Why You Should Not Use the Online Site Builder If You Can
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:30 amIn spite of the above, when visitors ask this question, Website Design CA normally recommend that they forgo the online web builder and learn to use an offline, standalone web editor. In the short term, this may seem like it increases the hurdle of getting your site onto the Internet, but there are far-reaching long term benefits.
Building your website using a site builder only seems easy on the surface, since it provides the illusion you don't need to dream up the visual appearance of your website. You can simply use their provided templates.
But despite what newcomers think, designing a website is more than creating an pleasing visual look. There are far more important aspects to web design, including usability and search engine friendliness.
As you learn more about these things, you will want to modify your website so that it is more usable and search engine friendly. When you limit yourself to a site builder, you are surrendering flexibility and total control in exchange for initial ease-of-use.
Now, of course it's possible that some site builders provide you with facilities to modify every aspect of your web pages. To do that, you will probably have to spend time learning the interface and working with it (or even around it) to accomplish your task. Why bother? All the skills you acquire in working with the site builder are not transferable. The moment you leave that web host, you have to re-learn everything again. You might as well have spent the time learning a standalone web editor. Your skills will then be usable no matter which web host you use, even if they don't provide a site builder.
Building your website using a site builder only seems easy on the surface, since it provides the illusion you don't need to dream up the visual appearance of your website. You can simply use their provided templates.
But despite what newcomers think, designing a website is more than creating an pleasing visual look. There are far more important aspects to web design, including usability and search engine friendliness.
As you learn more about these things, you will want to modify your website so that it is more usable and search engine friendly. When you limit yourself to a site builder, you are surrendering flexibility and total control in exchange for initial ease-of-use.
Now, of course it's possible that some site builders provide you with facilities to modify every aspect of your web pages. To do that, you will probably have to spend time learning the interface and working with it (or even around it) to accomplish your task. Why bother? All the skills you acquire in working with the site builder are not transferable. The moment you leave that web host, you have to re-learn everything again. You might as well have spent the time learning a standalone web editor. Your skills will then be usable no matter which web host you use, even if they don't provide a site builder.
