NPT Newsletter: Beware of Some Site Builder Packages
Written by Rosalind Gardner on August 29, 2006 · Comments (4)
Filed Under Newsletter ·
During a recent telephone consultation, my client mentioned that she was having a problem changing the background color of her site, so I offered to show her how to change the color on the cascading stylesheet (CSS) that I saw referenced on her pages.
Well, that was easier said than done, as my client was using GoDaddy’s “WebSite Tonight® Site Builder” package, which does not permit FTP access.
It, like so many other site builder packages, was lacking in other important features as well.
If you are new to web design, or are looking for a simple, full-featured site building option, read today’s Beware of Some Site Builder Packages, and don’t get caught short.
Cheers,
Ros
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Comments
4 Responses to “NPT Newsletter: Beware of Some Site Builder Packages”
kristietam on August 29th, 2006 18:43 pm
Rosalind,
I second that for sure. The trouble with those website packages is that they use proprietary “stuff”. So if you ever want to take your website with you, you can’t. Plus, you can’t ftp in as you said and just “fix” things the way you like. You are limited to the functions that they allow you to have.
Even GoDaddy’s regular hosting packages don’t allow you to have a contact form.
I also have some web design clients using 1and1.com. Great cheap hosting. They offer you a “free Word Press blog” that is crap. You get like 3 templates to choose from and can’t customize it to save your life. So I hired a blog expert to come and install a full functioning version of Word Press on there.
But 1and1.com does have hosting for as cheap as $2/mo. That’s perfect for those 1 page salesletter websites.
Hi Kristietam,
Hmmm… your comment about 1nad1 offering a ‘ “free Word Press blog” that is crap’ should be a huge caution to most.
We love our blogs, considering they send us so much good free traffic… so no crap blogs for us!
Cheers,
Ros
[Reply]
Stenko Devic on August 30th, 2006 5:55 am
Rosalind, the link “Beware of Some Site Builder Packages” leads to your the “edit post” option in your WP-Admin area …
(and why do I have to type my name and email in the comments even when I’m logged in already
) Keep up the good work!
Stenko
Hey Stenko,
Yup… hundreds of folks tried to login (or signed up unecessarily) for my blog today. Wish they’d all posted nice comments while they were here though.
)
Oh well, just proves I’m still human despite what my cat thinks.
Cheers,
Ros
[Reply]
superlative on August 30th, 2006 13:27 pm
I’d like to just add that while I’m no professional web designer, I can attest to the fact that SBI (Site Build It) is completely CSS/HTML friendly.
As I’m still working on the site, I will not give the domain name, but I will tell you that I was able to design a very nice looking three column layout using CSS/XHTML.
The SBI interface let me upload these files directly from my computer without any FTP software. The code was rendered perfectly without any glitches.
In conclusion, if you have CSS skills, SBI will certainly let you take advantage of them instead of relying on the SBI templates (which are a little modifiable). I don’t use SBI templates on my site at all.
Hope this helps.
Hey Superlative,
Fabulous… and CSS is definitely the way to go. Save yourself hours and hours of fiddly font coding for sure.
Thanks for contributing and best of luck/success with your site!
Cheers,
Ros
[Reply]
Cynthia on September 1st, 2006 5:32 am
Rosalind,
While I’m a big fan of SBI! I found out, after my purchase, that they strongly discourage you from transferring an existing domain by using all sorts of scary disclaimer language.
In my opinion SBI! is best utilized when starting from scratch.
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia,
You are absolutely correct! SBI! makes it almost impossible to ‘port’ a domain over, so it’s best that you start a completely brand-new domain with them. OR, copy pages from another site and just register a new domain name… although that’s a big drag if you are already getting good traffic to your first domain.
Once again, nothing is perfect.
Cheers,
Ros
[Reply]
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