I have a website which currently works okay but its on my old Windows PC and software is not compatible with my new Mac. the old PC is struggling and sooner or later will give up the ghost. Just wondered how much it might cost to get a new site done that I can easily maintain myself. Tyson did the old site but doesn't have time these days to do a new one

Should have said my son did the old site :-D

I looked in yellow pages and found that if I looked at websites of only local people it was easy to see which were the big boys, or geeks earning a bob or two.  I found an IT guy who worked privately in the evenings.  I told him where to find my website, which was very, very basic as I'd put it together myself.  As most info was there, he just made it more professional and got me my own domain name.  I paid around £300.

I use Serif Webplus to make my own website.  it's a WYSIWYG program .  I don't use the many more complex things it does, keeping my site fairly basic..

What is good for version 7 upwards is you can download your pages back into the program, should you loose your computer files you don't have to reconstruct each page from scratch again.

When I bought new computer I got a newer version (X6) to the 7 I had been happy with.

Their latest version is X8, they always used to offer older versions free.

http://www.serif.com/webplus/?MC=SERPPCWP1&gclid=COrn9OO19cQCFcXKtAod9DAA_w

This all sounds very complicated to a dinosaur like me. Having switched from a windows pc to a mac (even though I have windows installed) still not confident I can do it as well as the one that is already running.

That is the beauty with the webplus program you can download your existing pages into the program edit and upload them.

Once you have input the details for the access you don't have to do anything complicated.

This lady is excellent. She breeds and shows gundogs so knows what dog people want. She is also on Champdogs.

http://www.dorsetwebdesign.net/index.php

Any idea on how much I might be looking to pay?

I think it depends on how much work is involved. If you just want pages transferred or a whole new website building.  But if you contact her she will give you a quote. But nothing like some of the website companies charge.

I have got 6 websites for our various things, I have used webs and webeden most often, they are template based programs online and are easy enough to follow. Think i usually pay about £60 every 2 years for hosting online. I have designed a website for a friend before for her business and charged her £300 to do it, hope that helps with costs.

Use Weebly, it's completely free and a doddle to use

Also you can get free webspace and tools from Bravenet.

I'd second using a template based service like Weebly (free) or Create (a few £ per month), they're pretty simple to set up & keep updated, and as they are web based, you should be able to access them from any computer/laptop, anywhere in the world.

Personally I'd go for Weebly for an 'information only' site, or Create if you want to have a shop function, as I found Weebly's shop function a bit more 'clunky' to use.

Bravenet so the same free templates and space