Chapter 1 – Introduction / General information’s

There are several ways in which an individual can go on to build an own website. One is to learn the HTML, a tedious affair if one lacks computer background of any kind. The second one is to use a Microsoft’s Frontage which is a HTML editor that converts plain English into HTML and the third one is to use an CMS (Content management system) and get an ready to use design template for it (for example at templatespin.com you get some really nice templates for free, at templatemonster.com you can buy tons of different templates). But the mention of the software involved in the process is sometimes enough to send techphobies running as fast as they can. And then, there is website builders that require little or no help at all to build a (usually amateurish-looking but passable) website. It seems that the culture of ‘do it yourself” or better known with its initials as DIY, doesn’t stop at building a backyard birding sanctuary. It has spread to the field of IT, with fully functional web sites build by ordinary blokes who may even think that PHP is some sort of a medical subscription. Thanks to web site builders, it is possible for otherwise ordinary folks to build a site and host the same as soon as it’s done. Website builders are online tools who nearly all web hosting company offer them for free to his customers and which are used to build a professional looking website, all without thinking about buying software or thinking about where to get the source code. One does not have to be familiar with HTML, a computer language that is almost ubiquitous in web site building. Some of the site builders allow someone to build a web site for free but with some restrictions, and eventually one may. Even to those who perceive themselves as sufficiently skilled as to require no help, these tools can still be helpful in simplifying the job and thus cutting the days needed to complete a website, thus leading to a higher turnover.

Building an own web site by oneself is particularly attractive to individuals and entities who cannot commit substantial time or money developing data-rich web sites. Today’s technology has leveled the playing field and with some cleverly structured tutorials that are available online, plus a host of tools also available online, individuals who love adventure and have some time on their hands can do a meaningful job with scant computer knowledge. But they can not be a substitute for a professionally build site at least for one big reason. The websites built this way cannot thus support vast amounts of data that their professionally built peers can. They may at best be functional enough to pass on the information to the outside world, but their model is inappropriate if the purpose is to run an online store, for the purposes of operating a social networking site. The tools provide templates for a builder to use in a way that reflects his feelings as well as creativity.

There are several site builders available in the market; most hosting company’s offer them “free” to their clients. The word free is quoted to express doubt as to the truthfulness of the assertion of websites being free, as some builders will inbuilt advertising media that are unbeneficial to the website owner, but to the developers of the site builder. The article will proceed to review the well known ones, and later, hosting forums will also feature.

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Chapter 2 - 1&1 websiteBuilder (www.1and1.com)

One of the more prominent web site builders is known as “1&1 instant websiteBuilder” that is offered by 1&1 internet (1&1 review at searchyourwebhost.com). Through a tool called “WebsiteCreator”, one can create a good looking site (the totally amount of pages depends on the hosting package you have bought at 1&1 – it depends between 8 and 40 pages). One just needs to take five steps and hurrah! You’ve got a web site. The five steps would include choosing a layout from a template, designing the website graphics, write the web content in line with your objects, add any features you deem attractive or necessary, and finally publish the website. There are about 120 templates to choose from, as well as different graphics and colors. The site builder also features an online editor to edit the site content. The system can also allow uploading of features as Flash animators, feedback form, guestbook and others, designed to make the site look more attractive and interactive. One of its attractiveness stems from the fact that unlike many websites of any kind, the website created using 1&1 tools are free included in their hosting packages. The downside of this web site builder would be that one is restricted in customization of the template and the layout.

Chapter 3 - Site Studio by SWsoft/Parallels (www.sw-soft.com)

Site Studio is another site builder that was developed by SWsoft – now named parallels - in short. It is a browser based site-builder. many web hosting companys have included this site-builder into their hosting packages - and users may then use it to build their own sites without needing assistance. Like its 1&1 internet rival, this site builder provides step-by-step procedure to build sites making choices regarding color, and font size. This option provides much more to choose from when it comes to templates, with about a thousand of them. The site content is separated form the layout so that the web site owner can change the look of the site in a simplified manner without having to retype anything. Site Studio also offers more in terms of predefined templates. This includes buttons for Home, About Us , Contact us, Careers and so on, and, in addition, there is also a generic page template with which one may create additional pages/buttons that are not included in the template. Some web hosting companies usually provide this service at an additional fee – but most hosting company’s who uses plesk/confixx/hspcomplete or PEM (all products from SWsoft/Parallels) have included this site builder for free into their web hosting packages, but the price may vary between different web hosting organizations, and there are several inexpensive choices available as well.

Chapter 4 - Website Wizard (www.websitewizard.com)

For those who want to earn money online but do not have enough resources to engage a professional web site designer can as well try Website Wizard. This website builder virtually offers turnkey web services and does everything from domain name registration to graphic design and hosting, as well as unlimited storage space and unlimited email accounts. It also offers WYSIWYG (acronym for what you see is what you get) site builder interface as well executed templates ready for use. Some people may find it a bit expensive, as it is not free, starting at $9 per month - with the premier offer going for around $49 per month.

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Chapter 5 - Site Build IT (www.sitesell.com)

Another equally impressive business friendly site builder is called Site Build It. It gives a completely new meaning to one-stop-website-shop and its package would include so many tools offered by the Website Wizard and generally it tries as much as possible to make it easy for anyone to build a site, whether an experienced webmaster or a physician, all are seen as equal-perhaps just as everyone will be on judgment day. According to those in the know, Site Build It takes care of many of the web building and marketing activities, such as SEO, web hosting, Traffic analysis and all one has to do is to open a suitable bank account, ready for business - doesn’t anyone wish that everything was all that easy?

SBI also suggests the most appropriate topics and thus reducing on research time. And its web promotions prowess makes it popular with first time online vendors. SpiderWatcher is always on the lookout for search engines spiders and if one is detected, the SpiderWatcher alerts the WordSubmitter to resubmit to the affected site. Perhaps those are some of its strongest features which make SBI quite unique from the rest. One industry observer thinks that the package if its substantially improved, may spell doom for many IT professionals.

Chapter 6 - Cpanel.net website builders

Cpanel is one of the really big players in web hosting control panel solutions on market, but cpanel not have integrated any SiteBuilder software itself. To close this missing link there are a few add-on for cpanel hosting company’s. Nearly all hosting providers offers at least one of this solutions to his customers.

• Chapter 6.1 - Rvsitebuilder

RVSitebuilder 2.0 have an professional looking and verry easy to use user interface written in AJAX (Its an fast web application technology based on java) RVSitebuilder is fully integrated to cPanel for using it without the needs of any installation or configuration from hosting client. RVSitebuilder comes with tons of preinstalled templates, and if no template fits your needs the template easy can be downloaded and modified with any standard HTML editor (like Frontpage or Dreamweaver). It also comes with an Advanced WYSIWYG editor, Multi-Lingual support and up to 15 NEW website templates each month!

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• Chapter 6.2 - SitebuilderCX

Site Builder CX is an fast (because only based on PHP and MySQL – no java!), easy to use and well designed Sitebuilder. Its easy to upload and easy to use own designed HTML templates and combine the benefit of an own and 100% unique template with the powerful management options of an CMS solution. Its not “only” an Site builder because it comes with 16 modules for making perfect and interacting dynamic web portals (integrated modules: eCommerce (onlineshop), Photo Gallery, Web Blogger, Newsletter, Events Calendar, Links Directory, News Publisher, contact form, Guestbook, FAQ Support, Customer Helpdesk, Vote Caster, Form Designer, Geo Traffic and CSV Importer – if you need detail informations about each module go HERE)

• Chapter 6.3 - cPanel.net Fantastico Deluxe Addon

Also one site builder and one set of templates are included in the very popular “fantastico deluxe” Add-on (nearly all cpanel hosting company’s have installed fantastico) – but only one of this solutions is free (Templates Express), the second (Soholaunch Pro) needs to buy the client an license (fantastico deluxe is only an tool for easy and one click installation of different applications – most of them are GPL or free to use, but Soholaunch is commercial and every user needs to buy an separate license)

• • Soholaunch Pro Edition (www.soholaunch.com)
  • Templates Express
    • At this time there are 56 templates included. Templates Express is perfect for new, unexperienced users who want to have a standard website template setup quickly and later develop it according to their needs.
    • Templates express is not an website builder – its only a set of free website templates preinstalled and ready to use, but users need to design the templates with their own html editor software
    • Templates Express are well designed templates designed by ViaStep's an Sohotemplates division Templates Express templates are independant of Soholaunch Pro and do not require the client to buy any additional license. They are free to use with any Fantastico licensed cpanel server.

 

Chapter 7 - Site Studio by psoft (bought by SWsoft/Parallels) (www.psoft.net)

Site Studio is another site builder that was developed by psoft.net (bought by SWsoft/Parallels) - in short. It is also a browser based site-builder. Nearly all web hosting companys who uses H-Sphere have included this site-builder into their hosting packages - and their hosting clients may then use it to build their own sites without needing assistance. Like its other rivals, this site builder provides step-by-step procedure to build sites making choices regarding color, and font size. This option provides much more to choose from when it comes to templates, with about a thousand of them. The site content is separated form the layout so that the web site owner can change the look of the site in a simplified manner without having to retype anything -> also uploading of own pictures is supported. Site Studio also offers more in terms of predefined templates. This includes buttons for Home, About Us , Contact us, Careers and so on, and, in addition, there is also a generic page template with which one may create additional pages/buttons that are not included in the template. Some web hosting companies usually provide this service at an additional fee – but most hosting company’s who uses H-Sphere have included this site builder for free into their web hosting packages, but the price may vary between different web hosting organizations, and there are several inexpensive choices available as well. About History, “psoft Site Builder” totally difference to “SWsoft Site Builder” -> the only same is the name and the type of the Software (look at the screenshots at SWsoft SiteBuilder Chapter and here below)

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Chapter 8 - Conclusion

While still at it, it may now be opportune to crown the discussion about the do’s and don’ts of website building. Avoid loading smilies and other animations on every page as this will act to slow down the computer. And because most people probably came to your site to look for information, they are unlikely to be amused by the animations, and the other most likely thing they would do is no doubt to navigate away from the page. But while websites are about information one does not have to cram so many banners into one page. Also, aligning the web content on the middle of the pages is probably a bad decision. They are a bit harder to read when they are put in the middle (the text, that is). Another don’t is engaging into some lyrical digression in a website especially a dedicated one. Unless one is running a web log, the central theme should be running in all the pages of the website. So if you started a website on online marketing, putting details on how one legged cyclists should get tax rebates for the spare pedal does not help. On do’s, make sure the website has a contact address. So, did you say you wanted your own website?

There are probably hundreds of other website builders but the already mentioned ones happened to be the most visible. There ARE other notables. By and large they have the more basic features like the ones discussed which include multi lingual support, customizable templates, WYGIWYS html editor and so on.