...or if you already know of some websites you like the look of, you can tell us about them and we can create something similar for you.
If you want an e-commerce website, or 'online shop' we have a range of cost-effective solutions that can be tailored specifically to your business. Whether you are selling a single product or want a complete owner-managed site with multiple products, shopping cart and customer email lists, Piccante has an online sales solution that will fit your needs and won't cost the earth. You can read more about these in our FAQs section.
Piccante Web Design also offers individually tailored Content Management System websites. CMS sites are flexible, easily updateable (by you) and are an excellent way of getting large amounts of news, information or images online and communicating with your customers and staff.
To view the below designs in full-size simply click on the screenshots. Some are sample 'homepages' only and are are not fully functional, but they should give you some ideas of what could work for you.
| Sample 1 - Bed & Breakfast site | |
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Follonico - a four-suite B & B in Tuscany, Italy Follonico - a restored farmhouse was a labour of love for its owners, Fabio and Suzanne. Their dream was to bring it back to life as a boutique B&B and to help them, Piccante needed to create a site as beautiful as the surrounding countryside yet as simple as italian cucina. Once you've had a look at the site why not book that flight to Italy and go and see them? This site is also online in italiano. |
| Sample 1a - Accommodation rental site | |
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Turn your apartment into a money-earner with a holiday rental website Start earning money with your own website by renting out your holiday apartment or second home. This website created for www.albufeira-rental.com in Portugal is a great example of how a holiday vacation site can work for you. Guests can email reservations or questions directly from the website and view booking availability on a web-based calendar. A 'guestbook' lists guests' comments and a slideshow on the homepage demonstrates some of the beautiful local scenery. |
| Sample 1b - Accommodation rental site | |
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Luxury accommodation in Christchurch, New Zealand Complimenting their existing booking sites, Luxury on Peterborough required something with a little more... well, luxury. Having their own website enables them to better showcase their beautiful rental townhouse and provides much more information than can be displayed as 'just another listing' on a directory-type site. This, of course, increases their online exposure to vacationers and helps drive web traffic to them in the competitive market of holiday accommodation rental |
| Sample 1c - Accommodation rental site | |
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Your search for accommodation in Costa Rica ends in the peaceful ambiance of the LagunaVista Villas website. Bookings and availability are taken securely using the GlobeKey reservation system - supporting encrypted credit card transactions and multiple languages. You control the availability, prices, extras and conditions through an easy-to-use control panel meaning ongoing costs are minimal. |
| E-commerce solution 1 | |
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A powerful, cost effective e-commerce solution to get your business selling multiple products online with a shopping trolley This site created for 'Bralicious' of Hong Kong fits their complete e-commerce requirements. Using a site like this, your business can operate 24 hours a day - and accept all major credit cards (or PayPal transactions) from your customers. Customers can browse products by category, latest items, product search or sale items. This type of site is easy for you to update yourself, add or change products, product information, prices, make promotions or update photographs. You can also generate mailing lists to keep your customers informed of your latest news or deals. It supports multiple currencies, languages and methods of payment - without large upfront or ongoing monthly costs. |
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Another example of a CubeCart based shopping solution for KidsShoesOnline.co.nz Fun, funky and bright. The Kids Shoes Online site sets the scene for a great way to buy kids shoes online, securely and quickly. Managing and updating their own site through the easy-to-use administrator control panel significantly reduces ongoing costs for this New Zealand-based business. Adding new products and images, changing prices and creating special discounts are all done at the click of a button from any computer that has an internet connection. You might also like to view the swedish version of kidsshoesonline, barnskoronline.se! |
| E-commerce solution 2 | |
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The challenge of keeping this site to two pages was overcome by using a modern image viewer highlighting some key points of the planner and a 'mouse-over' hover effect to display larger images. A PayPal shopping trolley was integrated to complete their highly cost-effective online selling medium. |
| E-commerce solution 3 | |
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Sell online through an order form submitted by email. Customers place an order by completing an online form, which you receive by email then process. In this more 'traditional' method of selling online, you can offer a more personalised shopping experience, and have the advantage of ensuring that your customers are 100% satisified with their orders. Once the order is received you can request payments via credit card, internet bank transfer, PayPal or even cheque if you wish. If you have any questions about our e-commerce solutions, we'd love to answer them - just send us an email. |
| Speak Up | |
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An image-rich website for Speak Up, a drama school for children Speak Up wanted a website that was modern and uncluttered in appearance, yet had to show they took their fun seriously! A combination of playful photographs and artistic graphics brings this drama school site to life, appealing to adults and children alike. Bite-sized pieces of key information is displayed on the main site pages, while images and additional information opens nicely in translucent window overlays where more detail is required. A site that truly reflects the modern website design. |
| Saffron Bakery | |
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Saffron Bakery of Hong Kong wanted a website that reflected it's own good taste - we achieved this with a charcoal and gold layout and modern sliding menus and image viewers. |
| Pirongia Golf Club | |
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Pirongia Golf Club, like many modern organisations, faces the challenge of actively encouraging new joiners whilst informing its current members by providing fresh and relevant information. It met these requirements through a fast-downloading site that combines latest script and imaging techniques in displaying its course amongst other features, including the ability to accept online membership applications. |
| Sigma Business Solutions | |
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Sigma wanted a site that was simplicity in itself - focusing on their business and what solutions they can offer their clients. The flash-based slideshow on their homepage informs without distracting and the site is extremely quick in downloading - essential with a relatively high proportion of 'dial-up' internet users in their market. |
| Co-Pia coaching | |
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Strong images, professional-quality photographs and swathes of colour set this site apart. Large amounts of text on any one page are avoided by using accordion-style dropdowns to keep the aesthetics sublime and appealing. Unashamedly, absolutely, irrestistibly feminine! |
| Global Purchasing Solutions | |
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Created for Global Purchasing Solutions in the UK, with an eye to simplicity and functionality A modern and professional look to this corporate website brands Global Purchasing Solutions as a leader in their field of purchasing management and assistance. The lean design assists search engine optimisation and fast-downloading; keeping nobody waiting for their excellent service. |
| Kaitaia Fire (Hong Kong) | |
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Set your browser alight with Kaitaia Fire's award winning hot sauce served up on a Piccante-designed site. Selling online is a key feature to this site and the web-shop is integrated to PayPal's shopping trolley - purchases can be made securely and without the need for an expensive credit card merchant's account or payment gateway. |
| Stonycreek wine (sample site) | |
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A sample homepage featuring drop down menus with a customised order form Darker colours and the use of detailed images make this website ideal for projecting a polished image for your business. This type of website can be easily adapted to sell online, incorporating either an emailable order form (that calculates the total amount of the purchase, including shipping) or a PayPal shopping trolley. |
| Microfest Hong Kong | |
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Time was of the essence for Microfest who wanted to showcase their performances in their upcoming live theatre and comedy festival. Close co-operation between the client and designer meant ideas, concepts and content were transferred quickly, resulting in the publication of the site in a short timeframe without sacrificing the quality of the final result. The ability for Piccante to arrange their web-hosting was also ideal for Microfest's 'one-stop-shop' requirement. |
| Tuscany Property Advisors | |
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A clean, simple design for this business that is in the business of keeping it simple Finding your property in Tuscany or Umbria can be a daunting prospect. This will seem less-so after visiting Tuscany Property Advisors' website which, like the cooking in Italy, is uncomplicated and has taste! Keeping up the italian emphasis of looking good at the same time is of course important and this site uses some clever space saving techniques and custom scroll handles to avoid the aesthetically displeasing web-browser scroll bars. Che bello! |
| Tranquility (sample site) | |
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Tranquility - an effective minimilist design As the internet becomes overloaded with complex, gimmicky sites a simple, clean site like this becomes even more effective. |
| Aveen Jewellery | |
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The exacting requirements of Aveen Jewellery required careful presentation of their exquisite productions. A simple black background provides the perfect backdrop to their stunning jewellery and an image viewer expands a window to view a larger photograph of the thumbnails of each collection. |
| Toucans bar and cafe (sample site) | |
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An über modern site featuring a menu that 'magnifies' each image on mouse hover. For users familiar with Mac computers this effect is similar to the dock. Ultra minimilist and clean, this website entices with its simplicity and use of inviting images. Relaxation on the web! |
| CMS Sample 1 | |
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Content Management System (CMS) site A very flexible and useful site for displaying text-rich data, product information and news etc. CMS sites are able to be updated without any assistance from Piccante and have many additional interactive functions for you, and your customers. |
| CMS Sample 2 | |
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Content Management System for Shed Concepts This live example shows how the Content Management System website works for Australian shed-software design company 'Shed Concepts'. Simple to use with powerful management tools and being user-updateable are just some of the features that make these CMS sites a great investment for your business. |
| Sample 10 |
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A photo or image viewer that can be viewed as an automatic slideshow or controlled by the mouse. Background and border colours and image size are all customiseable. Recommended for highspeed internet connections. |
| Sample 11 |
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Photo or image viewer with thumbnails A photo or image viewer that can be viewed by clicking on thumbnail images, or by scrolling left and right. Background and border colours and image size are all customiseable. Recommended for highspeed internet connections. |
| Sample 12 |
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'Postcard' or image viewer with thumbnails A photo or image viewer that enlarges pictures by clicking on thumbnails. Recommended for highspeed internet connections. |
Thanks to AirtightInteractive.com for these viewers |
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| Sample 13 |
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A stylish photo or image viewer that fades the webpage into the background when each image is enlarged. Next and previous images can be viewed by hovering near the left and right hand edge of each photograph. |
Thanks to Lokesh Dhakar for the Lightbox v2 viewer script |
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It is important that you think carefully about how many pages you want in your website. Many small businesses often need:
A home page
Page(s) containing images and information about products and / or services
Photo galleries or a visual catalogue of products (see Samples 10, 11, 12 and 13 for image viewers / photo galleries designs)
An 'about us' page explaining who you are and what you do
A 'how to find us' page detailing business location and directions, which may include a map
A 'contact us' page explaining how to get in touch with you. Often this will include an emailable enquiry or booking form
Or you may just want a home page with enough information to briefly describe your business and how to get hold of you. These are a few ideas to consider when thinking about how you want your website laid out. We can help with the rest - just send us an email, it's completely cost and obligation free.