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Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

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Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#11

Post by solardev »

debacle wrote: post #8

Squarespace is a great balance between having no website at all and WordPress. Wix is overly complicated bloat, and you are better off just using WordPress if you need the bells and whistles or Squarespace if you don't.

What did you find overly complicated about Wix compared to Squarespace? (I don't have a dog in either race... started with Squarespace, but clients found Wix easier to use over time. Maybe that balance has shifted again recently?)

Compared to Wordpress, though, either is much simpler because they're fundamentally site builders as opposed to CMSes. With Wordpress you really have to think about concepts like "schema" and try to understand posts vs pages vs comments, and it gets way more complicated once you start adding in page-builder plugins or ACF or SEO optimizers or performance enhancements... Wordpress is way more powerful (and thus complex, buggy, and expensive in dollars and time) than any of the "build your own website" services, Wix or Squarespace.

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#12

Post by malfist »

solardev wrote: post #4

I frequently recommend Wix to freelance clients who just need a basic site. Once they set it up, it basically keeps going for years and years, which is not true of most other stacks, including Wordpress. It's an easy service from a single vendor, so no need to deal with different hosting/CDN/SSL/etc providers. I think it's a wonderful thing for clients with simpler needs. The benefit for clients is that they can pay…

If you want something that just works for years and years, static sites are fantastic for that. Hugo is what I use for my astrophotography blog and it's blazing fast and...well...static

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#13

Post by solardev »

malfist wrote: post #12
solardev wrote: post #4

I frequently recommend Wix to freelance clients who just need a basic site. Once they set it up, it basically keeps going for years and years, which is not true of most other stacks, including Wordpress. It's an easy service from a single vendor, so no need to deal with different hosting/CDN/SSL/etc providers. I think it's a wonderful thing for clients with simpler needs. The benefit for clients is that they can pay…

If you want something that just works for years and years, static sites are fantastic for that. Hugo is what I use for my astrophotography blog and it's blazing fast and...well...static

It's not about what I (as a web dev) need, but what works for "halp, I need a website" clients who don't know anything about tech. Hugo still implies the need for a build setup and hosting, which in turn means DNS, SSL, CLI, etc. Which often means more dev time. Your average yoga teacher or restaurant or nonprofit would have no idea how to deal with all that (and they shouldn't have to). That's why the page builders are better for them, IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#15

Post by CM30 »

The domains do seem to be yours, since both services let you transfer the domain away:

https://support.wix.com/en/article/transferring-your-wix-dom...

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205812338-...

As far as I know, their SEO is fine, though they'll usually do worse in things like page speed than a site built from the ground up. I don't recall any sites my previous employers built with said services struggling to rank in Google.

As for whether they'd be recommended? Well to be honest, I'd say only for small companies and individuals who need the most basic of websites and don't fancy paying very much for it. For a client in that situation, you may as well just throw together a quick site on one of these services, change a few images and colours and call it a day. At least then they won't keep coming to you for web hosting help or updates.

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#16

Post by tcdent »

I have a guy doing some construction work for me right now and when he found out I write software he asked if I could help him out with a website.

"Ehh I don't really do that kind of software..."

If I was to give this guy a simple marketing site, that he can take to go host on his own, that I can hopefully vibe-code into existence, what should I use?

I mean, I know how to do this stuff, but handing him a node package seems wrong.

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#17

Post by andrei_says_ »

tcdent wrote: post #16

I have a guy doing some construction work for me right now and when he found out I write software he asked if I could help him out with a website. "Ehh I don't really do that kind of software..." If I was to give this guy a simple marketing site, that he can take to go host on his own, that I can hopefully vibe-code into existence, what should I use? I mean, I know how to do this stuff, but handing him a node package…

Maybe you can look at squarespace templates together, you help him obtain a domain, set it up, connect email, create the initial site for him, show him how to make changes.

These are trivial for us but for him would be a great starter and timesaver.

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#18

Post by MikeKusold »

malfist wrote: post #12
solardev wrote: post #4

I frequently recommend Wix to freelance clients who just need a basic site. Once they set it up, it basically keeps going for years and years, which is not true of most other stacks, including Wordpress. It's an easy service from a single vendor, so no need to deal with different hosting/CDN/SSL/etc providers. I think it's a wonderful thing for clients with simpler needs. The benefit for clients is that they can pay…

If you want something that just works for years and years, static sites are fantastic for that. Hugo is what I use for my astrophotography blog and it's blazing fast and...well...static

At some point you'll want to upgrade the hugo generator, and then you'll need to wade through their release logs. I neglected my personal site for years and I had to hunt down various errors and deprecations. It's out of reach for non-developers to do. A 1.x compatibility promise would go a long way.

My wife's site runs on Squarespace, and she's been self-sufficient since it was set up.

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#19

Post by willsmith72 »

tcdent wrote: post #16

I have a guy doing some construction work for me right now and when he found out I write software he asked if I could help him out with a website. "Ehh I don't really do that kind of software..." If I was to give this guy a simple marketing site, that he can take to go host on his own, that I can hopefully vibe-code into existence, what should I use? I mean, I know how to do this stuff, but handing him a node package…

A no-code website builder, 100%. You don't want to maintain that thing. A good builder (I like framer) let's non technical people take ownership over it while still providing flexibility in UI and high speed (for SEO & bounce rate). After seeing landing pages that non tech friends have built, there's no way I'd do it from scratch. Too buggy and time consuming.

Re: Ask HN: Are Squarespace and Wix sites worth it?

#20

Post by JusticeJuice »

tcdent wrote: post #16

I have a guy doing some construction work for me right now and when he found out I write software he asked if I could help him out with a website. "Ehh I don't really do that kind of software..." If I was to give this guy a simple marketing site, that he can take to go host on his own, that I can hopefully vibe-code into existence, what should I use? I mean, I know how to do this stuff, but handing him a node package…

Consider https://www.framer.com/
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