Website for a cat rescue

dan_yell

dan_yell

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Hello

Im getting involved in a new cat rescue and looks like its going to fall to me to sort out the website for it. I work as a web editor but ive not really been involved in sorting anything out from scratch or the REAL nitty gritty of it. Setting up something in drupal would help me as our site at work is built in that - but I'm mindful that I want it to be as simple as possible so that its not only me that can access it, that for simple changes someone else might be able to do that, or if I was to leave or not be involved any more, it would be easy to take over.

We'd like our own URL and no adverts preferably, but I'm not sure on the way to do. I've looked at wix, but the basic free package has adverts and not your own URL. Wordpress (not installed on a machine) would be another choice, I assume we'd have to buy a URL and then pay wordpress (that's what I understood from their website).

I thought it was going to be a lot simpler but feeling a bit confused. We don't really want to have to renew the URL every few years as they could hike the price up? Obviously we will have limited funds so trying to make the best choice for now and the future

any advice greatly appreciated

thanks
Danielle
 
I've taken over the management of a Drupal website and I'm planning to move it to Wordpress... or to anything else - Drupal is impossible! www.flyingblack9.co.uk

I'm also involved with an animal charity, this one is on Wordpress, it's very much a work in progress at the mo but I think that Wordpress is the way to go www.allforhorses.org.uk
 
I'm mildly surprised that you don't claim to know much about web sites but they are lumbering you with this one :D Surely there is somebody else who could do it.....?

What I would do is

1. Buy a hosting account from a decent provider - I use Vidahost. Lots of people recommend either that or TSO host. You're looking at < £30 per year though there are deals if you buy multiple years at once. Many will give you a "free" URL - these cost about £3 a year and tend not to drift upwards.

2. Run their one click install of Wordpress and set it to update itself automatically (and for free).

3. Find a skin you like - either free or paid for and install it.

For somebody who knows what they are doing, this is 30 mins work. The first time you try it will take you half a day max. The tricky bit is finding a skin you like.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I'm mildly surprised that you don't claim to know much about web sites but they are lumbering you with this one :D Surely there is somebody else who could do it.....?
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Most of the rest of the group are confused by google documents so I doubt anyone else will do it, if I didn't do it, we wouldn't get one. Im not clueless about websites, but I am also not very logical and I don't want the set up of this to be s***ty and cause problems later on. We will start off the blocks with a facebook page, but I think its important to have a website too.

I had a silly fan website in the Tripod days of the late 90s, but obviously these needs to be a much better looking affair and I don't want it to look like s***. I work with the web but ive never done my own site involving hosting or buying URLs or anything and that's the bit I want to make sure we don't run into problems along the way or having something that becomes unmanageable. I used wordpress at work but It was installed on a server so that wont be the same for a website for a new small rescue.

Garry Edwards said:
I've taken over the management of a Drupal website and I'm planning to move it to Wordpress... or to anything else - Drupal is impossible! www.flyingblack9.co.uk

I'm also involved with an animal charity, this one is on Wordpress, it's very much a work in progress at the mo but I think that Wordpress is the way to go www.allforhorses.org.uk
Click to expand...

Drupal is interesting, and it would be useful for me to get a better understanding of it for my job by using it in this way. but if I were to leave or want anyone else to deal with it, I think it just be impossible.

Thanks for the advice. As people here may have sites for their photos etc, I thought there might be some tips here that might help
 
Is this a registered charity? If so and pending on its objectives I might be willing to sponsor by providing a domain for free, hosting capacity on a spare server I've got and we can talk whether you want Drupal or Wordpress (much simpler to add and maintain content in my opinion).
 
Hello,

Nice to meet you. Unfortunately, we are just starting out and don't meet the requirements for registered charity as far as we're aware. Once we have raised £5000 I believe we can and we want to do so as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your kind offer though, I wish we could take it up!!
 
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And apologies for this being in the wrong area (I see it was moved) I thought about putting it there but as it wasn't about photography I thought it didn't belong
 
dan_yell said:
What I read on gov.uk seemed to say that. Otherwise you register as something slightly different?
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True but you are then still a registered/recognisable charity with associated tax advantages, gift aid deductibles/contributions etc.

Or actually to be really correct it is more the other way around. If as a charity you raise more than £5,000 in funds then you have to register. Below that it is optional. You still can be registered and recognisable as a charity.

To me that is important as it allows my donation to be seen as gift aid as well, and yes that has tax advantages I'll be honest about it. But further more it also then becomes recognisable that you operate appropriately for a charity. That certain checks and balances are in place etc.

I would truly recommend that you register, it is easy and painless.

But hey look at the positive side of things. You've got two offers on the tables already. :thumbs: one unconditional and mine being dependent about charitable status :) Good luck.
 
Thank you for the clarification :-)

I know we want to register as soon as we can after we're set up. We have volunteered with other rescues who were not registered and saw all the missed opportunities so it is a common goal for us, we want to make sure it's all done correctly, as this is one of the reasons we joined up as we didn't feel comfortable not being registered.

I will post again when i know more :-)
 
Can't help with the website but just wanted to say good luck with the cat rescue :)
 
Again, good luck.

If you wanted a lighter weight alternative to WordPress, you could look at one of the flat file based CMS that are becoming very popular.

I'm using Pico for one of my most recent sites. It's been a bit hands on, but because it's very simple it's been a nice learning exercise.
http://biscuit.ninja/]biscuit.ninja
 
Another Vidahost user, and they'll do free hosting for charities too, though you only get 250mb of hosting space, this ought to be ample for a small site.

Google will also do free Google apps for business for registered Charities in England.
 
Find someone who can build it for you. Plenty of smaller sized web developers out there who can help you and what you pay would save a lot of time and hassle.

Unless you have any real specific functionality requirements WordPress would work fine for what you need.
 
Hello all

thanks for the words of support and advice!!

We are going to get registered as soon as we can, once we've sorted out the logistics of the day to day running in these early days. its important for us so we can get the benefits of being registered.

asaspasas6 (above) has kindly offered to help us do our website - so thank you very much to him! I will be working on that with his help so watch this space!

In the mean time, we now have a facebook and a twitter account - if you'd like to follow us and help raise awareness

https://www.facebook.com/PurrsCatRescue
https://BANNED/PurrsCatRescue

:banana:
 
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