Moto70 wrote:

dynamiteReady wrote:

Moto70 wrote:

I know nothing about websites. I have paid for leemac-design.co.uk for 5 years nad I would like to get just a single page up there that says 'coming soon' or such. What is involved?

Not much, if you already have a web host...

Erm.... What's a web host?

Meh... Looks like you're in good hands. : )

You'll get a lot of that. On the main themes section use the Filter by Version drop down.

Seriously fuck wordpress, Its done an update and now I cant post or upload images, So Im going through a load of videos, themes and books on Drupal to get this shit moving. Im falling behind and Wordpress forums are not much help at the moment. Course I am an impatient bastard but I want results goddammit. Now to find a theme and activate it and bosh il be up and running.

Oh, with all my eBay posting I've been on the new Royal Mail site and noticed that's using Drupal now. Slowly but surely.

We talking Drupal again? Symfony CMF "shipped" recently, I'm curious if they've used it as a foundation for Drupal 8 or not.

A decent hosting package should give you unlimited bandwidth. A dedicated server hosting package is what you'll want if you start getting massive usage.

I get unlimited bandwidth and 10Gb storage for a fiver a month HERE. Not a dedicated server, but they offer that option and it's not expensive. They've also been excellent for support and up-time.

If you want premium hosting, with a managed service on a dedicated box, with daily backups etc expect to pay £200+VAT per month.

If you are just starting out, then a cheaper solution could be to go VPS, at about half that cost, but make sure you are getting the managed service if you are going for either dedicated or VPS, as you don't want to be managing the box yourself, it's a nightmare believe me.

I tried to manage a client's VPS once and spent most of my time patching the server, responding to spamming and hacking attacks, a managed service takes care of this for you and by people who know what they are doing.

If going for shared hosting this issue goes away as the hosting company manage the patching and security, at the cost of being on a server with probably hundreds of other websites.

AJ wrote:

That'll be without any SLA, which I wouldn't do a premium web-based business without, though. They don't mention SFTP or SSH access either, do they allow them?

Very true. I have the basic SLA, which affords me a guaranteed site-back-in 24 hours service, which is all I need. Pretty sure they have SFTP (I think I use SFTP) and SSH as standard. I'm no web expert, being predominantly a print designer, so apologies for not knowing this.

Found out all my themes and modules installed in Drupal didnt work because.....123 reg on the install of it all put all my folders and files to read only I think they said. Basically I didnt have the permissions, So after a day of bitching to them its all fixed now as is Wordpress.

Wordpress stopped working as a bug in the update (auto update mind) changed file permissions for images and videos. Yeah great one. Every WP update ruins something everytime whether it be a plugin compatability issue or a proper in the update fuck up. I hope Drupal is a lot better at handling updates but Im pretty  sure they are.

Im looking at using the open enterprise theme as it has a WYSIWYG editor and seems a powerful low maintenance way for me to get a decent looking site without all the know how. I installed what I think is the right one, The one without core? Im still reading me books so il muddle through.

Only thing I may have issues with is finding all the files as the videos and such all take it from the point of view that you installed Drupal locally which I didnt.

Oh im sure it will be fine, Its just when it comes to deleting themes, All videos say about going into the install as it were. I shouldnt need it....famous last words

You don't need to delete themes really, just disable them. If you can't delete then it's no great shakes. The amount of space they take up is negligible.

@mk64 - went to post this before the crash of the 6th, managed to copy and paste it before the site died... here's some more considerations on online security:

OK, if taking online payments, ideally you will want to push that onto a third party website, e.g. Paypal otherwise you will fall under PCI DSS which is a right pain in the ass. If you process, store or in anyway deal with online payments then there are a number of rules you will need to follow as well as being open to random audits, find out more here: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/

If you offset as much of that customer storing and processing to an external service then they have to follow the guidelines and take the heat. However, transactions that cross different domains (e.g to Paypal) often have a lower conversion rate than if they stay on your website.

In addition, whether you use an external service or not, you will need an SSL certificate (£30 to £250 a year or more depending on the level of cover required) for any secure communication on your site.

If there are any security issues the SSL company could be liable, and if you haven't followed PCI DSS compliance when you should, then your company could also be liable.

Yep all will charge typically charge a fee per order, whether it's processed on your site or not. It's been a while since I've done some e-commerce but there can also be a monthly minimum payment that covers X amount of orders processed.

TBF if you do push the payment processing off your site the only company I would use is paypal as that is the only payment processor that has brand perception to the general public.

If you use a payment gateway service, you can negate PCI compliance, and still serve a customised checkout. You'll just have to decide if that's necessary.

Payment gateway services charge less than Paypal, but require specialised knowledge.

PCI compliance is only necessary if you gain a merchants license. You generally tend to make the decision to apply for merchants states (basically approval from the banks themselves), when you approach £100,000 p/a (well, actually, there are some finite rules on the turnover threshold), but then some payment gateway services, will be happy to offer you a fairer deal on each transaction on that kind of throughput.

If you are turning over £100,000+, sticking with a payment gateway is sometime preferable, as a merchants license costs a fair amount to apply for, takes a long time to approve, is not guaranteed, and your staff have to be licensed to work under the agreement.