Web Design

"Types of Website Builder"

In-Built or Standalone - Which Suits You Best?

There are basically 2 types of website builders available, one is known as the in-built that tags along with the web hosting service package and it runs off the remote web hosting server.

The other is the standalone type that runs directly off your desktop. So, which type should you use?

Well, let's get into their pros and cons first so that you can make a better and sound decision on which type you should go for.

In-built Website Builder

Pros
- It's considered "free" since it comes with the web hosting package.
- It has a pretty simple interface especially good for beginners who are new to creating web pages.
- Since your website builder resides in the remote server, you can access the application and edit your web pages anywhere you like, so long as you have an Internet access.
- Absolutely no coding is required on your part, all you need to do is follow the simple step-by-step instructions and you get to build your web page instantly.
  
  In other words, you don't have to be a programming geek to get your web page done.
- You get to access to hundreds of professional-looking web page templates so that you can up and run your website as soon as you like since you only need to work on your contents.
Cons
- Since it runs off the remote web hosting server, you run a risk of not able to update or edit your web pages. Why?
  
  Imagine if your modem/router is not functioning or your network is down, or the web hosting server is undergoing a maintenance or they are down suddenly due to an earthquake or other natural disasters, it means you have to stop your designing work as well.
- You may get frustrated updating your masterpiece when the server gets slow due to heavy network traffic.
  
  Also, if you sign up for a shared hosting package, you'll be expecting thousands of other shared hosting account holders jamming the server, thus slowing down the server operation, in turn affecting your web building projects.
- Think... you can use a particular template as the theme of your website, what about other users who're using the same web hosting service (or the same site builder) as you?
  
  I ever experienced this before.
  
  When I first started out, I picked a template. So happy that I finally got a professionally looking website. Then suddenly few days later while surfing the web, I stumbled upon another fella using exactly the same template as mine.
  
  My jaw almost hit the floor!
  
  Quickly I picked another template from the hundreds of templates available, again about few weeks later I saw another website having exactly the same design as mine. This time my jaw really hit the floor!
  
  I felt so awkward because my website was not unique and I didn't have a sense of satisfaction and belonging.
  
  I don't know about you. If you're ok with having someone using the same template as you, then this doesn't really matter at all.
  
  But seriously, if there are 1000 other people using the same template as you, then it probably may damage your online presence and image.
- You cannot change the template's layout to suit your ideas. You have to adapt your ideas to suit the template's layout instead.
  
  For example, most templates generally come in the 3 layouts as shown below:
  
  However, if you want to have a different layout (see right) like this website - iOneMoney.com other than those above, then you'll have to forego using the ready-made templates and go into hard-coding.
  
  It means you'll have to pick up HTML and/or CSS in order to achieve that different layout.
  
  Or you can get yourself a user-friendly and yet feature-rich drag-and-drop WYSIWYG visual editor if you don't want to hard code but yet still want to achieve a unique layout.
  
  Or you can hire some pro geeks to do the work for you.
- You get very limited functions and features.
  
  Look, your designing skill may get better and better as you progress day after day, and when you start to go beyond the level their features can provide in a couple of months, you'll begin to feel it's not enough to feed your web designing desire.
  
  Next thing you'd wanna use is a standalone software which comes with more comprehensive features and better usability that runs directly off your desktop.
Standalone Website Builder

Pros
- As the application runs directly from your computer, you're absolutely independent of the network resources.
  
  Whether the network is struck by earthquake or a sudden surge of network traffic jamming the line, you're never affected.
- You get to access 100 times more powerful functions and features to help you in your designing tasks.
- You have full control over your design since you can do whatever you like with your layout and positioning of objects.
  
  In other words, whatever ideas you have, you're totally free to put them into your design. No more restriction by templates.
- Powerful standalone website designing software comes with a super user-friendly interface so that you can design your website with ease and convenience, even if you're not a programming geek.
Cons
- It's not free. There's a one-time fee you'll have to make.
  
  But some really good ones do offer a free downloadable trial version for you to try out first before you make the decision to buy and keep it for life.
- Although nowadays standalone website designing tool has revolutionized their ease-of-use such that even if you're not programming-savvy, you can still happily create a hot, smoky website, the fact is it's still best for you to equip with some HTML and CSS knowledge and skills so that you can do more than just drag-and-drop the objects.
- Since the software resides in your desktop computer, you can only access the application in a fixed place.
  
  However, if you have a need to edit your web pages when you're elsewhere other than at your desktop, you can still access to and edit your server-resided web pages (web pages that you have uploaded to your web hosting server), it's just that you'll have to do hard-coding without the aid of the standalone software which will be pretty inconvenient.

So how?

After going through the pros and cons of both in-built and standalone website builders, which type suits you best?

For your info, 99% of the most popular websites are coded with the use of standalone website builder.

However, my advice is if you're a fresh newbie to designing website, I wouldn't suggest you to get a standalone website builder now only to find out later that you get overwhelmed by the powerful features in it.

Go use the free in-built website builder first that comes with the web hosting account you'd signed up for.

Play around and get the hang of those basic stuffs for 2, 3 months and then when you think you should get a better one, come back to this website to get a refresher course on the benefits of getting a standalone plus get a strongly recommended one.

By the time you come back here, I'll bet you'd have found new tips or new good tools and resources available to help you make better choices.

However, if you're going to get a standalone website builder now, here's something you do need to be careful of... read below.

2 Types of Standalone Website Builders - Which One's Better?

Look, there are basically 2 types of standalone website builder available.

Free But With Hidden Motive

This type of standalone website builder lets you download the complete version for free.

Note!
Complete version does not mean rich in features.

Yes, you pay nothing at all and yet get to use the full version of the software.

But the catch in such a software is there are many other products (to be sold to you - the free user) which have been incorporated in the software itself, something like the one below.

The provider of this software is not committed to providing you with a feature-rich software, all he cares is how many free users actually download his software and then buy his recommended web hosting service, low cost domain and traffic-generating tools etc.

That's where his earning lies. And that's the catch of giving you a software 100% free in exchange for the chances you might buy his recommended products.

I've tried out this software and it's really nothing more than just a piece that provides only very basic functions and features, like the in-built website builder.

It's like having the in-built website builder saved on your desktop, pointless.

If you want your website to look like a pro, you definitely won't like to use this kind of website builder.

And because the functions are limited, you can't perform lots of fancy stuffs with your web design.

So why waste your time downloading such a software and exposing yourself to buying more things from the software provider who's not committed to providing you with a powerful software to build a money-sucking website?

If you say you want to get something basic to play around with first and when you get better in your designing skill then you go look for another advanced software.

Why make it so troublesome for yourself?

You can straightaway get a software (free for you to try out -- no payment upfront) that provides you with not only the basic but also a complete list of enhanced and advanced features (that's the type I'm going to tell you about in the next bullet point).

That way you can save lots of time in searching for the advanced tool and you don't have to start all over again to learn how to use another application.

Side Note
If your web hosting package contains an in-built site builder, then you can choose to play around with the basic functions there first before you get a better standalone software to help you make your website looks better.
Free Trial First and Pay Later -- Feature-Rich and Function-Filled

This type of standalone website builder (if they're good) allows you to download a free trial version which after trying, if you think you want to go further to access their extended features, then you pay a one-time fee and keep the software forever, and get to continually build your professional-looking websites.

Moreover, because the provider of such kind of standalone website builder is dedicated to software development and truly committed to providing their users with lots of cutting edge functions and features, you can expect to get a feature-rich state-of-the-art web design software.

The best part is, you won't get a chance to see the annoying promotion of other products on your professional web design control panel anymore.

There's a saying goes, "Good things come at a price."

My Last Word to You

If you're a pro web designer or you're someone who needs a powerful web design software to help you build a highly profitable website, then choose the feature-rich standalone website builder.

However, if you don't really care about how your website looks (whether others will be using the same template as you or not) and you're more concerned with providing good contents, then the in-built website builder is good enough for you.