Hey Guys,

I've owned my own domain for a real long time, and I've been working in the internet industry for over ten years. I know how to code, and I've got a decent handle on Flash and Photoshop and whatnot. I have absolutely no excuse for having a crappy website. On the other hand, redoing it has been on my "to do" list for way too long, and I'm beginning to come to terms with the fact that I will never really get around to redoing it.

So I'm looking at various web site "packages"...those various sites that have a rather formulaic design to them with the ability to "customize it" within certain parameters. The other way of handling it would be to outright hire someone to do it, but that requires management of the design & tech team, and we're back to the "never gonna happen" scenario. I've seen a lot of people here using various packaged solutions...what are they, and are you happy with them? Here are my basic requirements:

  • Must be able to be hosted on my domain...without me changing service providers.
  • Must allow me to customize the design...the more I can customize the better.
  • Should allow me some way to easily make updates.
  • Should be scalable and allow me to add images without having to custom make and upload 5 various sizes.
  • Must be able to support eCommerce...a built-in shopping cart system is a plus.
  • I want to be able to pay for this as a one-time fee...none of this "monthly maitenance" nonsense.


An example might be Kevin Saitta's Artsoft application. I didn't check if it met all of the criteria I specified above, but I wanted to better illustrate the concept I'm looking for.

You ideas and feedback will really help...thanks!

--A