freshare Site Version 3.0

I had the best of intentions. Really, I did. My plan was to design a complete makeover for freshare.net. And I did that part. I was lax in pursuing the other part of my plan. I wanted to blog my design process and talk about some of the pitfalls encountered and successes achieved along the way. But I got too busy designing and constructing with a fast approaching deadline. There was little time to write.

So here is the condensed version of how it all went:

I needed a more navigable site with a front page that would give visitors a sampling from each major category we had to offer. I wanted to move away from a detailed menu that told what was available and instead display the samples that would show visitors what stories were inside. And it needed to be clean, no ads on the front page.

My html and css skills are improving, but I am still pretty slow at the process. Since I have to run the publishing business and write content for freshare, most of my site building needed to be done before or after work each weekday, or on the weekends - time I usually spend writing stories for my blogs and in my journal.

The content management software I used for the upgrade was the same one I started with: Expression Engine. It is powerful, top-notch, php-based software that accomplishes everything I need it to and has more features I have yet to use. It is a low cost alternative with one drawback: there is no direct customer support, which is OK if you don't mind investing your own time into figuring out how to use EE to build your site around.

If you enjoy programming and coding, the trade off is well worth the effort. Besides, there is unlimited, 24/7 access to the Expression Engine Forums where hundreds of helpful people can guide you through the rough spots.

All in all, it is the way to go. I paid under $400 for my license,and I get to upgrade every time a new version comes out for a small fee of $19 a year. Compare that to other options that cost in the five-figure range and I think I did the right thing.

The results were great and I was able to accomplish all the goals I had for the site upgrade. We add the content, but how and where it is displayed is dynamically generated by the Expression Engine cms.

Although the most difficult part of the re-design is behind me, we will be adding new features soon, like a freshare store, podcasts and video. All supported very well by the cms.

Take a look at the (almost) final results at: freshare.net.