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  • Help! - Missing SiteStudio templates

    Hi,

    I am an end user trying to create a low-cost template-based website as quickly as possible, that does not use host-supplied banners or ads or have other strings attached.

    I came across a provider called 'host department' who use SiteStudio. They provide free hosting with no ads or strings with the extra costs of domain name registration, etc.

    There are a number of players out there, and a number of site building programs. However, I'd settled on using either the 'Picture' or 'Painting' templates from the SiteStudio demo, using hostdepartment, only to find that hostdepartment does not have the last 8 or so templates which are listed on the SiteStudio demo, and both the templates I want are in the missing set. (I saw some of webgirl's posts here on a similar problem...)

    Further, half of hostdepartment's pages are 404ing on me, especially the Support Ticket page and the Support Chat page.

    I've had no joy trying to contact the support mail address of hostdepartment, and psoft have at least written back to me saying they cannot answer any end users' questions. hmmphhh.

    ***Update***
    Looking at psoft's website, they are the 9 most recently added templates. However, I can't access them from hostdepartments' URL of http://66.98.178.21:8080/servlet/psoft.masonry.Builder, which uses SiteStudio 1.6.

    The reason for the 404s (apart from SiteStudio being down for a while) is due to loopback entries in my etc/hosts file from a standard anti-spyware service blocking out their 3rd party support provider pages. hmmm. (Safety first - spyware is a present day scourge.) So once I've reallowed editing of etc/hosts in Spybot and uncommented that other site, it's OK -- but e-mails sent to their conventional support account were deleted unread, according to the sneaky read receipt I set on the e-mails. Consequently, they don't appear very well staffed or very accommodating in general -- and the website itself is hard to traverse, and seems a bit 'gimmicky'. When you can't access SiteStudio and you can't access support, it all starts looking a bit flaky if you've just signed on for a trial. And then the templates are incomplete, not what was 'advertised', due to 3rd party provider issues...

    ******

    I'm trying to develop a tourism-based site with international exposure, and one where the template allows lots of images to be posted in a stylish way. I'm not averse to paying a small fee for a site, but I want to test it out on a no-risk basis for performance, uptime, etc, before I commit sums of money. And I would like the site up quickly in a prototype form, THEN register a domain name at my leisure and look at upgrade options.

    Further, I intend to do a number of further sites, 3 or 4 perhaps, some business, some charitable, so I'm looking for a reliable host/reseller with at least well-intentioned support levels and reasonably good bandwidth. I'm in Australia, but the location of the host servers doesn't bother me too much as long as performance internationally is acceptable. In fact, the tourism site is intended for audiences in Europe and S. America. The others will be for local consumption.

    I figured if hostdepartment didn't work out, then nothing lost, and I've dipped my toe in the water at low risk.

    Can anyone either point me to a reliable host that has these templates, or provide a better option with other site building software? Does anyone have an opinion of 'host department' in general they can advise me of without getting sued? Respond here or to e-mail - seanreynolds@netspace.net.au

    Thanks,
    Sean
    Last edited by Sean; 13-01-2006, 01:17 AM.

  • #2
    Hi sean if you are wanting low cost hosting then i think you wont find better than Rsp there Support is second to none.The software that comes with your account will cover most of what you need to build your sites.

    Regards Jazz

    Comment


    • #3
      yup. If you don't need python support, go with RSP!

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi Sean,

        The reason some of the *new* templates don't appear is as follows ...

        When a hosting company buys the Site Studio software, then can install it on their servers.

        The templates available can increase, but it is up to the Hosting company to go back to PSoft and download the *newer* templates.

        Some Hosting companies might have Site Studio on 3 servers in January [for example] and 9 out of 10 templates are visible.

        Their clients create Site Studio websites using available templates.

        In June, Site Studio has added new templates.

        Now it is up to the Hosting company to get the *updates*, but they don't need to re-install them on the already occupied servers. They would generally only have these new templates available for new servers and new clients.

        It is therefore up to the client [you] to request - strongly - from your hosting company that they get the *update* for the new templates. Having said that, the techie boys here on RSP will tell you whether this is easy or hard.

        I suspect it's too much trouble to put updates on the already-in-use servers, and already established websites.

        Therefore you could ask your Hosting company to:

        1. get the updated templates
        2. update them on any one of their newer servers
        3. move you to a newer server
        4. you will now have access to the newer templates

        If that fails, then go with someone who can provide the newer templates.

        I hope all this makes sense!

        It's just my understanding of how it works from my own experiences so far.

        Let me know if you have any other questions

        ******** ps - RSP guys - do we have the newest templates available on our more recent servers??? ********

        good luck Sean!
        WebGirl!!

        Comment


        • #5
          web templates

          Originally posted by WebGirl
          Hi Sean,

          The reason some of the *new* templates don't appear is as follows ...

          When a hosting company buys the Site Studio software, then can install it on their servers.

          The templates available can increase, but it is up to the Hosting company to go back to PSoft and download the *newer* templates.

          Some Hosting companies might have Site Studio on 3 servers in January [for example] and 9 out of 10 templates are visible.

          Their clients create Site Studio websites using available templates.

          In June, Site Studio has added new templates.

          Now it is up to the Hosting company to get the *updates*, but they don't need to re-install them on the already occupied servers. They would generally only have these new templates available for new servers and new clients.

          It is therefore up to the client [you] to request - strongly - from your hosting company that they get the *update* for the new templates. Having said that, the techie boys here on RSP will tell you whether this is easy or hard.

          I suspect it's too much trouble to put updates on the already-in-use servers, and already established websites.

          Therefore you could ask your Hosting company to:

          1. get the updated templates
          2. update them on any one of their newer servers
          3. move you to a newer server
          4. you will now have access to the newer templates

          If that fails, then go with someone who can provide the newer templates.

          I hope all this makes sense!

          It's just my understanding of how it works from my own experiences so far.

          Let me know if you have any other questions

          ******** ps - RSP guys - do we have the newest templates available on our more recent servers??? ********

          good luck Sean!
          WebGirl!!
          Hi web girl!

          I havent seen any changes to the templates since October. I am not sure what you meant. My client want to know why he cant find the same templates as seen on the demo page. My client felt kinda cheated. Should rsp at least make them consistent? Any suggestions??
          By the way, did you notice the spelling mistakes on the Site Studio? It is rather embarrasing. Can someone do something about it??

          Comment


          • #6
            Hi apple,

            Apologies for not replying earlier - I didn't see this post until now.

            What I've discovered is:

            - do NOT send your clients or potential clients to psoft website for the demo
            - psoft DO change the url of the demo and do NOT like resellers to link to demo
            - DO go to your own reseller template website, and click the Site Studio Demo link
            - when you have THAT url, you can use it on your website for your clients
            - this way they will never see the NEW templates [now there's about 20+]

            In my opinion, this is the only way to keep your customers happy with what's available.

            My first website with RSP is on ss18 - and it's using version 1.6RC3 of Site Studio - where I cannot add meta tags and descriptions to EACH page. There are also minor annoyances with this really old version.

            I have lots of clients on other servers after #18 all using SiteStudio 1.6, and a recent one on ss38 has SiteStudio 1.6.

            Unfortunately, we were told by RSP they would be installing 1.7 [quite a few months ago now] but it doesn't seem to have happened. The cost for one server is quite minimal, so maybe there are other factors why it's not possible.

            To be honest Apple, I've started to move away from Site Studio because of this - the templates are few on V.1.6, and so I'm starting to design sites with CMS [content management system software], where I have total control. I can set up parts of the web pages where the client can change text, but lock out other parts of the site. I'm enjoying it.

            Hope this helps in regard to everyone's clients using the Site Studio demo's - remember to point them to your own - not psoft's.

            Ciao
            WebGirl

            Comment


            • #7
              Hi Apple,
              Originally posted by apple
              By the way, did you notice the spelling mistakes on the Site Studio? It is rather embarrasing. Can someone do something about it??
              SiteStudio is owned and developed by a company called PSOFT - you can become a member of their forum at



              but you will receive limited assistance unless you are a hosting company which has INSTALLED Site Studio.

              You can view and post messages about Site Studio but there will be areas you cannot access unless you are a hosting company like RSP.

              I suggest you post your tips about the spelling over there - it may be that because we are using an older version of the software that they don't want to fix the spelling, but until someone asks, we won't know for sure.

              Good luck Apple!
              Cheers
              WebGirl

              Comment

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