This document provides a checklist of key considerations and features to evaluate when choosing a website building service or software. It discusses factors like content editing options, template designs, ecommerce functions, blogging capabilities, email support, customer support, photo management, and whether to rent a hosted service or purchase owning software. The main takeaway is that website building has become accessible to those without coding knowledge, and the document aims to help readers identify the right tools and features based on their needs and goals for their site.
2. Can you really get a website even without knowing
anything about code, and without paying a fortune?
Find out.
3. The days when websites were primarily distinguished by
their code are long gone. Nowadays, the web is a true
publishing medium that favors well thought-out ideas.
You can get a professional-looking website online in
minutes with many website building services and
software. But what should you look for? What are the
features you really need and which are just clutter?
5. Some website authoring software packages only allow
you to entire plain, unformatted text. Some of them
allow you to entire HTML tags. Others provide a
WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") interface
with options for font, links, and image insertion much
like a word processor's. Some will allow you to use more
than one, or even all of these options so you have a
choice on how you want to format your text.
7. Every website builder ever invented came with at least
one or two templates for creating the graphical look of a
website, so you don't have to design the look of the site
yourself. But some packages have very large libraries of
templates, some have only a few. Some will let you mix
and match elements of the design templates, while
others will lock you in to one setup.
9. Many ready-to-go websites created by website builder
software feature built-in shopping carts. Some even
come with credit card processing. This is of course
necessary if you're going to be selling stuff direct online.
But if you're not going to be selling anything,
ecommerce functionalities may just complicate the
administration of the site and pad the price for the
software or service.
11. Blogs are "web logs," but blogging software involves
more than just a simple online journal. Blogging
technology allows you to send your new posts directly to
subscribers via RSS, without them having to visit your
site or receive an email from you. Still, unless you plan
on updating your site regularly (at least once a month),
your website's blog will just gather cobwebs.
13. Some hosted web authoring systems provide email
accounts at no additional charge, while others do charge
separately. Some web builder systems even come with
modules for creating email newsletters.
15. It is very likely that you will encounter a technical
difficulty at some point while owning your website.
Make sure you know in advance of paying whether the
company provides only paid support, and if any included
support is over email, a web ticketing system, or the
telephone.
17. For many, if not most, people who want personal
websites, displaying pictures online is a primary
motivation, if not the only motivation. If you want to
display pictures on your website, make sure to choose a
website builder system that makes it easy to upload and
publish images.
19. You can buy website authoring software upfront for a
flat fee, or you can "rent;" i.e., pay a company every
month to use a hosted service. The choice is up to you,
but remember that the hosted service will likely charge
you much more in the end: averaging around
$20/month, hosted the typical hosted website builder
will cost you $240/year--far more than most desktop
software.
20. In short, you don't need to know how a website is coded
to make one, any more than a book author needs to
know about printing ink. Don't burden yourself with
learning how to do web design. Having fun with your
website starts with choosing a website builder software
that will make it fun.
