Easier said than done!

When I mentioned in my previous post I'd have my new website up soon I was being overly optimistic! Haha. I have completed both German and English texts, the legal stuff, the meta tags, page titles and categories. I work with Joomla - a free open source content management system. It helps if you're already familiar with it. If not, there are tons of tutorials to get you started here.
But a few things are hindering my progress: I'm waiting for certain supplies to be able to complete my new bags. I'm trying to figure out how to get my new email account working (very important for future customer inquiries). The snow has gone, but in its place we have dark, dark clouds and buckets of rain, and since I can't seem to find a suitable daylight lamp anywhere...no photos. I wonder does the light-box work with energy-saving bulbs???
Please bear with me ;-)

Technical thoughts on Monday

What have I done lately? Well, for those who have been reading along will know that I'm trying to set up my own website. I have been researching the internet and checked out some books on the subject, and have narrowed down the options available to me. Of course, hiring a company to do it was out of the question from the start! They cost from Euro 1.000 upwards and it's not guaranteed that you will be able to manage the content. Some companies charge extra for that. Another option would be to ask a friend of a friend of a friend who is a techie to set it up for much less than that, however I would have to make do with a basic design lacking any sort of originality. But you know me...just like this blog I have my heart set on a unique template that is totally me. At least I have done two important things on my 'to do' list. I have registered my domain name and I have secured web space. There are a few online sources that provide a complete package - template plus installing a programme that lets you have complete content management - for about 200 US$. You will need to learn how to use and optimize the programme by yourself via a handbook, which you can download for free. The programme most commonly used is Joomla, and I found out that they have a German version since beginning of this year - which is useful since I happen to live here and would mainly be targeting the German-speaking market. Hubby, who is much more adept at all things technical installed Joomla and a couple of other technical applications which are necessary for this programme to run. My next job will be to study the handbook and see if I can, in fact, create my own template. That's the challenging but also exciting part. The programme lets you do a 'test-run' before you actually transfer the data to your web space. So, I will be fiddling with that in the coming weeks, learning by trial and error as usual :) I will blog about my progress every now and then, and let you know what works and what doesn't. Hopefully, I will keep my sanity while I embark on this endeavour! Have a good week!