With the complications involved in learning coding, web design can be quite a daunting task with no experience, however with platforms such as Wix, Cargo Collective and Square Space for a yearly fee this can be made much easier.
WordPress
WordPress is a powerful tool. The most versatile of the platforms, WordPress can be used as a simple blog, a portfolio, an eCommerce store or a complex business site. As such, the pros and cons of WordPress stem from the same point: WordPress has a lot of options. There are thousands of templates and plug-ins to wade through, which is awesome if you have a specific vision of what you want, but the choices can be overwhelming if you’re looking for something straightforward.
The good news is, even if the options are daunting, WordPress is a widely used platform (they boast their sites comprise of 23 percent of websites on the internet), and lots of forums cover common questions with WordPress.
Cost -
Almost all of the platforms discussed here have a free option, but not all free options are created equal. WordPress offers a pretty generous 3 GB of space. However, free users don’t have access to Google Analytics, nor can they customise their design much. They’re also restricted to a URL with “wordpress.com” appended to the end, and can’t take advantage of WordPress’s eCommerce features.
The upgrade is pretty cheap. For $99/year (the fee is paid annually, but for comparison purposes, that’s $8.25/month), users unlock “premium” features like a custom site address, 13 GB of space, no ads and the ability to customise design.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a pretty popular option among users who want hassle-free site design options. With it’s drag-and-drop site building, Squarespace sites are customisable and easy to use. The user base is skewed more toward portfolios, small businesses and online shops.
Cost -
There’s a free two-week trial period with Squarespace, but no long-term free option. Instead, choose from three paid versions.
- Personal: This one costs $8/month when billed annually, or $10 for month-to-month billing (you save $24 billing annually). This plan comes with 20 pages, unlimited bandwidth and storage and fully integrated eCommerce. The drawback is being restricted to selling one product.
- Professional: This plan, their most popular, is $16/month annually or $20 month-to-month (save $48 by billing annually). Unlike the Personal plan, this plan has unlimited pages, and you can sell up to 20 products. You also gain access to editing HTML and CSS on your site.
- Business: The Business plan is $24/month annually or $30 month-to-month (save $72 by billing annually). The most inclusive plan of the bunch, the Business plan includes unlimited pages and the ability to sell unlimited products. You’ll also have some help with shipping with a real-time shipping rates from USPS, a label printer, and an integrated accounting service by Xero.
Additional charges: For a custom domain name, add $20 to your plan each year (the first year’s free). For a custom Google email account, it’s $5 extra.
Cargo
Cargo is the platform built by artists, for artists. The layouts are often simple grids or single-image pages with a sidebar. To get an account, you need to apply or be referred, but don’t let that stop you. The platform is focused on being portfolio-friendly, with images as centre-pieces of the site designs. It’s probably the best bet for the most straightforward, simple website.
Cost -
The free version only offers 100MB of image storage, but that’s doable for uploading select portfolio pieces. You also get 12 projects and three pages of content, cloud hosting and can edit the CSS.
The upgrade is $66/year or $9/month (save $42 by billing annually). For this price you get unlimited projects, pages and bandwidth, 6 GB of image storage, can add custom HTML, and have access to all of Cargo’s designs. If all you want is something simple to put your photos or designs on, billing annually with Cargo is the cheapest option at $5.50/month.
Wix
Like Squarespace, Wix is a drag-and-drop site builder, meaning it’s easy to use and customise. You can add and edit your own HTML and integrate social media into your pages. Wix offers six plans including the free version, each optimized for different uses. Small business might get the best use out of Wix, as the plans offer generous storage and bandwidth, and advertising vouchers at the higher levels.
Cost -
- Free version: This gets you 500 MB of storage, 500 MB bandwidth, your choice of templates, unlimited pages and Wix provides images for you to use on your site.
- Connect Domain: The least pricey option, but it doesn’t offer much extra from the free version. At $4.08/month when billed annually, you get the same 500 MB/month storage, plus 1 GB bandwidth, analytics, and the ability to connect to your own domain. This version shows Wix ads on your site.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a pretty popular option among users who want hassle-free site design options. With it’s drag-and-drop site building, Squarespace sites are customisable and easy to use. The user base is skewed more toward portfolios, small businesses and online shops.
Cost -
There’s a free two-week trial period with Squarespace, but no long-term free option. Instead, choose from three paid versions.
- Personal: This one costs $8/month when billed annually, or $10 for month-to-month billing (you save $24 billing annually). This plan comes with 20 pages, unlimited bandwidth and storage and fully integrated eCommerce. The drawback is being restricted to selling one product.
- Professional: This plan, their most popular, is $16/month annually or $20 month-to-month (save $48 by billing annually). Unlike the Personal plan, this plan has unlimited pages, and you can sell up to 20 products. You also gain access to editing HTML and CSS on your site.
- Business: The Business plan is $24/month annually or $30 month-to-month (save $72 by billing annually). The most inclusive plan of the bunch, the Business plan includes unlimited pages and the ability to sell unlimited products. You’ll also have some help with shipping with a real-time shipping rates from USPS, a label printer, and an integrated accounting service by Xero.
Additional charges: For a custom domain name, add $20 to your plan each year (the first year’s free). For a custom Google email account, it’s $5 extra.
Cargo
Cargo is the platform built by artists, for artists. The layouts are often simple grids or single-image pages with a sidebar. To get an account, you need to apply or be referred, but don’t let that stop you. The platform is focused on being portfolio-friendly, with images as centre-pieces of the site designs. It’s probably the best bet for the most straightforward, simple website.
Cost -
The free version only offers 100MB of image storage, but that’s doable for uploading select portfolio pieces. You also get 12 projects and three pages of content, cloud hosting and can edit the CSS.
The upgrade is $66/year or $9/month (save $42 by billing annually). For this price you get unlimited projects, pages and bandwidth, 6 GB of image storage, can add custom HTML, and have access to all of Cargo’s designs. If all you want is something simple to put your photos or designs on, billing annually with Cargo is the cheapest option at $5.50/month.
Wix
Like Squarespace, Wix is a drag-and-drop site builder, meaning it’s easy to use and customise. You can add and edit your own HTML and integrate social media into your pages. Wix offers six plans including the free version, each optimized for different uses. Small business might get the best use out of Wix, as the plans offer generous storage and bandwidth, and advertising vouchers at the higher levels.
Cost -
- Free version: This gets you 500 MB of storage, 500 MB bandwidth, your choice of templates, unlimited pages and Wix provides images for you to use on your site.
- Connect Domain: The least pricey option, but it doesn’t offer much extra from the free version. At $4.08/month when billed annually, you get the same 500 MB/month storage, plus 1 GB bandwidth, analytics, and the ability to connect to your own domain. This version shows Wix ads on your site.
- Combo: Costs $9.25/month when billed annually. Starting with this plan and moving to the pricier ones, the premium plans offer 1 year of a free domain, after that the price differs based on the type of domain. You also get 3 GB storage, 2 GB bandwidth, no Wix ads and the ability to add a custom favicon.
- Unlimited: This plan is $12.42/month when billed annually and includes everything in the Combo plan, plus 2 free apps, 10 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, and ad vouchers for local listings, Bing, Google and Facebook.
- eCommerce: The eCommerce plan is best for online shops, costing $16.17/month when billed annually. It offers 20GB storage, 10 GB bandwidth and the ability to host an online store.
With different pros and cons for each I first decided I would first try and tackle my own site from scratch giving me more free reign and the potential to learn a new skill or service that I can offer as a designer, which sets me aside from others. So I began researching Muse and watching hours worth of tutorial videos online to get me started!
- My site itself shouldn't be too complicated being a simple portfolio viewer which you can click into each project to view - but I would need to ensure I can integrate social medias into my site - for potential links to blogs and instagrams.
- And also that it effectively supports the moving content I aim to be filling my portfolio with this year!
Videos such as the one above taught me how I can evaluate web platforms via three core features..
- Unlimited: This plan is $12.42/month when billed annually and includes everything in the Combo plan, plus 2 free apps, 10 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, and ad vouchers for local listings, Bing, Google and Facebook.
- eCommerce: The eCommerce plan is best for online shops, costing $16.17/month when billed annually. It offers 20GB storage, 10 GB bandwidth and the ability to host an online store.
With different pros and cons for each I first decided I would first try and tackle my own site from scratch giving me more free reign and the potential to learn a new skill or service that I can offer as a designer, which sets me aside from others. So I began researching Muse and watching hours worth of tutorial videos online to get me started!
- My site itself shouldn't be too complicated being a simple portfolio viewer which you can click into each project to view - but I would need to ensure I can integrate social medias into my site - for potential links to blogs and instagrams.
- And also that it effectively supports the moving content I aim to be filling my portfolio with this year!
Videos such as the one above taught me how I can evaluate web platforms via three core features..
- Design Flexibility
How easily it is to tailor elements to your needs
How easily it is to tailor elements to your needs
- Functionality
How complex can you make your site?
Is it just a simple portfolio or a detailed database?
Does it support widgets and plug-ins to best enhance your experience of the app?
- Content Management
How easy is it to update your site and work back into it to keep content fresh?
Muse is very flexible and functional for more advanced users, but it can be quite difficult and time consuming to get to grips with the software in comparison to the easier paid online platforms.
However you don’t necessarily need to understand code for it to work, as the use of widgets make it much easier to get complex and professional commands within your site, such as scrolling parallax and hover behaviours, etc.
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