To SmugMug, or not to SmugMug?

[NickSimcheck]

That is the question - err well not really. :scratch

See I want a full featured website and I don't know if SmugMug can provide the features I'm looking for, or if I should host my own website and intergrate the "Online Print Ordering" part of it with SmugMug.


First things first,

Hello.. my name is Nick (Hi Nick), I'm a Chimpaholic. I'm also a long time lerker, short time register. My website address is SimcheckStudios.com but for some reason the C-NAME won't update so it's actually simcheckstudios.smugmug.com.

Shout Outs: Andy and Ivar you rock! :thumb Thanks to you guys I went from knowing nothing about HTML and CSS to knowing... well not a lot but it's more then I knew 2 months ago! (Hopefully, that got me some brownie points and I'll get a good reply to this horribly long post)




I hope you can understand what I am trying to accomplish, it's written in my own code :rofl


No Music, No Intro!
Limited use of Flash, if any.


Header:

Header to be logo in GIF/JPEG format, Click = return to homepage, header and Nav bar integrated into one.


Navigation Bar:

Horizontal “tabs” in this order: *logo* Order Prints Portfolio Services About

Navigation “tabs” to be GIF image (possible?) with a background gradient from dark grey to light grey (ala Toyota.com) with gradient being dark on bottom, light on top. *OR* grey with white “hotspot” in center. Being a GIF, corners can be rounded and any font will be displayed correctly?

Clicking one of the “tabs” either does nothing, or directs to a page displaying everything listed in the drop down menu. Example: “Order Prints”> page with Wedding, Portrait, Sports, Fine Art & Other thumbnails, clicking one of the thumbnails will direct to the same gallery as clicking one of the drop down menus.

Mouse-over changes “tab” text from white to grey OR grey to black OR black to red

Mouse-over activates drop down menus with corresponding gradient going from dark/left to light/right OR grey with white “hotspot”.

Mouse-over on drop down changes text color and background to highlight location (ala Adobe.com)

No “box” around drop downs, only horizontal lines and/or rounded edges to separate them.

“Order Prints” drop down menus =
Wedding>Gallery Page>Gallery
Portrait>Gallery Page>Gallery
Sports>Gallery Page>Gallery
Other>Gallery Page>Gallery


“Portfolio” drop down menus =
Wedding>Gallery=display only
Portrait>Gallery=display only
Commercial>Gallery=display only
Other>Gallery Page>Gallery=display only

“Services” drop down menus =
Wedding>Webpage
Portrait>Webpage
Special Events>Webpage
More>Webpage

“About” drop down menus =
F.A.Q.>Webpage
Biography>Webpage
Contact>Webpage
Location>Webpage





I hope you can make sense of that, I'm basicly trying to get an idea of what is possilble with CSS and Java. I'm willing to make modifications if need be.

I plan on hiring out the design work, but if I can do all of that in SmugMug then I might have somebody design the GIF's and I'll figure out how to make the code.

Thanks!

[Andy]

My website address is SimcheckStudios.com but for some reason the C-NAME won't update so it's actually simcheckstudios.smugmug.com.
Write to us on the help desk with your domain host details and I'll check it for you. No worries, we do it all the time. Give me the login. http://www.smugmug.com/help/emailreal ATTN: Andy
:wave more to come.... I've asked barb to respond and don't worry - she WILL

[NickSimcheck]

Write to us on the help desk with your domain host details and I'll check it for you. No worries, we do it all the time. Give me the login. http://www.smugmug.com/help/emailreal ATTN: Andy
:wave more to come.... I've asked barb to respond and don't worry - she WILL

See what I'm talking about, a reply in less then 5 minutes!

Will you have my baby?:rofl

I'm sending an email right now...

[NickSimcheck]

No “box” around drop downs, only horizontal lines and/or rounded edges to separate them.

I've never quoted myself before, but I feel I should elaberate...

I not looking for a basic "enclosure" around the drop downs, but rather graident or hotspot image. Then the mouseover effectively swaps the image with another for whatever effect (font color change, enlargement, etc.).

BUT

For some reason if the drop downs have to be plan ol' text then I'd like to figure out a way to seperate them with maybe a transparent background and a single line in between them like so;


Wedding
_____________

Portrait
_____________

Whatever
_____________

Yougettheidea
_____________



Hope that clears things up.

[Andy]

See what I'm talking about, a reply in less then 5 minutes!

Will you have my baby?:rofl

I'm sending an email right now...:lol3 :lol3 :lol3
We got it. Support Hero and Stats Geek Sheaf will reply from the Help Desk.

Barb, one of our specialists in customizing, will get you going, probably later this evening, and throughout the weekend.

:wave welcome!

[Andy]

:lol3 :lol3 :lol3
We got it. Support Hero and Stats Geek Sheaf will reply from the Help Desk.

Barb, one of our specialists in customizing, will get you going, probably later this evening, and throughout the weekend.

:wave welcome!
Your domain record was updated by us, on your joker.com domain host. Mark emailed you from the desk....

[NickSimcheck]

Barb, one of our specialists in customizing, will get you going, probably later this evening, and throughout the weekend.

:wave welcome!


I now fully understand why everybody who uses SmugMug religiously advocates it to his/her internet peers.

Customer Service 101, about 138,294,3763 businesses could learn a lot from you guys! :thumb

[Barb]

Hi :)

Welcome to DGrin! After reading your post, I have a good idea of what it is you are looking to do. In simple terms: homepage with banner, drop-down navbar and some sort of intro page. Did I miss anything?

Have a look at some of our well-done sites to get some ideas:

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1801307#118526631

You cannot upload flash files to your SmugMug site; however, you can host them on a different web host, if that's what you want to do. However, a lot can be done without it :)

I'll give you a few links to read up on. First one is our Customization FAQ:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=52812

Great place to start!

You might be interested in this tutorial, also, which will show you how to set up a navbar, a slideshow on your home page, and galleries on another. Since you already have your banner, you can skip that part.

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2160039

Drop-down navbars are doable. Start here with this great reference:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=42747

If you want graphics as the background for your navbar, you can have graphics. You need to make them, however, have someone make them, or find them available for download somewhere (just do a Google search - lots of options there).

I think I covered everything! If you have specific questions, please holler at us. If you run into a brick wall or anything, give us a shout, too :)