Website Builder: What You Should Look For

Website builders are software tools which usually allow the building of complex web sites without too much manual coding. Instead, they fall into two broad categories: WYSIWYG and traditional HTML editors. Each one has its strengths and disadvantages. The choice to make largely depends on how much time and money one is willing to spend and whether or not the builder is the right tool for the job.

A WYSIWYG website builder is a web designer’s dream. Not only do you get all the standard features available in a HTML editor, but the flexibility to create a website from scratch is almost limitless. You can choose from a wide variety of templates, colors and elements. You can even use third party widgets and integrate them into your layout.

While this sounds like a lot of flexibility, it also comes with a few downfalls. Since most website builders offer a wide variety of templates, it’s easy to get caught up in a whole spectrum of choices and end up making mistakes. Because of the flexibility offered by these programs, there is a chance that you will choose a template that is not compatible with your current design. In many cases, you will need to redesign the entire site in order to make it work. WYSIWYG templates are generally expensive and the time spent learning how to design a website using them can be daunting.

Traditionally, an HTML editor would have been the right tool for the job. A freelance web designer would be able to design a website using the format and framework provided by the website builder program. Using an HTML editor is extremely convenient, and if you know what you are doing, you can create a stunning effect and aesthetic with just a few clicks of the mouse. This option also offers one major limitation: you cannot use any template on this kind of software if the website builder does not come with templates.

Some people prefer the ease and comfort of a visually guided program. There are plenty of visual-based WYSIWYG editors out there, as well as programs that allow the user to drag and drop elements into place. While visually guided programs may be more difficult to learn, they tend to be less expensive and offer a good range of templates to choose from. If you have difficulty making changes to layouts, you may find it easier to stick to a pre-designed layout that is offered by a good website builder. These programs make it easy to add, edit, and share content without having to know HTML code.

There are also some WYSIWYG website builders that offer templates, but they do not offer anything that cannot be created through the use of CSS. This means that web designers can save a lot of time by using one of these programs to create a website. One other thing to keep in mind when comparing these types of builder to templates is the amount of data storage. While a template might only have a few hundred items, a good builder will allow a website to hold up to a few thousand items. The end result is that web designers will be able to produce professional looking websites in a much shorter period of time.