towards the SEO aspect.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Local couple opening a consignment shop in March - my wife knows the husband of one of the ladies who co-owns it.

She got in touch with me a few days ago - doesn't know what to do. She wants a website that'll list her consignment items that she can update/manage and is searchable and sort-able.

Quotes from web designers have ranged between $7,000 and $15,000 - most of which is building a database that also allows her to manage everything. Needless to say, this is so far out of their budget it's not even worth discussing.

.....or I showed her a few WP themes that accomplish the job with a free WP Table Reloaded plugin (that can be completely customized with CSS.)

It took her a while to absorb it all. How in the hell does she go from from $10,000 to a $30 WP theme with a free plugin that looks BETTER than the work her "web designers" showed her?

Website design is dead.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Shelflife | WooThemes
Sliding | WooThemes
Argentum | WooThemes
WooThemes Demos

 

[Josh]

You like woothemes I take it?

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I think we all agree that before you pay anyone a single dollar to build your website (WP or different), make sure they have at least a few YEARS of website building experience, and can show you at least 10 websites they have built.

And no...website design is not dead, although I think you are referring to those ultra-expensive websites. Whether you spend $50 or $15k, if you're making money...good for you. ltcadvisor payed a bunch and is laughing all the way to the bank. I paid well under 1k and I'm tickled with the results.

You can spend $50 and get a great site or just a site that the person built for you calls great. That's why it's important to check resources, experience and track record.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

You like woothemes I take it?

I like WooThemes too, but StudioPress with the Genesis framework is quite impressive. Offers a bit more customization.

I'm also partial to Elegant Themes. Hard to miss when all of their themes are $39. You're not gonna go wrong with any of the major theme studios.

People can always wander off into the Theme Jungle (forest) but now you're into "buyer beware" territory and really need to research the author.

 

[Josh]

I tried elegant themes but thought most of their stuff was junk.

Aren't you supposed to have the $89 developer package if you're using those for clients?

I've had good luck with some of the themes on themeforest.net. Seems like many of them are more well thought out and for the extra few bucks, seems like a bargain. Admittedly they can be more effort to work with, but I think they are more polished.