Redesigning my website

[soboyle]

I'm looking at a redesign of my website www.oboylephoto.com
The site, while working pretty well, is mired in old (bad) html coding, inconsistent look between the galleries, no search capabilities, no easy way to add sales/stock features to individual images. I patched this website together over the years, but it needs a serious refresh.
I was considering going with a blog/gallery type replacement, something like wordpress, with a photography theme like something from graph paper press. But I'm looking for comments and suggestions from people who have more experience at this than I do. I don't mind putting the time into reworking the site, and I can muddle my way through php edits, but want to keep that to a minimum.
Any thoughts on a good approach to a ground up (semi-easy) rebuild?

[Steve Weldon]

I find the Wordpress/Photo blog stuff okay.. but it's limiting.  It what it does falls within what you want to do, then it's great.  Easy to setup and maintain.

But if you want more.. and you want to grow.. then you'll need to consider really jumping in with both feet.  I did this a year ago and there were times I thought I was going to drown.  Now I'm treading water and thinking about how to build a raft..

An SQL driven site has lots of advantages.  So does a module driven system where you can buy modules already completed, but where you can customize the skin to match your site, or hire a developer to make the modules you require.  This might be beyond what you're looking for, not sure..

[John.Murray]

You might consider Joomla, a CMS (content managed system).  A number of members on this forum use it, including myself. In my opinion possibly the best example would be Nick Rain's site:

http://www.nickrains.com/

The point that Steve mentions is really important; the "look" of the site and the content of the site are separated.

[ethanw]

Your web site exudes characteristics of being minimalistic. Some would appreciate that while some will just notice it in passing.  I like how the subject is presented though you can make it a little more dynamic.  With choosing a label, it would help the visitor if you will emphasize the button where the mouse is hovered.  Even a shadow will do the trick. I must agree though that a Joomla site is really easy to set-up and maintain.

[davidmoris]

I'm going to redesign my site, and I'd love to hear from you what you think of the things most important to add a page on your site, such as services, offers, phone number, etc. Also because of the work from home if you put the 'address is, but the state of appointment.

[RFPhotography]

Not sure if you've redesigned your site yet or settled on what platform you want to use but I'll put a comment in for Wordpress.

Until last fall I had a standard site and a blog in the Wordpress platform.  Last fall I merged everything into the Wordpress format.  Couldn't be happier. 

Hosting via Wordpress.com is limiting.  Having the WP database hosted remotely (i.e., through your current hosting provider) opens up all kinds of opportunity.  Where the real kicker comes with WP is through the plugins available to enhance functionality.  You don't have access to use plugins on a wordpress.com hosted site.  I'm not sure what options you have to modify the look of the chosen theme on a wordpress.com hosted site but if self-hosted, you have full access to edit the theme and can change its look and feel tremendously.  I started out with a 'canned' theme but have modded it up to the point where there's really nothing left of the original.  It's now entirely mine and highly unlikely that anyone will have one that looks the same. 

With the plugins available (most for free) WP can be made much more of a CMS than simply a blogging platform.  The one thing I don't have, at this point, is integrated ecommerce but that too could be added without much difficulty.