Big Picture
Below is a 10,000 foot view of websites and website history from 1995 or so to present. In 10 minutes or less you are going to get the biggest pieces necessary to have some foundational understanding of what websites are and what they aren't -- and where we've been and where we are today.
Just a folder on a computer...
At their core websites are nothing more than text files in a folder on a computer connected to the internet. That folder is accessible by what is called a "file server". Documents wanted by a computer user can be ordered with a combination of words and or numbers (just like a chinese menu). The words and/or numbers we use to request documents are very unique, just like a phone number, and they only resolve to a single file server/website on the internet somewhere in the world. The biggest thing you need to remember is that a website, at its core, is just text files in a folder on a computer somewhere in the ether.
Truth be told, this day in age sometimes the contents of those text files is in fact fragmented across multiple files and database records (and it was kind of like that in the beginning too), but ultimately even in those cases, those fragmented items are compiled into a "single stream of text" that you can pretend was a static text file sitting in the ether just waiting for your request. That compiling happens via scripting compilation engines that support the file server when requests come in.
Truth be told, this day in age sometimes the contents of those text files is in fact fragmented across multiple files and database records (and it was kind of like that in the beginning too), but ultimately even in those cases, those fragmented items are compiled into a "single stream of text" that you can pretend was a static text file sitting in the ether just waiting for your request. That compiling happens via scripting compilation engines that support the file server when requests come in.
It's a simple system for basic communication...
Inside a websites root folder, a magic folder we'll call websiteX, there might be 4 files. Home, Products, About Us and Contact Us. These files might be named:
One that is very simple at it's core and one that doesn't care what languages you speak on the back-end as long as the final delivery is in simple text comprised of basic written text along with some special strings of characters in scripting languages like HTML, CSS and Javascript.
- home.htm -- products.htm -- about_us.htm -- contact_us.htm
- home.html -- products.html -- about_us.html -- contact_us.html
- home.asp -- products.asp -- about_us.asp -- contact_us.asp
- home.php -- products.php -- about_us.php -- contact_us.php
- home.aspx -- products.aspx -- about_us.aspx -- contact_us.aspx
- and there are other extensions...
One that is very simple at it's core and one that doesn't care what languages you speak on the back-end as long as the final delivery is in simple text comprised of basic written text along with some special strings of characters in scripting languages like HTML, CSS and Javascript.
It's not a simple system for "really pretty" communication and database related items...
What was originally designed for utterly simple communication of text and ideas has been HIJACKED.
The internet became very popular very fast without a controlling body -- nobody was really able to step back and say, "Where is this going and is there a way to make this simpler as we want to grow in pretty-ness and data management?!!?"
Yes. That is the story in a nutshell.
From 1995 until around 2012 or so, to produce an aesthetically pleasing website that included data from a web hosted database, you really needed to have some solid understanding of:
The internet became very popular very fast without a controlling body -- nobody was really able to step back and say, "Where is this going and is there a way to make this simpler as we want to grow in pretty-ness and data management?!!?"
Yes. That is the story in a nutshell.
From 1995 until around 2012 or so, to produce an aesthetically pleasing website that included data from a web hosted database, you really needed to have some solid understanding of:
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And this list isn't complete...
As you might imagine, as things became more complex, it became harder and harder to find individuals who could talk about or explain each of these things in enough detail to get a solution online. Small teams became a requirement and it grew from there.
I once met a guy who had a PhD with undergrad work in Computer Science. He thought that since he had a background with C and Fortran and engineering that he'd be able to pick this stuff up in under a year... That's like saying an Olympic swimmer who can medal in the 100m freestyle should expect to swim across the Atlantic Ocean solo with a few months of training. It's hard as heck to get across with lots of help, never mind putting a time frame on it...
As you might imagine, as things became more complex, it became harder and harder to find individuals who could talk about or explain each of these things in enough detail to get a solution online. Small teams became a requirement and it grew from there.
I once met a guy who had a PhD with undergrad work in Computer Science. He thought that since he had a background with C and Fortran and engineering that he'd be able to pick this stuff up in under a year... That's like saying an Olympic swimmer who can medal in the 100m freestyle should expect to swim across the Atlantic Ocean solo with a few months of training. It's hard as heck to get across with lots of help, never mind putting a time frame on it...
Some folks took advantage of this complexity...
Many small business people only need a simple web presence. A 4 to 6 page website with basic information and some pictures. Unfortunately, many in the business of website building realized those in need were without simple solutions and they took advantage of that. Often times those who needed a simple website were left with using the kid next door who had no style or they were stuck with being told they needed to pay $4k to 10k to a designer who wanted to build a master piece that most didn't need. And truth be told, most of those designers were using templates and earning 100's if not 1000's per hour for what was in fact very basic web work. There was an ugly period of time in which some greedy folks were really taking their fellow man for a ride with website design, and in fact that is still going on today, although that should be winding down some with the advent of web based "website builders".
Web-Based "Website Builders" are making website creation a lot easier...
The power of the web resides in the ability for the common Joe to post stuff on his or her own website. In response to the complexity "Web Based Website Building Software" came along. These are often times referred to in the industry as "Website Builders" or "Site Builders".
These are "online software" resources that enables drag and drop style construction of websites. When used, the simplest of these tools most closely mimics the process of building a Power Point Presentation with a Master Slide.
One key with these services is the fact that they are always also integrated with their own web hosting service. So where as before you hired a developer and then hosted on a web-server somewhere, with these, you are hosting on a web-server, and that web-server is connected to design software to help you build an manage your website.
These are "online software" resources that enables drag and drop style construction of websites. When used, the simplest of these tools most closely mimics the process of building a Power Point Presentation with a Master Slide.
One key with these services is the fact that they are always also integrated with their own web hosting service. So where as before you hired a developer and then hosted on a web-server somewhere, with these, you are hosting on a web-server, and that web-server is connected to design software to help you build an manage your website.
Your Options
When I started including Website Builders as an alternative to my own tried and true old-school web publishing systems in 2015, there were a handful of major options to consider and all of them are still relevant today in 2017. There has been little change to the major players over the past 2 years.
The major players are:
There is another hybrid that is more complex and very powerful called WordPress.
The major players are:
- Weebly
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Google Sites
There is another hybrid that is more complex and very powerful called WordPress.
- The unique thing about Wordpress is while it is a "system for building websites", the entire thing can be hosted with any webhosting company where as the solutions above are a combination website builder and webhosting company.
Truth be told, there are dozens if not hundreds of other players in this technology space...
- Godaddy -- the most well known Domain Registrar offers webhosting and webhosting with a site builder option
- And here is a list of others at : https://www.sitebuilderreport.com/
In general, most of the site-builders listed above started out with basic web publishing in mind and then they started including modules for more advanced functionality like blogs and e-commerce.
E commerce
E commerce, as defined here is the ability to sell your items through your own website (as opposed to via ebay, amazon or someone elses website), and it was a Beast to get going in days gone by. The number of moving parts is tremendous and complexity is significant -- and you wouldn't know it as a the oblivious user who's using websites to make a purchase. While the website builders above are good for basic e commerce applications, there are a few website building systems that specialize in E commerce.
As this website grows it may expand into support for the ecommerce realm, but for now this is generally outside the scope of this website, other than what me might document for Weebly.
E commerce
E commerce, as defined here is the ability to sell your items through your own website (as opposed to via ebay, amazon or someone elses website), and it was a Beast to get going in days gone by. The number of moving parts is tremendous and complexity is significant -- and you wouldn't know it as a the oblivious user who's using websites to make a purchase. While the website builders above are good for basic e commerce applications, there are a few website building systems that specialize in E commerce.
- Shopify
- Magenta
- others... http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/best-ecommerce-software/
As this website grows it may expand into support for the ecommerce realm, but for now this is generally outside the scope of this website, other than what me might document for Weebly.
My choice for now for Website Builders is Weebly
When I started into formal publishing of material outside of my own systems, I reviewed all the major options and I landed with Weebly.
Weebly was the simplest and most intuitive to me. It followed what I consider to be a "Microsoft" cognitive model of work flow; they put stuff in front of me I could kind of figure out. But the biggest advantage with Weebly was the fact that I could change my website "theme" very easily after starting a website. The fact that the others didn't view that as being as relevant was shocking to me. A theme consists of the general layout of the navigation and the basic colors and fonts used for the website. It's like a master slide in Power Point, and with Weebly, I could pick one theme to get going, but I could change to something dramatically different later and it would only affect the presentation of my content. My content would not change.
Wix was the other site that folks really liked. I consider it to be more of the "Mac" cognitive model -- what should have been simple wasn't -- and complex graphical features greater than what I needed for basic communication seemed plentiful. Wix wouldn't allow me to change themes after the fact and I didn't like that at all.
Sqaurespace didn't leave me with any impression at all. I know I looked at it, but can't tell you a thing about it other than it made no impression. I'm thinking I had figured out you couldn't change themes after starting a website, and that would have turned me off completely, but I could be wrong.
Google Sites was a no go in 2015 but it's seemingly coming along. In 2015 the Google Sites solution was no good. However, they have made a major upgrade since then and it is nipping at Weebly for the most basic publishing options, but it's lacking all advanced options. I'll be monitoring the progress on this and when it offers enough to make it a good choice as compared to Weebly, I'll update this site with those instructions too.
A WordPress vs Weebly comparison article for those interested... https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/weebly-vs-wordpress-whats-the-difference/
Weebly was the simplest and most intuitive to me. It followed what I consider to be a "Microsoft" cognitive model of work flow; they put stuff in front of me I could kind of figure out. But the biggest advantage with Weebly was the fact that I could change my website "theme" very easily after starting a website. The fact that the others didn't view that as being as relevant was shocking to me. A theme consists of the general layout of the navigation and the basic colors and fonts used for the website. It's like a master slide in Power Point, and with Weebly, I could pick one theme to get going, but I could change to something dramatically different later and it would only affect the presentation of my content. My content would not change.
Wix was the other site that folks really liked. I consider it to be more of the "Mac" cognitive model -- what should have been simple wasn't -- and complex graphical features greater than what I needed for basic communication seemed plentiful. Wix wouldn't allow me to change themes after the fact and I didn't like that at all.
Sqaurespace didn't leave me with any impression at all. I know I looked at it, but can't tell you a thing about it other than it made no impression. I'm thinking I had figured out you couldn't change themes after starting a website, and that would have turned me off completely, but I could be wrong.
Google Sites was a no go in 2015 but it's seemingly coming along. In 2015 the Google Sites solution was no good. However, they have made a major upgrade since then and it is nipping at Weebly for the most basic publishing options, but it's lacking all advanced options. I'll be monitoring the progress on this and when it offers enough to make it a good choice as compared to Weebly, I'll update this site with those instructions too.
A WordPress vs Weebly comparison article for those interested... https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/weebly-vs-wordpress-whats-the-difference/
Summary...
For now, this website is dedicated primarily to getting you up and running with a website on Weebly as efficiently as possible. Weebly is NOT the best solution for many advanced and expert applications, but it is so fast and easy to use, you should almost always start with your ideas in Weebly if for no other reason than to work out mock-ups and information flow.
Weebly offers 10 free websites per account. These will have domain names that look like xxxxxx.weebly.com . We'll get into custom domain names and such latter. Suffice it to say this is a hell of a tool that can dramatically change the way you communicate with others and the world, and that is what this site is about right now.
Click on the Website ABC's link for universal information you need to gain a grasp on related to websites. Click on the Weebly link above for detailed instructions for setting up your account and getting your first weebly website up and running. The process is not long nor laborious, but there are some things that are confusing to a new user (and to someone with publishing background), and I've pointed those out to speed up your time to your first launch.
Weebly offers 10 free websites per account. These will have domain names that look like xxxxxx.weebly.com . We'll get into custom domain names and such latter. Suffice it to say this is a hell of a tool that can dramatically change the way you communicate with others and the world, and that is what this site is about right now.
Click on the Website ABC's link for universal information you need to gain a grasp on related to websites. Click on the Weebly link above for detailed instructions for setting up your account and getting your first weebly website up and running. The process is not long nor laborious, but there are some things that are confusing to a new user (and to someone with publishing background), and I've pointed those out to speed up your time to your first launch.