What better time to figure out how to build a website! I share my experiences.
Where to start?
A search of the web will bring up any number of options for building your own website, so for a novice like me which way to go?
Which one?
It is clear that WordPress is the preferred option for a blog, however, it's not that simple. After trying most of the website builders out there each has its pros and cons and in making your final choice you will end up sacrificing something - very frustrating.
Let's start with WordPress. It needs some serious work to get the hang of it and for a novice, unless you're really dedicated to master it, you'll probably move on to something else like I did. It's also not clear what the final cost will be once you've finished setting everything up as it seems that so many plugins are required for this or the other to work. There are plenty of advisors out there if you really want to go this route.
I gave Weebly a brief trial but it appeared rather basic and so moved on to Squarespace. Here I agree with all the reviews that it has some stunning designs. The thing that really appealed to me was the fact that it is a fully responsive system and so looks good on all screens and adapts well to mobile.
It takes a bit of effort to get the hang of it but once that's under your belt it's very easy to work with.
I eventually ended up using WIX as it's really simple to get a site designed quickly and easily and with a great array of tools. It is however, not a responsive system and so it's an issue when it comes to displaying on tablets and some screens. Things get all bunched up and you lose the layout. They do have a mobile editor which allows you to optimise the design for mobile devices and as that's where most of the traffic comes from these days, it very easy to get a good mobile experience and so I have discussed on that.
I think the thing that tipped me over the edge toward Wix was the built in sharing options that weren't available on Squarespace. All things are possible but if coding is not your thing, then the decision is simple.
Very interesting