Problems with a Seller - Not sure what to do

[johnwash1]

Hi, I have been in touch and he said through PP that I have 2 options
1 Pay his still undisclosed wage bill (I am not asking about it, and he seems reluctant to let me know the details; the inference is that unless he gets this he will do no more work on it
2 Take the site as it is (quite happy with it) the only problem I have is his (still unreasonable) demands. This would leave me needing a new host for the site.

In addition I have a what if question. As the site is a CMS one (where I will be able to change the content myself), I am assuming the likely-hood of it malfunctioning is small. But if it did I am wondering if it is the same situation as say a computer going wrong: you just take it to a repair shop who will do what they can to fix it. Or, as these sites are bespoke and copyrighted, would other professionals refuse to touch them?

Thanks

Which CMS is it?

[lofty100e]

Hi Johnwash, It is a Joomla site (not sure about the spelling).

[Idealproductsales]

Oh there's LOTS (thousands) of decent Joomla developers and experts on both of the freelancer websites I have mentioned so you should have no trouble with fixing broken stuff

I would recommend getting your own hosting and move the CMS there (might want to hire a freelancer to check things over) - some will work as cheap as $50 - $100 USD (or less) and don't try to hire freelancers privately - the 2 freelance worker websites I mention are very good at making the whole deal work out safely for both sides and at the agreed upon price.

[johnwash1]

Hi Johnwash, It is a Joomla site (not sure about the spelling).

OK, Joomla is a reasonably popular open source CMS. Never used it myself so I can't say much. I have the impression it used to have quite a lot of security problems, so it's probably advisable to keep it patched with fixes regularly.

Your hosting will need to allow PHP (a programming language, often used for web sites). This rules out the cheapest hosting, which allows only static HTML. But that's true of any CMS -- without a CMS you have to make changes by editing the HTML pages and uploading them.

My gut feel is that, assuming you're on a tight budget, you're going to have to be willing to learn a lot as time goes on. In your shoes I'd want to find someone local who you feel you can work with and trust. And they need to be the sort of person who's happy to pass on their knowledge, rather than keeping you in the dark and trying to create a meal ticket out of you.

Even before you get to thinking about what kind of system to host it on, I feel the first steps should be to decide in broad terms what the site is to do, what each page will contain, how visitors will navigate around the site and find what they need. Perhaps you've already done that? Though I'm not convinced you have, reviewing your initial post where you said the project had grown from 5 pages to 10 without your permission.

I'll be interested to hear other views. I've never commissioned a web site, nor designed one for a client, so I'm shooting at this from the hip.

Good luck.

[lofty100e]

Hi Johnwash, I will send you a PM about this. Thanks for your assistance