Using The Latest, Easiest Web Creation Options, Anyone Can Start Their Own Sites - And Earn Besides
Although the online world is far less mysterious than it might at first seem, the truth is that it's often hard to avoid the odd bit of tecchy stuff. But a recent crop of web creation tools - many online and free - have changed the world of web design for the better. In fact, several are so simple that we're convinced anyone can master them in no time at all.
Here's the low-down on our top three options.
Option 1: weebly.com
Wonderful weebly really is as easy as it gets, with not even a sniff of anything scary. This site uses the latest web technology to allow anyone to create a website in the easiest possible way, and all completely free!
Just sign up, choose a template, then breeze through the process of designing your own pages using text and image 'elements'.
Elements are dragged into position, then filled with your own typed text or uploaded content. Jazz things up with interactive contact forms, Google maps, video and sound - and you'll probably want to leave space for your own money-making ads, too!
It really is difficult to go wrong with Weebly. Template designs are slick and professional-looking, and although you don't have very much flexibility regarding color schemes, that's more than made up for by the sheer simplicity of the page making process.
When you're done, just click a button to 'publish' your site online. Seriously, it's that easy!
Option 2: 350.com
Admittedly, 350 is less straightforward than oh-so-simple weebly, but that's partly because its clusters of editing panels provide extra control over finer points of layout. And while the lack of drag and drop functionality can seem a little awkward at first (350 uses buttons to create new areas within a page) it's still a great choice for beginners looking for a quick and simple way to get online - especially if you're looking to create pages with a certain degree of flexibility.
Like weebly, you start with a template then add your own text and images. Filling the template sections is fairly easy, so if you want to keep things simple, that's the way to go.
But since you can edit in dozens of different ways, we're pretty sure you'll want to experiment at least a little - it'll take you beyond the slightly awkward initial learning curve, and there's nothing to lose because it's easy to delete pages and start over.
Image editing options are particularly smart - add special effects such as shadows to imported images, or transform text and buttons in a 'live' preview before going ahead with changes. There's a lot to discover in 350 pages!
When you're done, just click a button and - hey presto! - your site's online.
There's absolutely no cost involved, although free sites feature 350's own ad banners. You can opt to remove these for a very reasonable annual fee, but since the no-cost option doesn't restrict you showing ads too, if you're happy to share your money-making space, go ahead!
Option 3: Mac iWeb08
From a total beginner's point of view, Mac's iWeb08 is pretty straightforward until it comes to getting online (unless you're happy to work with the easy but limited inbuilt settings - more about that later). The software won't work on PCs, although anyone with Mac access can use it to create website files which, when complete, should work perfectly well on any computer.
So yes - we hummed and ha-ed about this one, but were finally persuaded by the sheer simplicity of the site-building process - which, if you're looking to create pages with the kind of control found in more complex web design software, is perfectly possible without any real technical know-how.
As with most things Mac, the working area is clean, uncluttered and intuitive; simply drag and drop content into a choice of beautifully designed templates. If you feel the need to customize, further editing is easy.
iWeb forms part of iLife, a suite of media programs that comes with all Macs, and anyone are already accustomed to iPhoto, iMovie etc, will find using iWeb especially easy. You'll need the very latest version, however, as anything older won't give you the option to put ads on your site - which is one reason why many of you are here, right? If you need to update, the entire iLife 08 bundle can be purchased for an extremely reasonable price.