The course is geared towards business users but home users will also benefit from the majority of the material. See the  curriculum page for more details.

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If you are a member then please click the “Become a Fan” button on the above link and you will recieve occasional web related tips in your Facebook news/live feed, many of these will be aimed at facebook users, especially business users, but requests for information of any web releated kind are always answered, so feel free to post a question.

Of course if you are really impressed you can even press the share on facebook link from the bar under this text so all your friends can become fans too !

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The Internet is becoming an increasingly important business tool, and the necessity for companies to operate a quality website is growing exponentially, with more

and more consumers turning to the web for research, bargains and also because lower broadband pricing is making the internet more accessible.

Recent

economic events have also caused businesses everywhere to rethink how they do things and this is where local entrepreneur Bob Murphy of RainRain Web Design is hoping to attract businesses into taking a more active role in the management of their company’s website.

“Traditionally websites were built ’static’ so that when changes were needed it meant calling a web designer. That has changed lately with the majority of new sites being ‘content managed’ meaning that the owners can easily change the contents themselves.”

Content managed websites still need an initial set up by a web designer but RainRain is offering a new training course aimed at small to medium sized businesses. “Setup & Run a Company Website using a C.M.S.“ aims are to train a member of the company’s staff in setting up and running a content managed website, enabling them to take complete control over it.

The curriculum will include the basic setup of the C.M.S., customising it to reflect the company’s image and finally adding content and extras for instance a contact form or calendar. The course is workshop driven and the attendees will each build a live demonstration website during the course.

There are 10 places and the course will run over seven weeks on Mondays at the Noreside Education Centre, Johns Quay from 7-9.30pm starting 8^th June. It is priced at €385 (vat exempt). No previous web design experience is necessary but reasonable computer literacy is required.

Phone: 056 7708942 / 086 6035896 to book a place.

Website: http://training.rainrain.com

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With a traditional website, all changes need to be made by someone who knows web design. Even simple things like prices are effectively “in code”. A content management system (C.M.S.) on the other hand has a section called a backend. This is a web page where the owner logs in to make changes to what the public sees. The backend allows changes to the content, layout, menus and certain other elements.

There are many different C.M.S. and a suitable one should be chosen. The top systems can cost thousands, however there are actually many free ‘open source’ systems that are regularly used for business websites. “Joomla!” and “Wordpress” are two examples of currently popular systems. Also a C.M.S. website needs to start with the C.M.S. - it cannot be just ‘bolted’ onto an existing website.

Depending on the way the system is designed and how much training and practice you have, various things can be changed. Changing text and photos is pretty easy. Adding pages and menus is usually not much more difficult. Certain systems also allow extra functionality (e.g. an event list or Photo gallery) to be added using extensions.

To get any value from a C.M.S. it is essential to spend time learning how to use it and practicing with it. A good designer should provide basic training but the more understanding in the company as to the role and operation of the C.M.S., the more value the company can get from it’s website overall.

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• Hire a professional photographer ( for a reasonable period of time) AND take the time to prepare the subject matter. EG ….
  • If it’s the front of your building, make sure it’s clean and there isn’t something in the picture that shouldn’t be there
  • If it’s your product, make sure it’s displayed in the best possible context.
  • You may need other things into consideration like take time of the day or the weather
• Go to a stock photography site and get quality stock images which say what you want them to say ( Tip - Stock photography ranges all the way from free to extremely expensive so shop around )
• Take the photos yourself. It may be that you know how to do this, but dont just grab a camera and take a few shots. Here’s a checklist.
  • Good camera
  • Any other necessary equipment ( you may need a tripod and/or flash
  • Give yourself lots of time ( 10 minutes and 2 hours is sometimes all that separates amateurs from pros )
  • Look carefully at the subject and make sure everything is right
  • If you have impatient people working with you then be prepared have to make them wait. ( Nicely of course !)
  • Get the timing right - dont take sun holiday photos in the rain or nighlife photos in the morning etc.
  • Take lots of photos, typically ten or twenty times what you need - get all the angles etc.
  • Study the photos afterward to pick the right one(s)
  • If you know a bit of photoshop you can play with the contrast/brightness or airbrush something out

When you have your photos and are happy with them, dont just upload them to the site. They may need cropping and even if they dont you are better off preparing them for the web before you upload them. Some digital cameras make huge filesizes and even if they are in the right format ( Which is usually JPEG by the way ) then they would take up too much space so open them in Photoshop or GIMP and reduce them down to a reasonable size for your site. This is measured in pixels and as an example a small photo would be aprox 100px accross with a large full screen shot being maybe 1000px accross.

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