Building The Website: The Tools
As someone new to website design and editing I found Webnode very usable. It’s very intuitive if you have some experience of modern software packages. Not being weighed down by the technical aspects of building a website allowed you to concentrate on structure, design and content.
There was almost too much choice of template as it took me some time to decide on the right one before starting, to get the right combination of layout, colours and style. I later learned you can switch templates at any time, but in hindsight I think making the decision at the start is the right thing to do, otherwise you run the risk of constantly changing your mind.
Understandably the template meant there were things you couldn't do, for example in the Contact box it would be good to have a field for other addresses, such as twitter, but it’s a case of swings and roundabouts – by making it easy to use and providing a structure, inevitably there will be limitations to the amount you can personalise or customise.
It was great that integration of social networks and forms was made easy, and that the site automatically creates RSS and a site map.
I noticed an issue with embedded code links to forms not functioning properly in the working environment, but they seemed to function ok in the published site.
Other online tools were useful too, like the Colorblind web page checker and the resolution checker as I was working on quite a high res screen and had to be careful not to overfill each page.
Overall it was a pleasant experience and the appropriate tool for the assignment. If you wanted to create a unique and highly stylised site you probably wouldn’t use Webnode, but it’s perfect to enable a novice create a clear and solid site quickly.
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