The best website builders for 2020
Digital Trends
We’ve
put together a regularly updated list of our favorite website builders
to walk you through finding the right one. Keep in mind nearly
every free website builder on our list also offers a set of premium
packages, many of which include expanded storage and bandwidth, as well
as features often lacking from their freemium counterparts. The premium
plans also remove unwanted ads on your page and the subdomain housed in
your website URL, which is a must if you’re breaking into a professional
field.
In
most cases, you get what you pay for. While that doesn’t necessarily
mean you need to spend a lot to have a great site, it’s important to
consider how professional you want your website to look. More often than
not, spending that little bit extra can go a long way.
Photographers should check out the portfolio site makers we’d most recommend, as that list looks specifically at how website builders handle and present large image galleries.
The best
WordPress
wordpress
WordPress
is the website builder Digital Trends is based on, though we have our
own set of professional programmers behind the scenes. The service can
be found at wordpress.org and is arguably one of the most capable given its open-source nature (especially for blogs),
which allows for an extensive amount of templates, themes, and plugins
which can be downloaded for free or bought for a premium price.
The
platform has a relatively steep learning curve, which isn’t surprising
given its long-term capabilities and sheer level of customization, the
latter of which will likely require you to invest some time learning its
various functions. Nonetheless, WordPress excels when it comes to
ready-made themes, mobile-optimized templates, and widgets that allow
you to include everything from comments to images. WordPress will also
give you traffic information, which can help you cater your website to
your audience, as well as 3GB of storage space and unlimited bandwidth.
You
can download WordPress and install it directly to any hosting service
you want to use. Doing this is more complicated, though, and requires
more effort. If you want to rearrange the layout of a particular
template, for instance, you’ll have to modify the code to do so. Plugins
exist and can help, but installation often requires more than a single
click.
If you want an easier option, that does exist. WordPress.com is an externally hosted version of the software, meaning you can create an account online, upload what you’d like to site, and publish it immediately. No downloads, no learning curve. It still offers a good amount of customization, and it’s available without the need for any kind of coding knowledge.
Comments