Hi everyone,

I am looking to build a few blogs and e-commerce websites using Wordpress.org and Hostgator. I am not a programmer, but I know the basics of HTML, configuration of name server, setting up new email accounts with my domain using Google App, etc. I am wondering is it possible for me to set up new websites without hiring a programmer? Is there any kind of step by step instruction I can follow? I want do to this myself because I might need to change and tweak the sites from time to time, and I'd like to have the flexibility of doing all that myself. Thanks

Andrew

Well you already covered your blogs with Wordpress.
You can use same approach with the commercial sites too. Just use a good content management system.
Some names comes to mind are: osCommerce, Magento, Zen Cart

I thought Wordpress.org is a CMS itself? Looks like I was wrong

I thought Wordpress.org is a CMS itself? Looks like I was wrong

Wordpress is a cms you can say, but cms in general has more features than what wordpress does. CMS most of the time does not end user comments system and stuff.

Just like forum is different slightly from blog so is cms bit different than blog. But you can use them interchangeably , aka blog can be used as cms, cms can be used for blog, forums can be used for blog or cms. Depends on level of end user knowhow cause it does take bit more than just knowing html :)

PS: all scripts usually come with how-to on how to install it. Try going through them and see if you could get the hang of it, at first it seems like impossible but you will get the hang of it. Took me 4 months to summon some courage to try to modify a template for my directory on my own. And after that and lots of struggling got the hang of basic stuff.

I thought Wordpress.org is a CMS itself? Looks like I was wrong

Personally, I wouldn't necessarily classify WordPress as a CMS. You can do some basic content management without any plugins, but in my opinion, if you are after a CMS, you are better off using something that is truly dedicated as a CMS.

If you are looking primarily for the blog aspect with some basic CMS features, WordPress should fit your needs though.

In terms of e-commerce, are you looking for paid or free?

For E Commerce, I am looking for a free open source CMS. I thought Wordpress would be ok at the beginning, but it seems like there are other better CMS that is dedicated for e commerce. Do you have any suggestion

Some names comes to mind are: osCommerce, Magento, Zen Cart:rolleyes:

I would suggest you to hire professionals for your website. It is not even that costly. Post your requirement on freelancing sites like getafreelancer, getacoder, elance etc etc...ask for their previous work and select the best for yourself.

For E Commerce, I am looking for a free open source CMS. I thought Wordpress would be ok at the beginning, but it seems like there are other better CMS that is dedicated for e commerce. Do you have any suggestion
If you want something powerful and heavy, go with Magento Commerce. :agree:
If you want something simple and light, go with PrestaShop. :agree:

How much time do you have? Is it something you want to get up and going very quickly or are happy to spend a few months learning?

If you want to learn something new then Joomla is one of the best CMS systems around and Hostgator along with nearly every hosting company on this board has it (like Wordpress) as a 1 button install and upgrade when patches come out.

Have a look at say Joomlart.com and their templates which are only missing your content. You just need to change the text and the pictures. Prices etc... It is NOT a 5 min job here is one of the templates they are displaying this month - this is a live demo - http://magento-themes.joomlart.com/jm_seleni/

Needless to say I did the time and learnt Joomla so it does not take me any time to get the 2nd site up and going etc.

I am not affiliated with Joomlart but have used many of their templates but there are 100's of companies out there making tempplates for everything you can think of. Wordpress is just catching up but is misisng alot of functionality.

I don't need the site up and running very soon, and I'd like to spend the time to learn it, but maybe not spending few months. I am looking to spend maybe 1 month to learn this. Checking Joomla now. Thanks

well you can have a Joomla website with the default data up and running within minutes. Then slowly change 1 thing at a time until you get the feel for it. Then go to the Joomla forums for help on xyz :)

Just a tip and I wish someone told me that at the start -> KEEP the default database and just remove/delete/unpublish all the dummy articles. The reason is that it comes with all the plumbing a beginner needs. Easier to delete than add.

the default database & install comes with some sample templates and there are some free ones around as well. I think most places selling templates have some free ones but without the fancy web 2.0... the free ones are more like 1999.

Well, if you really want to maintain total control, you could always build your own. That's what I did, oh jeez, 8 years ago now and it seems to have worked all right.

This does take a lot of time though and for the most part you would be reinventing the wheel on the core application - and even the shopping cart aspect. If you choose to go this route I would look at a framework such as CodeIgniter (its GPL) to save a lot of time.