Why build another website builder?
makeswift.com
Why build another website builder?
1–10 of 89 posts
Re: Why build another website builder?
#2Hey everyone!
With what seems like a new website builder popping up every week, I'm often asked the same question. Why build another one? Here's my answer.
We're starting to invite people to our early access program and would love your feedback.
Re: Why build another website builder?
#3I do think we need better website designers for lay-people. I have a couple key points I would want in a web designer.
-Output accessibility (eg for blind users)
-Clean and efficient output html (every square space site I visit is slow as shit)
-No cdn resources. Allows you to pack your own fonts and assets.
Does this do that?
Re: Why build another website builder?
#4Demo doesn't show responsive design, which is important for smartphones/tablets, etc.
Re: Why build another website builder?
#5Hey everyone! With what seems like a new website builder popping up every week, I'm often asked the same question. Why build another one? Here's my answer. We're starting to invite people to our early access program and would love your feedback.
I clicked through the features and handbook. I wanted to test it out without an account but that option was not available.
My main question is: does this let you output html+js so that I can upload it on any other site, or does the site stay hosted on your site?
Looks neat, btw.
Re: Why build another website builder?
#6Jerry from Walking Dead in the Request Access page?
Re: Why build another website builder?
#7From https://www.makeswift.com/early-access:
> Can I host a Makeswift site elsewhere? > Makeswift code can't be exported. Every page created in Makeswift is securely hosted and served via Google Cloud.
I'm sorry, maybe I'm just being absolutist and cranky, but this doesn't sound to me like it's a 'website builder' - it's a tool that allows users to create presentations that can be displayed on the web.
I get why you'd go that route in the first place for 'non-coder' users, but locking them in to your ecosystem is, to me, antithetical to the culture of the web.
Of course - everyone does it, but it doesn't make it right.
Re: Why build another website builder?
#8Hey everyone! With what seems like a new website builder popping up every week, I'm often asked the same question. Why build another one? Here's my answer. We're starting to invite people to our early access program and would love your feedback.
I clicked through the features and handbook. I wanted to test it out without an account but that option was not available. My main question is: does this let you output html+js so that I can upload it on any other site, or does the site stay hosted on your site? Looks neat, btw.
No, it does not.
Re: Why build another website builder?
#9Hey guys, I'm super excited about early access so that we can gather as much feedback as possible. We made a nifty handbook [1] a while back to show the basics of building a page in Makeswift. Would love to hear what you think!
Re: Why build another website builder?
#10From https://www.makeswift.com/early-access : > Can I host a Makeswift site elsewhere? > Makeswift code can't be exported. Every page created in Makeswift is securely hosted and served via Google Cloud. I'm sorry, maybe I'm just being absolutist and cranky, but this doesn't sound to me like it's a 'website builder' - it's a tool that allows users to create presentations that can be displayed on the web. I get why you…
I don't think you're being absolutist or cranky at all. I think there's valid reasons why you would want to export your site.
I guess the reason we call ourselves a "website builder" is because Makeswift lets you build, well, websites. As for "presentations that can be displayed on the web", it's a bit more powerful than that. All components use to build Makeswift sites are React components and we are planning on opening that up so that third-party developers can create components any Makeswift user could drop in to their website.
As for lock-in, again, I think you make a fair point. In the long term we will probably have a self-hosting solution but it's something we're not focusing on at the moment. Most of our customers just want to focus on designing a website and then clicking a few buttons to have it live.
Thanks so much for your feedback :)