A website builder is software that allows the user to create websites without manual code editing. No editing of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript is required to construct a fully functional modern website. You don’t have to hire a web designer to have a professionally designed site. You can do it yourself, as long as the website is relatively small and not complex.
There are two types of website builders: online and offline. Online builders are proprietary software tools that are provided by web hosting companies. Wikipedia says: “Some companies allow the site owner to install alternative tools (commercial or open-source) — the more complex of these may also be described as content management systems” (CMS).
Offline website builders are designed to be used on a computer, with or without an online Internet connection, and which can then publish these pages on any host. Wikipedia says: “These are often considered to be “website design software”, rather than “website builders”. WordPress is an online builder that has a way of creating an offline builder through Bitnami.
Historical Perspective
The first website appeared in the early 1990’s. These sites were manually written with a text editor using HTML. Microsoft released FrontPage in November 1995, which made building websites easier. By 1998, Dreamweaver had been established as the industry leader. GeoCities was launched in 1994.
Online Website Builders
- Online website builders were designed with smaller website projects in mind, not large corporate ones.
- The main advantage of an online website builder is that it is quick and easy to use, and often does not require prior experience.
- No need to install anything on your computer or purchase any software (just use your browser).
- You can work on your website from anywhere.
- There are general website builders available, as well as industry-specific ones.
Offline Website Builders
- You can still work on your website even if you’re offline (no Internet connection)
- Offline web builders cater to professional web designers who need to create pages for more than one client or web host.
- Modern offline web builders are usually both WYSIWYG and allow direct editing of source code and cascading style sheets (CSS) styling.
- They are more flexible than online builders.
The Best Website Builders
According to one article, The Best Website Builders by Steve Benjamins at SiteBuilderReport.com, the two best are Squarespace and Shopify. Honourable mentions go to the following website builders, with the best listed first: Webflow, Carrd, wix.com, weebly.com and format. Really though it depends on the developer’s level of experience and the type of website you are developing. Steve has written an article called Cheapest Website Builder
WordPress Page Builders
What about using WordPress and a page builder? What are the best WordPress page builders. You could check out the video called The Best WordPress Page Builders Compared 2020 – Brizy, Elementor, Divi Compared! that was recentlyu put up on YouTube on November 3, 2019 by Darrel Wilson. In this video, Darrel covers all of the most popular WordPress page builders and show you how they each work visually so you can decide what is the best page builder for you.
Here is a list of the WordPress page builders talked about in the video. The better ones are generally listed near the top of the list, but it depends on your computer experience and the type of website you are building as to which one is best for you.
- Brizy Page Builder: https://www.darrelwilson.com/brizy-bu…
- Divi Theme (20% Off) https://www.darrelwilson.com/divi20
- Elementor: https://www.darrelwilson.com/elemento…
- Avada Theme: https://www.darrelwilson.com/avada
- Thrive Architect: https://www.darrelwilson.com/thrive
- Beaver Builder: https://www.darrelwilson.com/beaverbu…
- WpBakery: https://www.darrelwilson.com/wpbakery
- Wp-Page Builder: https://www.darrelwilson.com/WP-PageB…