What is an Online Website Builder?
An Online Website Builder is an online platform with tools for creating and updating websites. It could even be considered a dumbed-down version of the Content Management Framework, because installation is not required. Notable examples are Weebly, WiX, Google Blogs, Shopify and WordPress. Follow this link for a more comprehensive listing.
Hold on, WordPress?
Yep! WordPress is both a Content Management Framework and a Online Website Builder. wordpress.org hosts the files and plugins needed to install the Content Management Framework, while wordpress.com is a Online Website Builder. But I digress...
Origins
The natural progression from Content Management Frameworks, was Online Website Builders. Sure, Online Website Builders had their humble beginnings as part of the (now-defunct) Yahoo! Geocities web portals. But they only truly took off after Content Management Frameworks established a foothold on the market. As mentioned earlier, with some knowledge of HTML and maybe CSS, and knowing how to click buttons, one could now build a website simply by installing a Content Management Framework.But! Why stop there? Why not dumb it down even further? Why not have the installation on the cloud, and then have developers just create websites without needing to concern themselves with installation and setup? That's where Online Website Builders came in. Now not only did people not need to know scripting or database in order to build a website, they didn't even need to know HTML or CSS anymore. All that was needed was to click buttons! So simple, your dog could do it!
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| Website building? Bitch please. |
Hosting
Online Website Builders are hosted online (well, duh!). Users log in to access the interface for creation and updating of websites. Online Website Builders take care of the system updates, security and hosting. The tradeoff is that you have less control (more on that in a bit). Of course, that can count as an upside, because you no longer need to bother with pesky installation details such as PHP version, database compatibility and so on.Components
Like Content Management Frameworks, Online Website Builders make extensive use of plugins of which a Content Management System is included. The plugins available for an Online Website Builder tend to be more limited in selection. This only makes sense, since the Online Website Builder is ultimately responsible for the security and compatibility of your product. It goes without mentioning (but here I go, mentioning it anyway) that plugins installed on an Online Website Builder should still work if the Online Website Builder's version is updated. And if something doesn't work, it's most definitely the vendor's fault, not yours.Control
Customization is severely limited because in order to ensure security, controls have to be imposed. If you just want a site with the default settings, you're good to go. For anything else, you'll find your hands severely tied. Those restrictions are part of the package. The Online Website Builder is responsible for security and compliance, and certainly can't take the risk of you doing one of the thousand and one things that could break the site. Think of it as a sandbox for your website design - a very small sandbox.In a Nutshell
Whatever your choice is in the end, it all depends on what you need. Look past the glossy packaging and do your homework. Now everyone can build a website without depending on cranky and sometimes unapproachable techies. It's all good, right?Not so good for some web developers who do this for a living, and even those who do this as a side-hustle (guilty as charged). Now hideously unskilled techs can churn out websites for a fraction of the price we used to charge, and even total noobs can do it by themselves if they put their minds to it.
But come on, web devs. Can you honestly say you'll miss having to do this, at times, deadly boring work for customers who don't know what they want and endlessly frustrate us with their lack of savvy? We all knew automation of this process was coming one day. And if you didn't, you need to seriously re-evaluate your participation in this industry. It was inevitable. We should take this as the impetus to move on to bigger and better things. There will always be a place for web developers with legit skills. Just not at this level. This very elementary level.
What a terribly ex-site-ing development,
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