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The days when websites were primarily distinguished by their code are long gone.Nowadays, the web is a true publishing medium that favors well thought-out ideas.You can get a professional-looking website online in minutes with many websitebuilding services and software. But what should you look for? What are the featuresyou really need and which are just clutter?
Content Editing
Some website authoring software packages only allow you to entire plain, unformattedtext. Some of them allow you to entire HTML tags. Others provide a WYSIWYG ("whatyou see is what you get") interface with options for font, links, and imageinsertion much like a word processors. Some will allow you to use more than one, oreven all of these options so you have a choice on how you want to format your text.
Template Designs
Every website builder ever invented came with at least one or two templates forcreating the graphical look of a website, so you don't have to design the look ofthe site yourself. But some packages have very large libraries of templates, somehave only a few. Some will let you mix and match elements of the design templates,while others will lock you in to one setup.
Ecommerce Functions
Many ready-to-go websites created by website builder software feature built-inshopping carts. Some even come with credit card processing. This is of coursenecessary if you're going to be selling stuff direct online. But if you're not goingto be selling anything, ecommerce functionalities may just complicate theadministration of the site and pad the price for the software or service.
Blogging Functions
Blogs are "web logs," but blogging software involves more than just a simple onlinejournal. Blogging technology allows you to send your new posts directly tosubscribers via RSS, without them having to visit your site or receive an email fromyou. Still, unless you plan on updating your site regularly (at least once a month),your website's blog will just gather cobwebs.
Some hosted web authoring systems provide email accounts at no additional charge,while others do charge separately. Some web builder systems even come with modulesfor creating email newsletters.
Support
It is very likely that you will encounter a technical difficulty at some point whileowning your website. Make sure you know in advance of paying whether the companyprovides only paid support, and if any included support is over email, a webticketing system, or the telephone.
Photo and Image Management
For many, if not most, people who want personal websites, displaying pictures onlineis a primary motivation, if not the only motivation. If you want to display pictureson your website, make sure to choose a website builder system that makes it easy toupload and publish images.
Renting vs. Owning
You can buy website authoring software upfront for a flat fee, or you can "rent;"i.e., pay a company every month to use a hosted service. The choice is up to you,but remembers that the hosted service will likely charge you much more in the end:averaging around $20/month, hosted the typical hosted website builder will cost you$240/year--far more than most desktop software.
In short, you don't need to know how a website is coded to make one, any more than abook author needs to know about printing ink. Don't burden yourself with learninghow to do web design. Having fun with your website starts with choosing websitebuilder software that will make it fun.
