Are Squarespace / Wix any good?

jimbobo2779

jimbobo2779

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I've spent the last decade and half (longer really but w/e) manually building websites to my exact requirements, slaving over tiny html changes and the like. Web design is not my forte, I am a software engineer at heart and tbh am not a big fan of trying to make things look pretty. I can make a multi threaded monster app in my sleep but well presented web sites with all of the latest bells and whistles takes me time and I just don't enjoy it.

I am thinking ahead to future projects and wondered if something like squarespace or wix, or any other such wysiwig type web platform, mainly to save on web dev time.

Is it possible to run APIs or have your own custom php code with these platforms or is the overhead just too much for real-time / quick API calls or is it best to just grab a template and self host? I just wanna know if you can make truly customisable websites with these platforms or if they are mainly only good for basic html/js websites

I feel like I spend an inordinate amount of time creating silly little UI stuff for websites that never add any functionality to users and tbh I'm fed up of spending so much time on non-useful features.
 
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tattooedbuddha said:
I would avoid those platforms at all costs tbh, having used both. Why not use either WordPress or Webflow?
Click to expand...
I haven't used webflow and I find WP to be really slow. I'll take a look at webflow and see whats up with that.

Cheers.
 
jimbobo2779 said:
I've spent the last decade and half (longer really but w/e) manually building websites to my exact requirements, slaving over tiny html changes and the like. Web design is not my forte, I am a software engineer at heart and tbh am not a big fan of trying to make things look pretty. I can make a multi threaded monster app in my sleep but well presented web sites with all of the latest bells and whistles takes me time and I just don't enjoy it.

I am thinking ahead to future projects and wondered if something like squarespace or wix, or any other such wysiwig type web platform, mainly to save on web dev time.

Is it possible to run APIs or have your own custom php code with these platforms or is the overhead just too much for real-time / quick API calls or is it best to just grab a template and self host? I just wanna know if you can make truly customisable websites with these platforms or if they are mainly only good for basic html/js websites

I feel like I spend an inordinate amount of time creating silly little UI stuff for websites that never add any functionality to users and tbh I'm fed up of spending so much time on non-useful features.
Click to expand...
I'm in the same boat. My design-related creative juices dried up after my first 10 years in the web dev/IM industry. Nowadays I either hire a designer for a basic template, or use an existing template from themeforest or similar with low sales, and customise as much as I can be bothered with. Then I just use a database in the background and includes to display content/handle api requests. More often than not the result is fine, but not exactly what I would do if I were to do it myself - but it takes a hell of a lot less time overall.
 
Squarespace is good for clean design sites, example mom personal site with blog.
Wix is good for local businesses.
Webflow is where the web design action is, it's the fastest growing platform.
Shopify for ecomm.
Clickfunnel for funnels.
Kajabi for membership.
Unbounce for landing pages.
WordPress is jack of all, master of none platform.
There you have it.
 
jimbobo2779 said:
I haven't used webflow and I find WP to be really slow. I'll take a look at webflow and see whats up with that.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
WP is as slow or fast as you make it, it all depends on the user. I have built hundreds of websites and all of them are blazingly fast.

Just use good hosting and lightweight themes/plugins.
 
these site builders are fine and save you a lot of time with off-the-shelf templates and drag-and-drop design. most cases you never look at a single line of code.
some of my customers use these and while i don't administrate them, some do look visually satisfactory & perform on seo great.
most of these platforms have some limitations such as Wix won't let you upload your own php code.
Wordpress really has advanced a lot (probably since last time you seriously used it). lots of freedom and customization there. i've been spinning up sites very fast with just generatepress extension (shared on bhw downloads).
 
jimbobo2779 said:
I can make a multi threaded monster app in my sleep but well presented web sites with all of the latest bells and whistles takes me time and I just don't enjoy it.
Click to expand...
I thought it means something until I learned that some people engineered whole civilizations.

What do you think about getting higher perspective? Micro-services, modularity, big processes and splitting concerns that nobody can dream of?
Having complete automation of every single process using the most powerful cybernetics, up-to-date, 4th industrial revolution, IOT, fully living in the moment with state-of-the-art big tech, joining the cult of "Bezosism" and "Pageism".

That's what I would find more interesting -> see "what's above software engineering" and explore those areas.
Whole informatics, clouds, robotics, automatics.

Wix cannot compare.
Squarespace if affiliated with Google and they're selling domains being referred by Google.

I think you can... you can... make a Wix clone in hours. If you exploit AWS instances, you can replicate sites forever on their public IPs.
 
I have used Wix before and while it's decent, it's not as good as WordPress. It doesn't give you as many customization options and features as WordPress. I haven't used Squarespace before so I can't say anything about that
 
I made a blogger yesterday and their themes can be easily adjusted with basic CSS.
Setting CNAME records (only 2) and spending $1 was all that I had to to do get a blog running.
I made it because I created a system of thinking after 26 years of inventing a subjective reality of mine.
Maybe it'll come as an inspiration to someone who stumbles upon that blog.

It's better for blogging / text / video site cause it doesn't introduce many hijacking options.
You have backups built-in as it belongs to Google ecosystem. You have plugins from Google ecosystem - it's connected to it.

Why so cheap? Because if you deploy something 1 million times, if you cut costs like nobody else, you have an edge.
 
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