Lesson 4

Lesson 4: Website Building Tools

Last Update: September 23, 2013

In this lesson, we will be covering three different types of website building tools. As you will see, there is a tool choice for everyone whether you want something easy to use, something that looks professional, or want to be a passionate web developer.
 

 
  • wordpress

    1. WordPress


    WordPress is one of the most popular website building and blogging tools available today. WordPress has an easy learning curve. And a nice thing about WordPress is that it's free. In addition, many WordPress users create free templates (website look and feel designs) called WordPress Themes. According to WordPress.org (official web site), over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to build and maintain their websites.
     

    Some of the popular WordPress users are CNN, New York Times,  bbcamerica.com, tv.msnbc.com, and rollingstones.com, just to name a few.


    Wordpress is an excellent choice for beginners, bloggers, small business owners, and as you can see many big names use Wordpress. WordPress enables its users to customize their websites and post their content without any knowledge of HTML/PHP and without paying web developers hefty fees to build, maintain, and update their pages.


    Also, if you want to add more features and functions to your website you can use Wordpress Plugins. The good news is that many plugins are also available for free. One of the default Wordpress plugins is Akismet - the spam checker, which checks if comments left on your website are spammy or not. Some of the other popular, and free to download, plugins are Contact Form 7 (customizable contact form) , All in SEO (improve your sites SEO), and bbPress (add forum to your website).


    Wordpress 1-Click Installer is included in our recommended shared hosting plans iPage, JustHost and HostGator.
     
  • weebly

    2. Weebly

    Accroding to one iPage video: "If you can use a mouse, then you can build a website with Weebly =)." That's right, if you are new to building a website, want to a professional looking website up and running fast, and don’t want to learn much, then you may want to consider using a template-based website builder such as Weebly.


    Weebly is one of the most popular “drag-and-drop” website builders. It’s very easy to use, and you can choose from hundreds of fully customized templates.

    You just click and drag a certain component, such as the image or text component, and drop it into your website template. For example, once you add the text component to your template, you can easily write your own content and very easily publish your website to the Internet by clicking the “Publish” button. It’s very easy to add components such as photo galleries, slideshows, and Google Maps, and many more.


    With iPage’s hosting account, our recommended hosting provider, Weebly is included for free - up to 6 pages. If that’s all you need, this may be the best option for you. For more information on "Is this the best option for you?” and to view Weebly in action, click Here.
     
  • dreamweaver

    3. Adobe Dreamweaver

    Adobe Dreamweaver is a web design and development tool developed by Adobe System, a well-known software company. Dreamweaver has been used by many professional web developers and designers. It takes time to learn how to master this software, because it comes with many features and capabilities. But if you want to be passionate about web design or perhaps become a web developer yourself, then you have to consider Adobe Dreamweaver seriously!


    Adobe.com provides many tutorials on how to use Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is an expensive tool. As a standalone tool, Dreamweaver costs $399. Also, if you want to own the complete Adobe Creative Suite (Master Collection), then be prepared to pay $2,599. The good news is that Adobe recently launched their new product called Creative Cloud, which costs $49.99/month and it grants you access to all of their tools including Dreamweaver and Photoshop.
     

    Creative Cloud comes with free updates and upgrades and you have to commit to it for at least one year. This option seems to be more pactical compared to paying $2,599 upfront.