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Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:08 pm
by sbriggman
No coding ability needed:

1. Wix - http://www.wix.com/

2. SquareSpace - http://www.squarespace.com/

3. Shopify - http://www.abnewswire.com/signup.php

4. Weebly - http://www.weebly.com/

5. IM Creator - http://www.imcreator.com/

Coding ability needed

1. Wordpress - http://wordpress.org/

2. Drupal - https://drupal.org/project/project_theme

3. Joomla - http://www.joomla.org/

Probably wordpress is your best choice there if you have some knowledge of HTML, CSS, and a little knowledge of PHP. There are lots of free themes and plugins. CrowdCrux.com (my site) runs on wordpress.

Question

What website builder did you use to make your website or do you have a custom site? What hosting/domain name provider did you use? I use bluehost for hosting and 1&1 to buy most of my domains (new ones).

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 2:39 pm
by SvennaCirclet
I've been thinking about the hoster I want to use. 1And1 has a great start-up deal, but the price just to hold a domain meant to reroute (to a free blog, like tumblr) is wildly expensive compared to GoDaddy. I've had nothing but good service from Wix, so I definitely recommend that to people - especially if they have a layout theme that fits your category. I haven't tried any of the others yet.

How are Drupla and Joomla? I actually haven't heard of those before. My default is WordPress when I want to make a full-fledged site now.

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 3:08 pm
by sbriggman
I just used 1&1 to buy the domain (no extras). Then I re-route the DNS to bluehost and use their hosting for all my websites. It's pretty cheap to start. Like $5 per month (shared hosting). I also use their wordpress install tool and used their PHPBB install tool for this forum.

Drupal is for developing a more sophisticated website - need coding ability (Php/mysql) and comfortable figuring things out. Joomla is like a less-intense Drupal. Still need some coding ability.

What would be the functionality of the website? Wordpress is a good place to start, as I see you have. Has lots of good plugins.

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 6:45 pm
by frankdlc222
I usedhttp://www.weebly.com to build my site over the past few months. The drag and drop user interface in conjunction with there templates makes it really easy to make a clean attractive website.

http://www.croclip.com/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1427503326/97635087?token=9c14d1ba

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 10:50 pm
by sbriggman
@frank - Thx for sharing a review :). Neat logo btw.

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 4:53 am
by shailender.sindhu
Ghost is also picking quite well, in case you blog a lot to get the attention. Ghost was funded via kickstarter :)

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:03 pm
by sbriggman
Yea! I've yet to try Ghost, but it looks pretty nice. I use wordpress for CrowdCrux.com. Will have to try Ghost on a new blog at some pt.

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 3:51 pm
by hchiccup
Weebly is an excellent website to host project pages, and many of my fellow students at college use it with a large degree of success. In fact, many of these pages vary wildly in design and content, but each of them have a very nice sense of professionalism and class.

My own Kickstarter project's website uses the host site Dreamhost which has one-button installation of Wordpress, because I needed to be able to add user profiles, forums, and improved password protection. To be honest, I have a marginal degree of experience with HTML coding, but I never thought that I would have been able to get all of those functions up and running so quickly or so easily by myself.

Furthermore, Lifehacker.com is still running the promotion I utilized for Dreamhost.com that is $1.95 for a year /w 1 free domain registration: http://www.dreamhost.com/promo/lifehacker2013/?utm_campaign=lifehacker2013&utm_medium=content&utm_source=lifehacker2013&utm_content=lifehacker2013

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 9:35 am
by rebbecadavis
I have used the webeminence.com/wix-review to create my website.. It supports the HTML5 editor with different drag and drop tools.. It is very easy for the user to add functionalities to their site with such interface.. I liked it so much..

Re: Tools to build a website prior to launch.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 3:13 am
by tony
For my wife's ceramic site we used wordpress. Hosted with Hostgator.

I have another possible site starting soon. I think I will use Jimdo site builder. The best I can tell it's one of the better site builders.