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Review of 3 website builders. What website builder do you use?

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by Super_Vendor, Feb 20, 2013.

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  1. #1
    Hey everybody,
    I was just curious what website builder some of you experienced designers use?

    I have always done all of my own graphics, and I always use photoshop for that of course. But over my years of making websites (I've probably made around 10 full sites) I have changed programs a few times and have a strong favorite.

    I decided to post a couple that I've used and give a little description for anybody who is interested in web design and/or development.

    Webstarts

    When I was brand new to the game I used a website called Webstarts.com. It's real great for a beginner which I was, but as I got more advanced and needed to use scripts and things it failed me. The service is an "all in one." By that I mean the hosting, the builder, the domain... all in the same place. The entire builder is online and very easy to use, but they do not allow you to edit the <head> of your website. Which as I'm sure you know, takes away a lot of possibilities... from exit pops... to analytics. They had a section where you could input description and meta tags though.

    Also, everything you upload to the server (which you don't really have access to) automatically goes into a folder called uploads/. This caused me a lot of problems when I would try to upload a folder of a software to the server. I would have to go in and change all of the file references and add the ...uploads/.

    All in all, webstarts is very good and easy to use if you are getting started. My first 3 website were created with them and I made money on all of them. Plus they are continuing to improve their services every single day.


    Dreamweaver

    I switched to this because I felt like this was the "big boy" "mother of all website creators" and got started. Plus it's made by adobe and you know they are great.
    I created an entire website with Dreamweaver and it took about 6 months. Dreamweaver has a VERY steep learning curve and I struggled for a while. It was easy enough to look up YouTube tutorials for most of my problems. With dreamweaver of course you install it onto your computer, then you have to get hosting and a domain. (hostgator and namecheap are what I use) Then you just sync the program with your server via FTP. This makes it where you basically have a program on your computer to build a website, then you just click publish, and what you see on your computer is now online as a website. Dreamweaver is very powerful and advanced, you can basically do anything you could imagine with it, but when I used it, unfortunately, it was overwhelming and the learning curve was too steep. Also, it is very expensive. $300 if I remember correctly.



    Serif WebPlus

    This is by far my favorite. I found this one after quitting with dreamweaver. WebPlus is basically the best of the previous 2 that I just mentioned. It's super easy, drag and drop, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), PLUS it gives you all of the advanced capabilities that dreamweaver did as well. WebPlus is also only $50.

    I am not the most advanced web builder, but so far there hasn't been anything that WebPlus couldn't handle and it is SO much easy than dreamweaver plus about 1/5 the price. WebPlus is a software you download to your computer just like dreamweaver. Just sync it with your server and you are good to go. It's fun and easy to use. There is a learning curve but easily manageable.




    So.... I don't know why I typed all of this. I just remember when I first started creating website I was so clueless to all of this and would have loved to have known this information before hand.

    Please let me know if anybody knows of any other builders, I am quite hooked on Serif WebPlus at the moment but I always like to check out more programs.

    Thanks for reading.
     
    Super_Vendor, Feb 20, 2013 IP
  2. cesurasean

    cesurasean Active Member

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    #2
    I use Dreamweaver CS6, and have been programming HTML for over 13+ years. I typically code by hand, but there are many features that I use in Dreamweaver from time to time, especially the multi file replace tool that will allow me to edit more than 1 file at once and save time.
     
    cesurasean, Feb 20, 2013 IP
  3. rarazakia

    rarazakia Greenhorn

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    #3
    I use Dreamweaver, because i think this stuff is more user friendly and the tools are more powerful. About Serif WebPlus, i never try this one.
     
    rarazakia, Feb 20, 2013 IP
  4. creativewebmaster

    creativewebmaster Active Member

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    #4
    I mostly use Dreamweaver and its easy to write custom code.
     
    creativewebmaster, Feb 23, 2013 IP
  5. Currency Trader

    Currency Trader Member

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    #5
    XsitePro2 is worth a look - it's actually 2.5, because you buy v2 then upgrade to 2.5

    Otherwise, just try the quick install CMS programs provided in cPanel - some are intuitive, most are not, but they're all good for site-building
     
    Currency Trader, Feb 23, 2013 IP
  6. me.prosenjeet

    me.prosenjeet Greenhorn

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    #6
    Did anyone have a look at WYSIWYG Web Builder?
    I find it simple and damn easy to work with and yes, it is a great software.
    Best part is, it is not complicated like some of the ones named above.
     
    me.prosenjeet, Feb 23, 2013 IP
  7. Currency Trader

    Currency Trader Member

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    #7
    Yes, I've got version 8, but apart from playing about with it, I've not built anything with it

    I don't find it easy to use at all
     
    Currency Trader, Feb 23, 2013 IP
  8. wiicker95

    wiicker95 Well-Known Member

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    #8
    None.

    Why to bother if the outcome is gibberish?
    I do understand that a lot of people don't have the knowledge to create a website by themselves, but that doesn't even matter anymore today; you can hire a full-fledged "jack of all trades" practically for peanuts. It's a better choice that blowing $300 to receive junk.
     
    wiicker95, Feb 23, 2013 IP
  9. B_Hermelijn

    B_Hermelijn Member

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    #9

    I agree with wicker95. You better off start learning how to hand code your codes, besides that HTML / CSS is easy.
     
    B_Hermelijn, Feb 23, 2013 IP
  10. Stone Rain

    Stone Rain Greenhorn

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    #10
    I use Notepad on Windows machines, gedit on Ubuntu, and CodingTheWeb on ChromeOS. WYSIWYG editors are the worst thing to happen to web design and development since Microsoft deciding to support enormously old versions of IE, long after they're obsolete.

    For graphics, Photoshop and GIMP.

    My take on "website creators" is that you should always write your code as though the person who will end up editing/maintaining your written site is a psychopath that knows where you live. And that means using straight text editors, nothing beyond.
     
    Stone Rain, Feb 25, 2013 IP
  11. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #11
    Wow, for once we have some SANE responses to the question instead of the endless horde of "use Dreamweaver" one-line wonder posters. (That makes you wonder "are people REALLY this stupid?")

    As already noted, "Site creators" -- particularly on the WYSIWYG side of things -- produce rubbish non-semantic inaccessible code that costs more to host, is generally broken cross browser, is painfully slow to watch load, on on the whole only produce the ILLUSION that people with no HTML/CSS can make a website. Such users are deluding themselves with "But it looks ok on my screen in one browser" forgetting that not everyone has the same size screen, same resolutions, or are even ON a screen device for that manner. (Like my currently teaching myself to use a braille reader).

    I have NEVER seen a website built with a WYSIWYG that was worth a flying purple fish, and have rarely if ever seen a page made with Dreamweaver even using 'code view' only that was worth a damned either! The only thing you can learn from those types of tools is how NOT to build a website -- which is why I keep saying "The only thing about Dreamweaver that can be considered professional grade tools are the people promoting it's use!"

    I am increasingly of the opinion that if you cannot bother to write a website in a modern RECOMMENDATION doctype with valid markup, practicing separation of presentation from content and accessible minimalist semantic markup -- OR are unable/unwilling to hire someone to do it for you... Well, to be frank, those folks probably have NO BLASTED BUSINESS having a website in the first place unless it's a goofy personal page that nobody will visit.
     
    deathshadow, Mar 6, 2013 IP
  12. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #12
    ... and so much for sane responses :(
     
    deathshadow, Mar 7, 2013 IP
  13. TheLimeDesign

    TheLimeDesign Well-Known Member

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    #13
    See, the best web builder is the one that YOU are most comfortable with. You cannot seek advice from others on this, but rather experience this yourself. Everyone will have their preferences and there is no right or wrong answer.

    I started coding back in 1998 when we only used Notepad. That is the only tool where it all started. But to make things convenient, web builders started emerging. I've tried too many builders, and I personally find Dreamweaver comfortable just because of its layout (HTML and CSS sits together on the same view). But someone will disagree to this because he/she finds it too cluttered. End of day you decide what is comfortable to you and try all possible builders.
     
    TheLimeDesign, Mar 7, 2013 IP
  14. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #14
    BRAVO-FOXTROT-SIERRA -- there are a LOT of wrong answers out there, like say... pretty much EVERY WYSIWYG there is?

    The only way one can use Dreamweaver and produce ANYTHING of value is to pretty much ignore 98% or more of it's functionality and restrict oneself to code view; and even THEN I've seen it load perfectly valid code, hit save WITHOUT changing anything, and had it completely shtup working pages. There is NOTHING of value anyone can learn from it, and to be frank by the time one can ALLEGEDLY make a useful page with it (Though I've never seen one done so) you'd have been better off with Flo's Notepad 2, editplus, notepad++, gEdit, text wrangler or any of the hundreds of other free programmers editors.

    The mere NOTION of a "website builder" -- the very presence of that pairing of words, should raise the hackles on one's hackles if you know the first blasted thing about web development; DOUBLY so for the steaming pile of manure online ones that come with some hosting packages.

    But of course, with so many people sleazing out HTML 3.2 and slapping 4 tranny or 5 lip-service around it with ZERO understanding of semantics, separation of presentation from content, CSS inheritance, minimalist markup, accessible design, or any of the two or three dozen other improvements in methodology we're supposed to have been using the past decade and a half!

    Though your response is entirely typical of what I expect from the "Accessibility, what's that?!?" crowd -- Wouldn't be the least surprised if your websites used illegible color contrasts, had zero images off graceful degredation, crappy inaccessible fixed width asshattery, had large swaths of px metric fonts, used absolute URL's on EVERYTHING, inlined endless redundant presentation, had endless pointless classes and wrappers for nothing, gibberish use of numbered headings with some headings outright missing, declared font sizes to 8 decimal places, and blew around half a megabyte in 50 or more files on delivering less than 5k of plaintext and a dozen and a half content images that are little more than thumbnails... in other words the usual laundry list of how not to build a website.

    Oh wait... there it is... How right was I...

    Spot on it would seem. * shakes head in disgust *
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2013
    deathshadow, Mar 7, 2013 IP
  15. Isak Hejnesen

    Isak Hejnesen Greenhorn

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    #15
    I use Dreamweaver the most, or i use Coda 2.
     
    Isak Hejnesen, Mar 8, 2013 IP
  16. smithangela

    smithangela Greenhorn

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    #16
    I was reading something really interesting about website builder comparison & found very helpful for me. here i got comparison of so many website builder in a one table with powerful features comparison..check it really interesting:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website_builder#Website_builder_comparison
     
    smithangela, Nov 15, 2013 IP
  17. John Michael

    John Michael Member

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    #17
    Some time i use netbean for php coding because it have a lot of suggestion in php function. I use dream weaver for webs design and php coding also. Dreamweaver is the best option for designer and developer also. Notepad ++ is also good for coding.
     
    John Michael, Jan 27, 2014 IP