Website Building 101

​When it comes to developing a website, the first thing that comes to my mind is “there is more than one way to skin a cat”.  This proverb dates as far back as 1678 when it first appeared in a collection of English proverbs as “there are more ways to kill a dog than hanging.”  I for one am grateful the saying has evolved.  However, its’ meaning that there is more than one way to get something done is certainly true when it comes to website creation.

Just look online and you will find dozens of companies claiming to offer the holy grail of website designs  so easy a monkey can do it.  Well, I’m not sure about a monkey, but, truth be told, some website design templates are great to.  My personal favorite is WordPress.com.  Not to be confused with WordPress.org.

WordPress is a free, Web-based software program that a “non-techie” can use to build and maintain a website or blog. It was originally intended as an easy way to set up a blog. But, thanks to the efforts of a large “open source” community of WordPress programmers working to extend and improve its capabilities, WordPress has become much more than just a tool for bloggers


Similar to WordPress is another open-source program called Weebly.  While my experience using this program is extremely limited, I found it fairly easy to make content updates though I have not tried to build a website from the beginning on Weebly.  According to their website, they currently have six million customers.
 
Other popular web development tools you may have heard of include Drupal, Dreamweaver, Expression Engine, and Joomla.  Most of the programmers that work with my company are moving away from Joomla and completely custom built websites to more contemporary and flexible tools like WordPress.  The beauty of most WordPress templates and similar programs is  they offer extensive customization if you want a really distinctive look and have the budget to hire a web programmer, or the option of doing it yourself (DYI) if you are adventurous, comfortable with computers, and on a tight budget.