Servage Magazine

This is our third article for presenting tools that are available to those who enjoy or engage in web development and design. In our previous two articles we focussed on the Mac and Windows platforms, respectively. Here, we present a whole arsenal of tools that are platform independent. And unlike the earlier articles, the majority of these apps are free to use. Where they are not, we will make sure you are are aware of premium services and paid items.

This article is presented in multiple parts, as there are over 100 tools we are highlighting. In Part 1, we present the website creation tools, in Part 2 are the planning, collaboration and FTP applications, and in Part 3, we list code editors, graphic design and miscellaneous items.

Applications are listed alphabetically within categories to overcome any bias toward favored apps. The categories start with what is perhaps easiest software to grasp for development to ones that rely on more skills and knowledge. While we won’t be covering every category, we do hope to cover those that are most helpful to designing a solid website.

Basic Web Building Tools – similar to WYSIWYG editors

These sites offer simple setup web design, often with drag-and-drop capabilities for building content. These are platform independent tools offering template-based WYSIWYG website creation tools. The free offerings are not all that extensible, and is why they are listed in this category. For smaller sites, or even as a tool for mockups, these are decent. As the list is long, we’ve split them into 2 sub-categories: those that are more popular and those we think are worthy of consideration. Plus we’ve listed the core features for each. Please note, there are many more online site builders than the ones mentioned here.

Popular Services

• BaseKit – 200+ customizable templates, simple eCommerce options*, mobile site editor*, personalized email*. Free demo, no publishing. *Many options require monthly premium plan. Public beta launched early 2010.
• Go Daddy (Website Builder) – 1500+ dynamic templates, mobile friendly sites, Paypal integration. Monthly premium plans. Go Daddy was founded in 1997.
• Weebly – 100+ themes, mobile friendly, no forced ads, simple eCommerce options. Free accounts. Additional features require monthly premium plan. Started in 2006.
• Wix – 300+ HTML5 customizable templates, Wix eCommerce option*, mobile friendly. Free accounts. Additional features, including eCommerce, require monthly premium plan. Entered open-beta in 2007.
• WordPress.com – 200+ themes, mobile friendly, site customization*. Free accounts. Additional features, including custom design, require yearly premium upgrade. Started in 2005. Note: for the self hosted version of WordPress, see the next section below (CMS tools).

Worthy of Consideration

• CityMax – 100+ features, variety of templates, advanced eCommerce options*. email marketing options*. Free trial period. Long term use requires monthly premium plan. Started in 1999.
• DevHub – free hosting, Easy Site Building interface, monetization modules. Free accounts, no premium services.  Founded in 2007.
• doomby – site building interface with some templates available. Free accounts. Additional services, including email and online store, require yearly premium plan. Started in 2009.
• Easy WebContent – variety of fully customizable themes, HTML editor, presentation module, mobile friendly. Free trial period. Long term use requires monthly premium plan. Started in 2007.
• Edicy – site building interface with wide selection of site designs. Free accounts. Additional space and customization requires monthly premium plan. Founded in 2007.
• IM Creator – dozens of templates, mobile friendly, simple eCommerce options. Free accounts. Connection to own domain requires premium subscription plan. Founded in 2011.
• Jimdo – 100+ customizable layouts, mobile friendly, simple eCommerce option (for free), advanced eCommerce options on premium. email marketing options*. Free accounts. Additional services, including email marketing, requires yearly premium plan. Founded in 2007.
• Moonfruit – site building interface with 150+ layouts, mobile friendly, online store, membership management. Free accounts. Additional features, included more space, requires monthly premium plan. Launched in 2000.
• SnapPages – site building interface with a variety of customizable themes. Free accounts. Additional features require monthly premium plan. Founded in 2007.
• Webnode – 100+ templates, mobile friendly, advanced eCommerce options*. Free accounts. Additional features, including more space, require monthly premium plan. Launched in 2008.
• Webs – site building interface, mobile friendly, simple eCommerce options. Free accounts. Additional features, including more space and premium templates, require monthly premium plan. Founded in 2001.
• Yola – site building interface, mobile friendly, advanced eCommerce options*, email marketing options. Free accounts. Additional features, including eCommerce, require monthly premium plan. Founded in 2007.
• Zoho Sites – 90+ themes, mobile friendly, simple eCommerce options*, email account. Free accounts. Additional features, include eCommerce option, require yearly premium plan. Zoho Corp. founded in 1996.

Advanced Web Creation – CMS Tools

Content Management Systems (CMS) are very similar to the tools above, though tend to offer more customization from the get go, plus include a great variety of extensions or plugins to create a full fledged website. CMS tools also tend to rely on sites that are self hosted, whereas most of the web builders in previous section, offer hosting on their servers. Again, we’ll list the more popular ones first and include ones we feel are worth considering.

Popular Services

• Drupal – PHP based, full featured websites upon core installation, plus 600+ site distributions, 22,000+ modules available and 1700+ themes. Open source platform as of 2001. Costs come from site development (labor) and maintenance (administration), but is entirely up to site owner.
• ExpressEngine – PHP based, modular CMS. Core installation offers free, but limited features for non-commercial sites. Commercial platform, made by EllisLab, started in 2002. Costs required for commercial sites that rely on forums, tech support and more.
• Joomla – PHP based, multi-featured websites with core installation, highly scaleable with nearly 7000 extensions. Open source CMS beginning in 2005. Costs come mainly from site development (labor) and commercial extensions.
• SquareSpace – SaaS based, borderline WSYIWYG platform though sites are rather customizable (via Custom CSS and Style Editor. Commercial CMS. Costs come after free trial period for monthly/yearly premium plans.
• WordPress.org – PHP based, popularly perceived as blogging tool though has evolved to full CMS. Multi-featured websites come with core installation, 25,000+ plugins available and 1700+ themes. Open source project as of 2003. Costs come from site development (labor) and commercial add-ons.

Worthy of Consideration

• Ceros – SaaS based, borderline WSYIWYG that offers HTML5 animation and layering capabilities. Commercial CMS, high end. Costs come from yearly premium plans.
• Concrete5 – PHP based, in-page editing (no back end admin interface). Multi-featured sites come with default installation. Add-ons available via marketplace. Open source CMS started in 2003. Costs come from commercial add-ons.
• Contao – PHP based, moderately featured websites with 1400+ extensions available, and about 25 templates. Free CMS platform. Costs come from commercial add-ons and templates.
• CushyCMS – SaaS based, borderline WSYIWYG that offers a decent amount of customization. Commercial CMS with free accounts and monthly/annual premium plans.
• DotNetNuke – Microsoft .NET based, modular CMS. Community Edition offers free, fully featured websites. 2800+ modules available, and 1800+ skins. Open source CMS (Community Edition), founded circa 2006. Costs incurred from commercial add-ons, purchase of Professional and Enterprise additions of the CMS.
• eZ Publish – PHP based, borderline WSYIWYG with responsive design ability. Limited featured sites available with Community edition. EZ Systems started in 1999. Costs come from various Enterprise editions and customization.
• Magento – PHP based, eCommerce web application. Community edition (for free) comes with limited features. Thousands of extensions and hundreds of themes available. Open source platform launched in 2008. Costs come from from site implementation (labor), commercial add-ons, and small business and enterprise editions.
• ModX – PHP based, multi-featured sites with core installation. 400+ extras available, including approximately 30 themes. Open source, free platform began in 2004. Costs come from from site development (labor).
• Pixie – PHP based, advertised as small simple website maker. 40+ add-ons, includes 20+ themes. Open source, free platform launched in 2008. Currently no costs for this CMS.
• Plone – Python based, secure, flexible and extendible CMS platform. 400+ add-ons including 40+ themes in latest version. Open source, free platform first released in 2001. Costs come from site development (labor),
• RefineryCMS – Ruby on Rails based, borderline WSYIWYG with engines (plugins) to customize site. Moderately featured. Open source, free platform started in 2009. Currently no costs for this CMS.
• Textpattern – PHP based, similar to WordPress in perception as blogging tool, but has evolved to customizable CMS. 700+ plugins available, with 150+ templates. Open source CMS started in 2003. Costs come from site development (labor) and third party commercial add-ons.
• Typo3 – PHP based, enterprise level CMS. 5800+ extensions available, including 30+ templates. Open source, free platform founded in 1997. Costs come from site development (labor).
• Umbraco – .NET based, scalable CMS solution. 500+ add-ons (vast majority are free). Open source CMS started in 2004. Costs come from site development (labor) and small amount of commercial add-ons.