Does anyone have a recommendation for a straightforward website builder? I’ve heard of Wordpress, but that’s about it.
What sort of web site do you wish to build?
Something quite simple - it’s for a church - with space for
- a bit of text
- some photos
- a calendar
- audio
- contact details
Assuming you are not going to pay someone to do the site for you, there are basically two choices.
- Use an easy proprietary site-builder such as SquareSpace or Wix. These are designed for those without technical knowledge, and are usually fairly easy to use. They come with a lot of ready-made templates.
Downsides are the cost - usually higher than with an open-source solution such as WordPress, and (the biggest drawback) they are proprietary, which means if you decide to stop using that particular site builder and take your business elsewhere, you will be starting from scratch.
- WordPress, hosted by a general-purpose web hosting company. Pretty much all of them offer WordPress either as a default or with a “one click” install.
WordPress is “open source” aka free so there are no upfront costs apart from your fee for hosting the website (typically £70-£100 a year).
WordPress comes with a couple of very basic site designs (called “themes”) but there are many free ones you can download, as well as premium paid-for themes with extra features.
There will be more of a learning curve with WordPress, and (crucially) it will be down to you to keep it updated (not too difficult!).
Additional features can be added to WordPress via “plugins” (many free, some paid for) which makes it far more flexible and customisable than any proprietary website builder.
A WordPress website is also portable - if you decide to switch to a different web hosting provider your WordPress site can be backed up and transferred across to the new host. That is not the case with proprietary site builders - i.e. a SquareSpace website can only be hosted by SquareSpace.
if you want some hand-holding with WordPress there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere, and there are also plenty of web designers who know the product who can help you ot (for a fee) if needed.
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Thanks, @ChrisMann . I just had a look at Wix, and wasn’t impressed. (It also seems to be geared to business users.)
We’ll have a deeper look at Wordpress.
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it is not the easiest option, but in the long term it gives you much more control and flexibility, as well as not being beholden to a provider whose code you are lumbered with if it goes wrong…
I’ve known many photographers who have fallen for the sales pitch of software companies offering “easy to use websites designed especially for photographers” who have been left with a buggy product and minimal or ineffective tech support.
That’s not to say that SquareSpace is not a reputable company, but personally I think that a bit of effort put in at the start to learn WordPress will probably pay dividends.
Unless your website requirements are really ultra-minimal.
I’m asking this with no knowledge but would a Facebook page do the job?
On the practical side yes you could probably add most of the features mentioned by Lord Porridge, but not everybody uses Facebook, whereas a website is easily accessible via any web browser.
ETA - and the argument against proprietary software applies in spades with Facebook - they are always bu**ering about with it and you cede a lot of rights to your content to them.
If you have a Google account Google sites does a decent job for a basic site. It’s free hosting so it has certain advantages
We have a Facebook page but, as m’ learned friend says, not sure that everyone uses it.
I’ll have a look at Google, @chrisell : I got a headache watching American videos about Wordpress! I think I could hack it; not sure about the lady who shares the bathroom.
Have a look at https://www.silex.me/
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Wix are also con merchants and will charge you for your own content should you want it also just about everything is chargeable. An old company I worked for asked me to build them a site after one of their board had set up an awful Wix site.
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I would have suggested blogger plus Google calendar. Blogger is very easy to use and you can add comments if required.
I still have the blog I started in 2003.