Website Builder vs Custom Coding

Website builder?

Website builders are tools that typically allow the construction of websites without manual code editing. They fall into two categories: online proprietary tools provided by web hosting companies. These are typically intended for users to build their private site. Website builders typically feature drag-and-drop software that lets you customize elements on a page with layouts chosen from a handful (and sometimes hundreds) of available web page templates.

Some popular website builders are WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Webnode, Jimdo etc

Custom Coding

However, if you want to learn to code or put your coding skills to the test, then coding a website from scratch is a valuable skill to have. Several employers still expect their web developers to code a website from scratch. Coding a website allows developers to add unique, custom elements to their website, or modify existing plugins, pages, color settings, and a lot more.

When Website Builders is really good at?

Website Builders is awesome if you need a landing page or if you need a “portfolio-like” web page.

You’ll find dozens of templates that are pretty much all built for such kinds of websites.

Because for a lot of businesses, you just need such a website. You just need a page where your customers can find you, can learn more about you and your services, and where your customers then can reach out to you.

Most “offline businesses” probably just need this kind of web page (e.g. car shops, offline retailers, doctor’s offices). And some remote/ online companies also might not need anything beyond that (e.g. consultancies, peer-to-peer coaching sites).

With WordPress and similar services, it’s then very easy to build a great website for your business and share all the information you want to pass to your customers.

But Website Builders can’t be used for everything.

Whenever you need more than just such a portfolio-like webpage, whenever you need a very high degree of customization and especially in cases where your main business and product is a web service, you won’t be able to build this just with services like Wix.

Consider all popular “products” like YouTube, Facebook, Flipkart, Instagram, or web apps like Google Docs. You won’t be able to build this with WordPress, Squarespace, etc. You need a web developer for this. Because here, the website is not just a site to share some information with your visitors. It’s instead a complete service, a complete application running in the browser. That’s simply not what website builders are built for. You can’t just “drag and drop” such a service. You need tons of complex logic behind the scenes and you also typically have non-trivial user interfaces. Both require actual code to be written.

In addition, you of course also might want to build a website on your own (or hire a web developer) if you want complete control over the site. If you, for example, want to be able to customize and optimize everything. Or if you want a very specific design.

The Web Developer

Professional Web Developers do not use website builders. They instead do the hard coding work that builds your site from scratch. The site is built offline and then uploaded when complete.

Here’s an example that helps understand well the concept of website builders and professional web developers:

During weddings, married couples want to capture every beautiful aspect of their momentous occasion. To achieve this they have two options; either get their relative a digital camera and ask them to click their heart away or hire a Professional Photographer who would artistically and beautifully capture the wedding. In both cases, pictures will be taken, but a great difference will be noticed in the quality of those pictures later, as the work of a professional is not similar to that of an amateur.

Using Website Builders is just like the first option of the above example. Though Web Builders can help construct websites, their Websites cannot be compared to the ones built by Professional Web Developers.