Comparing CMS Platforms for Building a Website

March 22 2013

Building a paper airplane is easy, cheap and fun. But it will never fly you to your destination.

By Chadwick Meyer

This article is part of a series Comparing CMS Platforms through the Lifecycle of a Website.

Before asking Gutensite to help them build a website, many of our clients also look at platforms like Wordpress, Squarespace, Wix and Weebly. So although building the website is only one small part of the website's lifecycle, we will compare these platforms and the results they produce.

Control Panels

Wix and Weebly are essentially WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editors for building static websites. They take a visual drag and drop approach to help beginners create a simple website with limited functionality. If your goal is to be actively involved in building a basic website, and you want to show the world your creative talent, these platforms allow you to move stuff around and express yourself. They have an impressive collection of settings and options (sometimes five or more levels deep that are easy to get lost in). These platforms are so visual, in fact, they actually make you layout the page yourself, figure what size image looks good with the text, what colors to use, etc. If your goal is to create a professional website, and you are not a designer, you will probably find that these platforms are too empowering. From our experience, it’s highly unlikely that an average user on these platforms will end up with a website that accomplishes their goals.

Squarespace takes a similar approach to visual building, but it has a much more appealing interface and does a better job of protecting the design from your misplaced “creativity”. They have received a lot of well deserved praise, and have become a popular choice for portfolios and other photography focused websites. But they also have a pretty steep learning curve and the potential to mess up. In the hands of a good designer, this is a great tool that can make a beautiful website (albeit simple, with emphasis on photos and limited content).

Wordpress and Gutensite are not "visual website builders" but classic Content Management Systems with a friendly list-based interfaces that separate content management from design roles. So rather than editing the website visually and laying out pages yourself, the building phase focuses on creating content through simple forms that let you enter a friendly URL, page title, various information related to the content type and selecting images and other media to include on the page. The CMS takes this data and creates a beautiful page based on the layout for that content type. Then you organize your pages in a menu hierarchy and create additional modules that appear on the home page, sidebars or content areas.

This approach has a learning curve as well, since you need to think abstractly about content records in a list, instead of seeing it directly on the page. But there is a lot of freedom when you can focus on content without worrying about the design. It also enables delegation of content management roles to anyone on a team, regardless of their design qualifications. And perhaps most importantly, the final website is much more beautiful because it remains looking as beautiful as the day it was professionally designed.

Tools vs. Team

These website building platforms have all created a way to make “online publishing” accessible to the masses, who may or may not have technical HTML skills. In fact, even though technical people can build pure HTML websites from scratch, they appreciate true content management systems more than anyone else, because they understand the power of dynamic, organized, editable database driven content (particularly when it separates content and design and makes it easy to scale).

Because building a website has become so easy and accessible to everyone, people mistakenly think “building a website” equals “building a good website that brings value to your company.” But all these platforms are just tools. Like any tool, the quality of the websites produced on the platform depends on the team that employs the tool. Very few businesses or nonprofits have staff that are qualified to plan, design, and build a website on their own. And yet that is what these instant website builder platforms are asking people to do.

Gutensite has created a platform that is easy to learn and use, which makes it possible to setup a beautiful website that looks professional, all on your own. But we have learned over the years that even with the best tools most people need help figuring out what their goals are, how to organize content, what features are important, how to optimize traffic flow for conversions, how to do good SEO, etc.

The platform must meet the basic requirements for your website project, but having a qualified team create your website will make all the difference in the world. You do not have the time to become an expert in every aspect of website design and marketing. So you need to choose a platform and a team that will help you. Gutensite will consult with you and help you find a solution that meets your budget. Just call and talk to a dedicated project manager to discuss your goals and your options. The best technical tools in the world, can’t replace a talented team.

Read more about the next phase in the lifecycle of a website: Managing a Website.

Tags : wix, weebly, squarespace, wordpress, WYSIWYG, visual website builders, building a website, website lifecycle

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Comparing CMS Platforms for Building a Website

Control Panels

Tools vs. Team

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