[BeckyH]

ok guys (and gals) let me start off by saying please please don't bash me for what I am going to say...
I use Frontpage 2003 to design our websites <ducking all the rotten fruit and cans thrown at me> (yes I know most true designers think its crappy etc, I've heard them all but its the easiest for me) and I have been asked to do a website for a friend of ours....no problem with that EXCEPT they want an online store on their site and I have never done anything along those lines and truly don't know where to start...I understand I have to have some kind of commerce program (I think) in order to do that but everything I have tried to look up online just ends up confusing me worse than I was to start with...
what do I need to be looking for or what recommendations do you all have etc..any help would be appreciated and please remember I need simple explanations LOL

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A more pertinent question may be to ask why they need an online store. Is it a business?
If it's a personal site of one man and his dog running round some fields somewhere, then nobody's realistically going to buy a T-shirt of said man with said dog in the middle of said field in the middle of nowhere.

That being said there are many third party solutions in which you simply link to said site and they'll do everything, you just tell it what you're selling. Other solutions implement the solution onto the site you're building though this can get complicated.

[Neil Jones]

A more pertinent question may be to ask why they need an online store. Is it a business?
If it's a personal site of one man and his dog running round some fields somewhere, then nobody's realistically going to buy a T-shirt of said man with said dog in the middle of said field in the middle of nowhere.

That being said there are many third party solutions in which you simply link to said site and they'll do everything, you just tell it what you're selling. Other solutions implement the solution onto the site you're building though this can get complicated.

[BeckyH]

sorry yes it is for a business and they are wanting to expand into selling their products online.
I don't mind doing them a website (as I am sure I will get paid to do it PLUS the owner is the husband of one of my husbands clients and we want to keep her happy) I have just never done anything in that direction before and wanted advice as to how to best go about it...does that make sense?
He is wanting a website that has an online store where people can view the items they make (high end 100% green home furnishings and decorations) and can order them pre-assembled online or can order the kits to make the item themselves..

[Major Payne]

Might help...

Free eCommerce:

Mal's e-commerce is a FREE Shopping Cart Service: http://www.mals-e.com/
Free Shopping Cart Software for Joomla! & Mambo: http://virtuemart.net/
Create your own Online Store for Free with Free Webstore: http://www.freewebstore.org/
eCRATER.com is both a free web store builder and a free online marketplace: http://www.ecrater.com/
Ubercart is an exciting open source e-commerce package that fully integrates your online store with Drupal: http://www.ubercart.org/
Free Shopping Cart Software: http://www.1freecart.com/

osCommerce Online Merchant is an Open Source online shop e-commerce solution that is available for free under the GNU General Public License: http://www.oscommerce.com/
Zen Cart™ truly is the art of e-commerce; free, user-friendly, open source shopping cart software: http://www.google.co...lient=firefox-a

35 Free High-Quality E-Commerce Templates: http://www.smashingm...erce-templates/

Payment Gateways:

6 Payment Gateways Reviewed: http://www.sitepoint...se-is-gateways/
Ecommerce Payment Gateway Primer: http://www.websitepu...ayment-gateway/
What You Should Ask A Payment Gateway Provider: http://michellenewma...teway-provider/

Free Content Management Systems:

http://www.pligg.com/
http://drupal.org/
http://opensourcecms.com/
http://www.joomla.org/
http://www.opensourcecms.com/

File Thingie?(small web-based file manager written in PHP. It is intended for those who need to give others access to a part of their server's file system when FTP is not practical): http://www.solitude.dk/filethingie/

FrontPage is really an IE specific web editor if you ever look at the code It generates a lot of Microsoft Schema which only IE and related (Maxthon) browsers understands. Guaratees that your web pages will not be cross-browser compatible.

There ARE editors that are just as easy to use and FREE...

Editors:

Free HTML Editors, Web Editors, and WYSIWYG Web Editors and Site Builders:
http://www.thefreeco...tml#htmleditors
HTML Editor Reviews - http://www.wdvl.com/Reviews/HTML/
Free Online Editor Tool: http://htmledit.squarefree.com/
Free Flash Website Builder (Online): http://www.wix.com/
PageBreeze (Free visual (WYSIWYG) and HTML tag/source modes): http://www.pagebreeze.com/

Serif WebPlus SE: http://myrtc.blogspo...webplus-se.html
Download Trellian WebPage (Free): http://www.trellian....ge/download.htm
WebSketch: http://www.websketch.com/
Create a free website with Jimdo!: http://www.jimdo.com/
Notepad++ (Free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages): http://notepad-plus....net/uk/site.htm

Why Validate?: http://validator.w3.org/docs/why.html

[BeckyH]

does anyone have any recommendations as to what is easiest and best?