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RecentlyConverted

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 21, 2015
912
662
Hi,

As the title says, I am looking for the easiest and best website builder.

Normally I am happy to spend weeks/months learning new skills, but I have no interest in learning website coding. I just want to set up one slick looking website and maintain it. I don’t want to beholden to a web developer profesional or use the website builders on the popular sites, as that could lock me into their site.

I want software for Mac (or if it’s exceptionally good for iPad), it can be on or off the Mac App Store, so I can buy a domain and easy port if from one host to another if necessary.

I hope there is something out there that meets my needs.

Thanks
 
So, you want to develop a "slick" website, without learning anything, and without paying someone who has already learnt how to do it....
That’s not correct. I am looking to pay for software that has been written by someone with coding expertise that has made it easy for me to use.

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder, please go away and bother someone else.
 
That’s not correct.

I literally quoted what you said.

I am looking to pay for software that has been written by someone with coding expertise that has made it easy for me to use.

By that logic, if I go buy a welding machine, I can build a shed, despite having no welding experience, no engineering experience, and no inclination to pay someone who does.


Software is a tool, to use it effectively you need to understand what you're trying to make it do. Unless you have a very low bar to define 'slick', no "Average Joe website builder" app is going to give you what you want, in a way that's going to work well.

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder

You asked for advice. Just because you don't like the responses doesn't mean the person giving it has "a chip on their shoulder".
 
I was referring to your quote. “So, you want to develop a "slick" website, without learning anything, and without paying someone who has already learnt how to do it....”

I have spent a fortune on Mac a. iOS apps. I rarely get free apps, I never hack apps. I am always happy to pay my way. I am sure in the upper quartile of spend on software for MacOS and iOS (non gaming) and probably nearer the top 10%.

Yes I asked for advice, I didn’t ask for your opinion on my choices. Please go bother someone else.
 
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I have spent a fortune on Mac a. iOS apps. I rarely get free apps, I never hack apps. I am always happy to pay my way. I am sure in the upper quartile of spend on software for MacOS and iOS (non gaming) and probably nearer the top 10%.

That's irrelevant. Literally irrelevant.

You could spend a million dollars on apps. If you're not willing to learn, and not willing to pay someone who has already learnt, you cannot expect a "slick" result. Tools are not magic.


If you spend $100K on a kitchen designed by a master chef, does that mean you can suddenly cook like the master chef?

Yes I asked for advice, I didn’t ask for your opinion on my choices

..... what exactly do you think advice is, if not people's opinion?
 
I know you're looking for an app, and you specifically don't want to use 'website builder on popular sites', but I do think that Wordpress is worth a look. You can install it on your own site if you need to.
Thanks. It looks interesting. They claim 34% of the entire web uses the service to run its blogs, news outlets and other sites. Interestingly I can download the finished website to any host and I can even maintain it on the go with their mobile app.

Have you used it personally?
 
Wordpress and Drupal are both great, but I would suggest a long learning curve for a beginner. Not so much writing code, just that they are both robust systems. Their robustness and features mean complexity. Worth learning....but not quick. Wordpress is more popular and easier for smaller, simpler sites.

I have not used it in years, but the best, no-code web tool I have ever used was RapidWeaver. Everything is theme templates and plugins. Alot are included in the purchase price, but there are lots of paid add ons....most of which are low cost ($10-$50).

Add it up and you could spend between $100 to $150. Not cheap, but you have beautiful results in hours, not days.

If anybody wants to go open-source, no cost, and are OK with a project that could take dozens of hours of learning....$100+ sounds pricey. But if you just want to produce professional, beautiful pages fast, it's a great option.

Check out some amazing theme templates from this guy. Gettting to this level of coding would take most folks months (or years) of work and learning.
 
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Have you used it personally?

Yup. My website (www.ghostotter.com) is created in Wordpress, and I've administered a couple of others in the past. Knowling a *little* HTML/PHP helps, but most certainly isn't essential. I'm very much not a web designer!


r.
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I have not used it in years, but the best, no-code web tool I have ever used was RapidWeaver. Everything is theme templates and plugins. Alot are included in the purchase price, but there are lots of paid add ons....most of which are low cost ($10-$50).

Woo! Rapidweaver! I used it donkey's years ago and really liked it. If it's still going strong then it's definitely worth a look.

Note that Wordpress is also all about themes and plugins, which you're free to add or ignore as you see fit.
 
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Yup. My website (www.ghostotter.com) is created in Wordpress, and I've administered a couple of others in the past. Knowling a *little* HTML/PHP helps, but most certainly isn't essential. I'm very much not a web designer!


r.
[doublepost=1566468596][/doublepost]

Woo! Rapidweaver! I used it donkey's years ago and really liked it. If it's still going strong then it's definitely worth a look.

Note that Wordpress is also all about themes and plugins, which you're free to add or ignore as you see fit.
Thanks Superscape. I bought two domains last night and registered with Wordpress. Using an iPad I was able to setup and go live with a basic website! I will be downloading their Mac app and seeing if I can give it the huge amount of polishing it needs.

if I can’t get on with their process, I will give the recommendations by hobowankenobi and neutrino23 a go.
 
Thanks Superscape. I bought two domains last night and registered with Wordpress. Using an iPad I was able to setup and go live with a basic website! I will be downloading their Mac app and seeing if I can give it the huge amount of polishing it needs.

if I can’t get on with their process, I will give the recommendations by hobowankenobi and neutrino23 a go.

Cool.

Always worth having a rummage through existing third party Wordpress themes to see what takes your fancy - if you can find something that's more or less what you want then you can hopefully tweak it...

For example... https://elements.envato.com/wordpress/themes

(for the record, I don't work for Envarto or Wordpress)

Good luck!

r.
 
I have had a very good experience with Sparkle. Very powerful, intuitive, well supported. And inexpensive.
 
A couple of years ago I looked at the various web services. My take away was 1) Squarespace is nice, but you pay for it. And essentially no variation on their design templates. 2) Wordpress was a little too flexible for my needs - too much for me to figure out. I settled for Wix, and have used it to set up/host several sites. I registered the domains with google, which was the least expensive.
 
That's irrelevant. Literally irrelevant.

You could spend a million dollars on apps. If you're not willing to learn, and not willing to pay someone who has already learnt, you cannot expect a "slick" result. Tools are not magic.


If you spend $100K on a kitchen designed by a master chef, does that mean you can suddenly cook like the master chef?



..... what exactly do you think advice is, if not people's opinion?


You're just arguing pointlessly, providing no help and being incredibly rude.
 
You're just arguing pointlessly
Not at all. There is a very clear point to my posts:

Tools are not magic. If you're not willing to invest time to learn, or money to pay someone who has already learned, your results are going to be shoddy at best.

providing no help
The help part is implied, but maybe its not so obvious for some. Given what I said above, if you want something not-shoddy - you need to change one of the inputs: either invest some time or invest some money.

being incredibly rude

Where? Where was I rude?
 
Where? Where was I rude?

You make some good valid points. But the way you responded initially was harsh and not so constructive.

You could have shared some advice on potential apps/tools, but still reinforced your valid point that tools alone, even paying for a good app, won't alone make a slick result without time and effort also being spent.

To add my input. Another satisfied Rapidweaver user.
 
Not at all. There is a very clear point to my posts:

Tools are not magic. If you're not willing to invest time to learn, or money to pay someone who has already learned, your results are going to be shoddy at best.

I don't disagree with these sentiments, but all the OP said was that they have no interest in learning code and don't want to be dependent on a web developer, and you responded with the assumption that this meant they don't want to learn anything.

@RecentlyConverted There are lots of WYSIWYG website builders like Weebly, Wordpress, Squarespace, Wix, and others that require no coding and can have you off and running with a "slick" template. But whether you're coding or not, usually if you want a decent website you're still going to have to put in the time to design and customize it, and yes, you'll have to learn some things along the way.
 
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I don’t want to use the website builders on the popular sites, as that could lock me into their site.

You're not locked in (just don't purchase a domain from them). If you get tired of a service you take the site somewhere else and do a redesign. Impermanence and web design go hand in hand. You'll likely be making lots of periodic changes throughout the life of the site regardless of where it's made or hosted. For what you're looking for--a site that's easy to update and maintain and requires little to no coding to create--these popular website builders are your best bet.

They all have free trials, so you can pick a few for a test run and hopefully find the one best suited for you.
 
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but all the OP said was that they have no interest in learning code and don't want to be dependent on a web developer, and you responded with the assumption that this meant they don't want to learn anything.

Let me repeat this one last time. Tools are not magic.

If you go buy a hammer, and learn how to use it, (i.e. aim the blunt end at the head of the nail, then hit the nail, to drive it into wood) you can then presumably manage to nail two or more pieces of wood together, right? You've learnt how to use the hammer.

If you then say "I want to build a bookshelf" (or whatever other type of woodworking you want to use for this example), no one in their right mind will believe that merely knowing how to bang a nail into wood, will give you a "slick" result.

Learning how to use a tool is only going to help you if you know what to do with that tool.


There are lots of WYSIWYG website builders like Weebly, Wordpress, Squarespace, Wix, and others that require no coding and can have you off and running with a "slick" template.

Which brings me back to my earlier point -
Unless you have a very low bar to define 'slick', no "Average Joe website builder" app is going to give you what you want, in a way that's going to work well.


If you think buying a pre-made template and sticking it into a CMS with whatever your content is, will look "slick" that's entirely your personal prerogative, but Im not sure how many other people would use the word "slick" to describe that setup.
 
If you think buying a pre-made template and sticking it into a CMS with whatever your content is, will look "slick" that's entirely your personal prerogative, but Im not sure how many other people would use the word "slick" to describe that setup.

If you think you can't start with a template and go on to create a great looking and functional website with services like Wordpress, Weebly and Squarespace, without knowing how to code, then you would be wrong. Yes, at some point you may have to search the web for some code to inject into the backend, or even learn to write a bit yourself, but if you're implying that anyone using what you call "average joe website builders" isn't putting time, effort, and hard work into their sites just because they don't code, you would be wrong.
 
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I now realise again why I don’t so regularly consult or contribute to MacRumors forums...

Good results can be obtained with apps and pre-made templates and solutions, with relatively small amount of effort. Maybe these are not “slick” to everyone’s standards. But if they meet the need and ability of the user then perfect. If the user then wants to spend more time to learn and perfect further then great. This should be being encouraged and constructively supported.
 
then you would be wrong

You don't seem to understand how subjective opinions work. I've said twice now, if a cookie-cutter website is what you consider "slick" or "great", that's your prerogative.

Maybe these are not “slick” to everyone’s standards
How many replies ago did I literally say that it depends how low/high you set the bar for "slick"?

or even learn to write a bit yourself
The OP expressly said s/he doesn't want to learn any code, multiple times. That much was very clear.

but if you're implying that anyone using what you call "average joe website builders" isn't putting time, effort, and hard work into their sites just because they don't code, you would be wrong.
Where? Where did I say that, or even imply it?

The guy building a McMansion with nothing but a hammer and 2x4's has no ****ing clue what he's doing, but of course he's putting in lots of time and effort - probably more of each than is required if he knew what he were doing.
 
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