Need "Under Construction" help

[aoitsukinosuke]

I don't know how to explain this w/o sounding silly.

I just got my own domain for my start-up with my 2 partners in different countries.
Our business isn't too much based on customer logging, just informative introduction, our company, mission, etc and contact info of our locations.

Being an absolute newbie with CMS, I'm fiddling around with the cPanel of the host site. Out of a number of CMS options, I'm focusing on Joomla and Wordpress.

What I want to do is; make my own basic design until we need further professional help later. However, until we have all the information to be posted, I want my domain to show an "Under Construction" screen.

But, I want the website visible in the background with the "Under Construction" picture of my choice at the front, not just a ready made template.

Below is an example I prepared.

Is it possible to achieve that with my shallow knowledge? And if yes, which CMS should I choose?

I appreciate all the help in advance.

 

[Consultant]

No one is going to care about your under construction sign.

If you got content, show it (such as your contact, what you do), otherwise don't publicize your website yet.

 

[AFPoster]

AOITS is right. Under Construction is a waste of time and it will probably make you lose potential prospects from viewing your site in the future. If you have data make it visible otherwise wait until it's complete. Showing something is better than showing nothing.

 

[960design]

Agreed, NEVER post under construction.

Just put up a single page with an image, your company name and contact information.

 

[notjustjay]

Agreed. "Under construction" is a cliche in the web world. I remember back when sites would even post pictures of construction barricades, shovels, hard hats, and for bonus points they were even animated GIFs with pictures of little construction sign stick-men shovelling dirt. Edit: like these!

The reason it is cliche is because all web sites are ALWAYS under construction. That's sort of the point of a website, it is dynamic, and ever-changing. A good website is always being updated. The problem occurs because always, inevitably, there's one page (or worse, an entire site) that the webmaster never seems to quite get around to, and doesn't get updated for weeks, months, even years... all the while, the little animated shovel keeps flickering away...

No, take a cue from Gandalf ("a wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.") Your website displays what it displays. If a page isn't ready, don't publish it yet.

There are a few exceptions, for example if this is a high-profile product launch, you could generate buzz by posting a big countdown until the site is available to the public. But other than that, nobody will care -- just post what you have when it's ready.

 

[aoitsukinosuke]

I hope you guys do not take this as an insolent remark, but when I posted my message, I had already made up my mind. And was just asking for tech advice, not whether I should do it or not. Now, it's up and running.

Nevertheless, I appreciate your time and suggestions. Thank you.

 

[notjustjay]

I hope you guys do not take this as an insolent remark, but when I posted my message, I had already made up my mind. And was just asking for tech advice, not whether I should do it or not. Now, it's up and running.

Nevertheless, I appreciate your time and suggestions. Thank you.

Understood, and I'm glad you found what you wanted. You are certainly free to run your website however you want, but it's worth pointing out that you posted your question in a website forum frequented by industry professionals and experienced web/graphic designers, and all four out of four (100%) respondees strongly indicated that what you wanted to do was a bad idea.

Good luck with your venture, though.

 

[aoitsukinosuke]

Understood, and I'm glad you found what you wanted. You are certainly free to run your website however you want, but it's worth pointing out that you posted your question in a website forum frequented by industry professionals and experienced web/graphic designers, and all four out of four (100%) respondees strongly indicated that what you wanted to do was a bad idea.

Good luck with your venture, though.

And I have full respect for their experience and opinions. This is why I posted my question here in the first place. I read what they wrote and made my decision. So the blame is on me.

Actually, what I ended up doing is design the website in such a way that people see that it has content, they see it's under construction and there is also contact info. Guess you could say that I followed their advice.
Kind of anyway.

Thank you for your concern and kind wishes and once again I hope I haven't offended anyone.