Introduction to Web Design Software For Beginners
In this day and age, building a website is pretty easy. You can choose a service like a web designing WordPress, Weebly or others, sign up, choose your template and get your website up and running within a day’s time. And that’s without sitting for hours on end, working on the code.
Image source: pixabay.comHere is a look at the best that you can get, in no particular order:
Web design software for beginners
Following are some of the web design software for beginners.
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WebEasy Professional
This best web design software for beginners suite by Avanquest Software USA is, according to its creator, a complete web design studio. While it does not offer all the features and capabilities needed to justify this tag, it is pretty comprehensive. You get a lot of tools in one bag, and for a very reasonable price.
WebEasy Professional is also, as the name suggests, easy. Of course, there is a learning curve involved, but it is not as difficult to grasp as most other professional web design software for beginners in the market today.
What’s more, you get to develop or brush up your coding skills, particularly Javascript and HTML. All this can help when you want to get out of the scope of such web design software for beginners and code your own website.
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You do have to select from a range of templates, but there are a lot to choose from and you get more customization options as well. In fact, you will probably use a lot of the suite’s drag-and-drop functionality.
Using WebEasy also gives you the ability to create and host podcasts, videos and more. This means more lines of communication between you and the public.
WebEasy also takes care of social media marketing by integrating major social media websites directly into your own website. The covered websites include Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Twitter and even Google Maps.
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Serif WebPlus X8
This particular web design software beginners tool from Serif is also a popular choice among newbies. Like WebEasy, the WebPlus X8 is easy to use but also gives you a chance to add or polish your web designing skills. You can choose to start from scratch and code your website on your own, or you can select a template and get it started.
It is easy to use even without the knowledge of HTML. All you need to do is drag and drop the elements to the places where you want it.
A photo lab tool is available to edit the images as well, so you don’t have to worry about photo editing using another service provider or web design software for beginners. The tool has a neat feature that shows you a preview of the edited image alongside the original for real-time comparison.
Setting up the layout and adding navigational elements is also pretty simple since you can just drag and drop images, text and flash elements directly onto the page. You can choose from a range of basic preset graphics and shapes, or you could make your own with the Button Studio option.
WebPlus X8 also comes with a number of e-commerce and search engine optimization tools, along with six months’ free web hosting.
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Serif WebPlus X8
Developed by MAGIX and available for a tad lower than WebEasy, this particular web design software for beginners is more focused on the extras in the website design process.
It has a great photo editing tool and customizable graphics, but it is not as simple as other web design software beginners programs to use. In fact, this particular web design software suite is more suited to the likes of intermediate and advanced level website designers.
There are a lot of great features in store here, but beginners could find it a bit challenging to find all of them. Unlike other web design tools in this list, this also does not come with a clear setup wizard.
Still, Xara is not as bad as it seems. You have drag-and-drop functionality for quickly and easily adding elements from the main design interface. The templates to choose from are pretty good, and you can browse through them using color-based searches too.
The images and graphics are completely customizable. You can make your own vector graphics or add and edit your photos using the web design software’s photo editing tool.
You even have a range of widgets that you can add to the website, with the Premium version allowing customizable animated images and text.
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WebSite X5 Evolution 11
WebSite X5 Evolution by Incomedia is a web design software solution that lets you make a basic website without any coding knowledge. The entire package is downloadable, and setup is simple and straightforward.
You do have the option to drag and drop raw code onto the design template. The template works like a grid, letting you slot the objects in place and move towards an editing screen to preview what the page would look like. You can place blank spaces for adding images, videos, texts, buttons, and other non-text elements.
You can choose from a number of templates that can be customized, but the templates are not as good as what you can find in other rival web design tools, and the structure is also quite limited.
Search engine optimization options are also limited, with just a sitemap building option available and best-practice code for optimizing search engine visibility.
The same goes for e-commerce optimization as well. If you want to open an online store, you may find yourself lacking a lot of options with this particular tool.
You do have the functionality, but it will most likely appeal to small web developer businesses and those who plan to generate revenue from online reservations or booking.
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NetObjects Fusion 2015
Fusion 2015 from NetObjects has plenty of appeal for beginners as well as advanced users. Beginners can make a website in their own style without breaking a sweat, right from mapping the website to page editing.
Like most other web design software beginners tools on this, Fusion 2015 works in almost the same way. You install the program, choose a template, and start customizing it to get it just right.
Coding is not a necessary skill for using this skill, but those who know code can still edit the code. However, the editing process can be limited and rather tricky as compared to other options out there.
The preset templates available in this web design software for beginners should be enough to meet many tastes, but they are definitely not the best in this list. Of course, you do have the option to customize the template to make it unique.
Fusion also has an application called CloudBurst, which lets you select site templates, photos, and images from a bank, many of which are paid. You also have a range of templates to make responsive websites for mobile devices.
Fusion also does not have any search engine capabilities over its previous version. One big change is the addition of descriptive URLs to make the site more visible for search engines.
One feature of note in the Fusion is its NetObjects safety technology, which acts as a great backup feature. The website files are backed up automatically in template form to an external or a network drive so that you will not lose the work that you have designed.
Keep in mind, however, that Fusion does not come with hosting, email address or web address options. You need to find a server and get the site published on your own.
Overall, Fusion lacks the user-friendliness seen in other web design software beginners packages but makes for a good option to make simple sites for small businesses or families.
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Adobe Dreamweaver CC
Adobe’s Dreamweaver has and remains a powerhouse tool for website design. The CC version offers complete HTML 5 capabilities and mobile device-friendly websites, which is a welcome option given the rise of mobile internet usage.
Dreamweaver has positioned itself largely as a tool for the professionals, however, and it can be a bit challenging to use for beginners.
Dreamweaver has been developed for the designer, because of which coding and style sheets are key focuses. Unlike the tools discussed above, there is no simple drag and drop functionality involved here.
There are templates available, however, and the jQuery Mobile Templates are particularly useful for creating a mobile device-friendly website from scratch.
The CC version also comes with a Live View mode that gives you an approximation of what your website looks like on different mobile devices as you build it. Although not 100 percent accurate, this mode is pretty useful in helping you visualize the changes being made.
Overall, Dreamweaver is not the web design software for beginners to choose from if you do not know anything at all about web design. It is confusing and not that useful for complete beginners who cannot distinguish between lines of code.
However, for those of you who do have the knowledge, this web design software for beginners gives a smooth, satisfying and comprehensive web design experience.
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Freeway Express
Designed by Softpress Systems, Freeway Express is a great beginner’s tool with its simple and attractive design and interface and is great value for money. It is also only for Mac systems.
Despite the exclusivity to Apple, the Freeway Express is suitable for every level of a web designer. You can create a completely original site with the layout tools available, and then drag and drop the text, images, and other content. You can then edit the content and simply click the publish option to automatically add the code and get it ready for publishing.
You can choose from several templates within the web design software beginners package to adjust and edit, or you can start from scratch itself. If you go for the latter option, it will be better if you already have a rough idea of the layout of the website.
Now, Freeway Express is not loading with features like other web design software beginners tools in this list. It is simple and intuitive, and it does give the option to create automated slideshows and picture galleries. You can also upload Google Maps, add Facebook and Twitter buttons, or integrate Amazon Affiliates or Google Ads.
Search engine optimization capabilities are available with this website, but there are no e-commerce features at all.
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RapidWeaver 6
RapidWeaver is an intuitive and sleek web design software solution that lets you get your website up quickly. But it does come with some caveats. For one, it lacks the features present in a lot of other web design software for beginners in this list. Secondly, it can cost a little higher than the comfortable amount.
The disadvantages aside, there is no doubt that Rapidweaver is a well-made web design software beginners tool. It feels sophisticated to see and interface with. It is not just all looks and no functionality either.
The Rapidweaver does perform, letting you quickly create the site structure and choose from various page types such as contact forms, photo galleries, and blogs.
Rapidweaver’s range of themes can feel dated at times, although there are a few great modern themes supporting responsive design, which is the need of the hour for today’s websites.
The themes also come with unique versions for multiple screen sizes and devices. However, the responsive solution comes with a flip side: you cannot customize the website layout and theme as much as you could with other themes.
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Coffeecup Visual Site Designer
The name of this particular web design tool betrays its simplicity. It is easy for a beginner to just download and install the web design software and start building a website from scratch without any prior experience. However, it seems mostly limited to basic users only with its lack of additional features.
The tool is entirely WYSIWYG, and you do not have to play around or edit the codes in any way. Just start the process by selecting one from ten themes, and then move forward. You can also download more themes for a price online.
With the theme selected, you can simply move around the elements or add more elements.
Coffeecup does not come with a planning or preview mode, which makes it a bit more difficult to navigate without a site mapping program. With basic search engine optimization and zero e-commerce abilities, this is pretty much just a basic website design tool, but it is well worth the price.
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Macaw
Designed for web designers, Macaw is a web design tool that allows you to create responsive page designs without coding. It feels familiar and intuitive to use and is simple enough to grasp too. Within a few hours, you can find yourself creating your own responsive template.
The tool also comes with options with layout adjustments and previews them in real time to see how the changes would actually seem.
Conclusion
Be warned though; what you get in the end is a website that lacks an individual feel. This is not a big problem in most cases. You can even give the website template your own twist by changing the settings available.
But in the end, it is still possible to identify whether your website uses a quick and easy website template or whether it has been built from scratch.
If this is a case where originality does matter, then you need to get your hands dirty and start building codes. But don’t worry, because even coding and building your own personalized website is easier when you have the right tools at your disposal.
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