Website builder

There are two kinds of web site builders: on-line proprietary tools provided by web hosting companies which cater to people who wish to build and publish their website without learning the technical aspects of web page production and software which runs on a computer, creating pages off-line and which can then publish these pages on any host.

On-line website builders typically require customers to sign up with the web hosting company -- most offer free trial periods -- and choose the page design that best suits their purpose. They offer a variety of services, anywhere between creating basic personal web pages or social network content (Widgets) to making full blown business/e-commerce websites, either template based or - on the more flexible platforms - totally design free. Some companies' tools allow the user to see the source code, that is, the HTML behind the page he is building. Many do not, meaning that only certain designated areas on the page can be modified. Usually, these areas are: headers, text and some graphic elements. These web builders are WYSIWIG or “what you see is what you get” meaning that the page can be edited as in a word processor. An example is Moogo.

Off – line web builders cater to professional web designers who need to create pages for more than one client or web host. Modern off-line web builders are usually both WYSIWIG and allow direct editing of source code and CSS styling. They are generally quicker and more flexible to use than on-line builders, but may be expensive to buy. An example is Adobe Dreamweaver (previously Macromedia Dreamweaver). There are some open source web builders which may be downloaded free of charge. Sea Monkey is an example of an open source free web builder.