Need web design help

Long story, but here's the condensed version. My wife is a pet freak. She is a huge advocate for pet adoption, pet hospice, etc. As her gift this december I want to set up a website much like Craigslist but for pets where people can post pets for adoption or look for new pets.

I have extremely minimal HTML experience. My only experience is having my own family website that I edited with Front Page and that was years ago.

Eventually, I plan on making it a nationwide non-profit if she chooses, but for now just local Austin is fine.

Key features I'm looking for:

--simplicity like CL but with more pictures and graphics

--users must register (free) to post

--self-sustaining (with obvious daily pruning of spam, etc)

--rock solid security (with captchas, maybe SSL) to cut down on the above

I checked out the obvious hosting companies like 1sthost, godaddy, etc. None seem to offer that type of forum as a template and I can't write HTML. I can use my current host (1sthost) to add a VBB forum but I'm not sure I want that type of format. I'd rather it be more like CL with classified ads.

Any tips? Thoughts?

Forum software is typically sold as a module to function within a content management system; it's come a long way from basic HTML. (Though that's still the root of it.)

Your CMS software will let you plug the modules for a storefront, captcha function, etc..., kinda like legos, but with hundreds of lines of code attached. Once it's built, you can administer the site from a control panel that won't require you to program or code much.

If you don't get qualified advice (mine is not; I'm no good with code but I'm getting pretty good with operating different CMS options.), I'd post a help wanted ad on Craigslist. There are a lot of designers out there looking for small(ish) scale work like what you're describing.

Some of the most popular content management systems are opensource and free, so investing in a capable programmer is money well spent. (Unless you have the capacity and capability to become a capable programmer yourself.)

I'm coming off a pretty thorough search like you're describing for a very big, very complicated web project. Presentation is hugely important on the web, so don't underestimate the value of good design, even if it takes a some investment.

My advice? You probably don't want to go down this road. If you really think you do...

A forum is by far your easiest choice. The easiest route there is standalone, not as part of a CMS. Unless there's a lot of custom work, the CMS integration is usually wonky, CMSs are often more pain than they're worth, and you don't really need a CMS anyway. For forums, my recommendations would be vanillaBB, punBB or phpBB. All three are good boards, as far as they go.

SSL will do you no good in stopping spammers. Captchas are of some small value, but not enough for the annoyance, in my opinion. Frankly, stopping spam is a crazy arms race, and most of the more effective techniques are pretty high on the nerd scale. As a practical matter, expect to spend a lot of time monitoring.

The pluses of a forum are that it's relatively easy to set up and administer, and any troubles you run into are likely to be well-trod paths with easily findable solutions.

The problem, of course, is that it's not what you really want -- a craiglist type site. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any craigslist type projects out there. Maybe there is one I just don't know about, but even if there is, I'd expect to get my hands pretty dirty with it and you'll be pretty far off the beaten path.

Just adding a captcha on the registration page will cut down a lot of spam for only a little annoyance. recaptcha isn't too tough to set up but it does need some programming skill.

+1 for not using an integrated CMS for such a simple site. Maybe use a simple CMS for your content pages, then keep the forum separate.

Nah, captchas were annoying but effective back when the spammers were using bots.

These days, they mostly employ third-world workers, probably children getting paid pennies a week, who just go around signing up for E36 M3 anywhere they can. It's pretty hard filtering out good people from bad people. There are ways, but it ain't easy.

Approach a college and ask the prof to make it a class project. Who would turn down helping out animals. Bring pictures of animals in need of adoption, and ones that weren't adopted in time.

I wouldn't do that, either. Over time, you're going to need code that you either know and understand, or can quickly find someone who knows and understands. A college project could be pretty iffy.

For what it's worth, I think it's a good idea, I just think you could quickly find yourself in over your head.

i dont know jack about programming. But I like Tim. Good to see you around!

rather than forum software, use gallery software.

triumph5 wrote: Approach a college and ask the prof to make it a class project. Who would turn down helping out animals. Bring pictures of animals in need of adoption, and ones that weren't adopted in time.

Hmm good idea, it shouldn't be hard to get some volunteer effort for a nonprofit site with a good cause. I'd help if I was unemployed (or at least had a reasonable amount of free time )

internetautomart wrote: rather than forum software, use gallery software.

Now THAT's a pretty good idea.

At a glance, this one looks promising: http://www.zenphoto.org/

And thanks, 4cylinder. I'm glad to see me around, too.

but take a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_photo_gallery_software

what about www.bravenet.com.

Looks a bit simplistic (but that's good for me) Hosting and classified plug-in from one source.

If it was me I would use wordpress with classipress theme would work like craigslist. Captchas arnt worth the time of day the bots I run they cost 1.00 per 1000 Captchas.

http://appthemes.com/themes/

Are there no PetFinder.com listings for your area?

I use http://gallery.menalto.com/ for my gallery.
http://internetautomart.com/gallery/main.php is my gallery main page.
You will need SQL access to use it since it is php based and therefore is a database. I can help with it if you need it.

What was that free HTML coding tool people recommended here a few weeks ago? I can't find the thread.

htmlkit by chami?

Marty! wrote:

nah, nerds are smart

It had some weird "y0, doode" unixy name, and I think some restaurant chain used it. I think this one: http://www.ihop.com . I should'a bookmarked it. Maybe I did at work. Probably not. I need to re-do my web site.

ihops site is by joomla

internetautomart wrote: ihops site is by joomla

Joomla is the current go to solution for web fun. Heck godaddy will even do the install for you. Rockettheme for the style and joomolopis or something like that for the modules you want.

The learning curve can be steep, but the scalability is LARGE.

To keep it simple, you may want to try blog s/w, ie wordpress, that's been around. I think wordpress even supports a store with a module. blogs support pics and reg'ed users as well. hosting is easy and can be free.

Easy to post. and a rss feed out of the box. link into facebook to get eyeballs.

Joomla. Yeah, that was it. Thanks, guys. I'll put it in my Factoid database.