Nowadays, it is pretty simple to create a website by yourself. Gone are the days where you need a degree and coding skills to make your website accessible to the public. There are a number of programs out there with their main purpose being allowing the average everyday consumer to be able to create content online and post it to one place.
The problem now isn’t that someone doesn’t know how to make their website, it is which service to choose. Here, I will give you some strengths and weaknesses of some of the major web manager sites, ranked in order of the level of skill needed to operate each one.
Weebly
Photo Credits: Weebly
Weebly is a free website builder and eCommerce site that everyone and their grandmother can use. It has a very simple design and layout to help you navigate the creation of your site. It is also very simple to use; with its drag and drop option, you can get your content onto your site in a matter of seconds and have it live before the sun goes down. It has a variety of fun themes that allows its’ users to show off their creative side, while still accomplishing your goal of publishing your content.
The biggest downside to Weebly is the inability to customize your site. You have to use their set blocks and tools for your site, nothing else. Even some of the more interactive tools you have to pay money for it. It is a great site for people just getting into website development or who want a simple site that they can fix up with absolutely no computer skills required.
Wix
Photo Credits: Wix
The next website builder that gives you a bit more customization is Wix. Though it is not much, Wix in my books takes it a step further than Weebly. It still is easy to utilize and work with, what with the drag and pull options and easy to understand formatting. It has many unique templates to choose from and the ability to customize them how you see fit, but just like Weebly, you do have to stick to what they give you. You won’t have any capability of changing everything on your website, nor completely customizing it.
This is a free platform that allows new website enthusiasts to explore the various options that the internet has to offer, but it is by far not the best one out there. For those individuals looking to make their own personal site that is simple to create and keep updated, Wix is probably the best platform to do so, especially if you have very limited computer skills.
SquareSpace
Photo Credits: SquareSpace
This next website builder is an up and coming competitor that can rival WordPress. SquareSpace combines what Wix does and adds some features that WordPress offers. You can create your website on this free platform by using its easy to use navigator and establish page content with its drag and drop options. It is very simplistic, but some of the best websites nowadays are starting to lean more towards the simplicity that is starting to trend.
You also have the option to add some personal code, if you want, which is something that makes WordPress so appealing to those with coding skills. SquareSpace has a number of themes that allows you to utilize the site to the fullest, but only if you know what you are doing. Though it is very close to how Wix and Weebly operate, SquareSpace does require a bit more computer skills than those previously mentioned, but that does not mean you have to be an expert on the stuff either. I would say that intermediate computer skills would suffice in assisting anyone wanting to use SquareSpace.
WordPress
Photo Credits: WordPress
The final website builder that I will talk about is WordPress. As you can tell, I am using WordPress right now for my website. It is by far the best builder that I have used in regards to ability to customize your website, but only as long as you know how to code (HTML, PHP, or CSS). If you understand even a bit of any of those languages, WordPress might be the site for you.
It has tremendous amounts of resources available to its users to help guide their creation, and if you know what you are doing, your WordPress website can really take you places. The biggest problem here is the fact that you really do need to know what you are doing in order to unlock the great potential WordPress offers. Yes, beginners and less experienced individuals can definitely use WordPress, but in order to truly get everything out of this builder, you will need to be quite experienced in computer skills. It doesn’t have the easy drag and drop options like the other website builders have, but if you know what you are doing, the lack of those options is actually beneficial for you. All in all, WordPress is a great site, as long as you know what you are doing.
There are a number of other sites that I didn’t talk about here, and that doesn’t make them less important or usable as these ones mentioned above. They just happent to not be as widely used as these. One thing that a lot of people think is that Website Builders are expensive, but they really don’t have to be. The only think you really should think about purchasing is your domain name; everything else can be free for the websites. Yes, you won’t have access to everything that they websites offer, but that’s the price you didn’t have to pay.
Another option you can look into is going through a Hosting Site. Instead of going to the source (i.e. WordPress), you can purchase an account with BluHost, GoDaddy, HostGator, or Yahoo Web Hosting. When you purchase access to one of these, you also have the option to install one of the website developer plugins so that instead of having to understand coding and working on the backend of the website through the coding files, you can install a plugin and automatically get access to one of the sites mentioned above with some of its perks.
My next blog will contain short cuts that I have learned throughout the years to help with making your life easier when working with computers. It will contain shortcuts for MACs and for Windows Desktops so that anyone can use them.
Check out my previous Blogs for more useful tips:
5 Simple Steps to Keep Your Phone Running Healthy
Stay Tech Savy!
0 Comments
4 Pingbacks