Hi,

I own a site called Opentopia (http://www.opentopia.com) - it currently comprises of several different sections, with the most popular and original part being the Webcams section.

I want to make the site ONLY about the webcams. To achieve this, a drastic redesign of the site is required.

I need a new logo (bold and bright and including an indication of webcams/cameras), new layout and some reorganisation of data. I want to make it more 'web 2.0'!.

I invisage the new site only consisting of a few pages:

The front page - an introduction to Opentopia and some options to view all cameras or by country. It would be nice to do this by an interactive map or similar, as well as text links. Currently the site determines location of camera by Geo IP database.

The page which is currently 'hiddencam.php', which allows people to choose different options. Also redesigned to look much more in keeping with modern 2.0 website. I don't require the news feed (down the left) or the sunlight map any more.

The page which is currently 'showcam.php', should be put into newer design too,.and the comments kept short or over several pages or something else to tidy them up (maybe expire comments over so many months old), to make it look less spammy to search engines and people alike. It should not be launched in a new page and should flow from the previous page, which it doesn't at the moment. I would also like a way for people to rate the cameras. If it's possible, to make the site more Seach Engine friendly, each camera perhaps having its own URL, to make the site look like it has more pages.

An About page which I will add text to, in the same new design.

I bought this site in 2005 and have done very little with it. The PHP in the background is complex and beyond my understanding. There is a mysql database and lot of files are included to make the webcams work. I need someone to take it on who will not interfere or break anything which works but also transform the site to look and feel
up to date and more usable. I also need any new design to take SEO into consideration.

I'd like to be able to see the new site side-by-side with the old, in a temporary directory or similar so I know it works with the complex PHP and that the webcams update as they should (the developer should consult cron jobs etc to understand how the site pieces it all together presently).

If someone can simplify the way the site works, all the better, but I guess the whole updating of webcams should be kept as it is (if it works don't fix it!) unless the developer is very confident of what they are doing to rewrite it and make it more efficient.

I invisage this process taking some time, but have a limited budget as the site does not currently generate any significant income, I need to keep costs low.

It occurs to me I ought to add more specifics to my requirements as I see them.

Aswell as the update to the current design and to make the whole site 'web 2.0', important factors include the following:

In the new 'showcam.php', The info about the cam and the previous images should be near the top, the comments below or on a different page (or paginated if too many). The comments could also suit being scrapped in their current form and having users sign up to leave comments to make it more controllable, requiring administration for these (there is basic admin which can be demonstrated). The showcam.php?id=xxx where xxx is the cam ID should translate to a new more SE friendly URL for continuity, so the user no longer sees that, and the SEs are able to follow any redirects to new URLs to spider. The default view for the cams should be refreshing still image so people don't have to have the ActiveX control (have preferences to set this, and a settings page)

There is a small amount more to add but I am running out of characters here.