Tools for Building Websites

It’s early 2017 and yet again, I’ve rebuilt my website. Here’s a rundown of the different tools I’ve used over the years. 

Kirby

At the time of writing, this website is built in Kirby. It combines the speed of a static-site generator and has an option of a web-based GUI for editing content. I’m converting all my personal websites to using Kirby. Highest recommendation on this list.

Pros

• Incredibly easy to get running locally
• Great documentation
• Wide array of plugins to extend functionality
• You can build the entire site locally to try it out before buying your license and launching it for the first time.
• License cost is flat-fee, not subscription.
• PHP-based and ​“Wordpressy” in terms of it’s templating-engine.

Cons

• Kirby isn’t free, and it costs $17 for a personal license and $89 for a commercial license. Totally worth it.

Jekyll

I went bonkers over Jekyll for a while, since it was my gateway into static-site generators. #NoDB

Pros

• Open source
• Static-site generator
• Uses Liquid, an easy to learn templating language 

Cons

• Setting up locally is kind of a bear and requires an understanding of Ruby.
• Intended to be used for blogging, so adding other types of content, say a portfolio section, was challenging.
• Since it uses Ruby to compile, there’s no web-based GUI. Forget about blogging on your phone or from another computer.

Middleman

Middleman is similar to Jekyll in that it’s a static-site generator. Unlike Jekyll, it’s natural capabilities extend far beyond blogging. It’s meant to build full websites.

Pros

• Open source
• Building full sites is a breeze
• Great documentation
• The front-end views are built using .erb templates. When you’re building your Middleman site, you’re learning and using the same code that’s in Ruby on Rails applications.

Cons

• Setting up locally requires Ruby.
• Again, no web-based GUI to add content. In the 1.5 years my site was in Middleman, I wrote a single blog post. I never wanted to launch my entire local environment just to write a quick thing.

Wordpress

We’ve all used Wordpress, and it’s here to stay. Depsite my love/​hate relationship with it, Wordpress is always my go-to when I need to build a site quickly and cheaply.

Pros

• Wordpress easily has the best documentation of anything on this list.
• It’s incredibly powerful and versatile.
• There are an endless amount of plugins and tools to make the site right for you.

Cons

• Databases
• High target for hacking because of its popularity. (Though there are tools to fight against this.)
• Local setup has varied results depending on how you do it. I’ve found that Bitnami provides the best results.

Tumblr

Can you define love? is built on top of Tumblr, and I love the platform. 

Pros

• Pretty straightforward development. Tumblr themes consist of a single HTML file with the CSS included into a <style> tag at the top of the file. 
• The templating language is very easy to understand.

Cons

• There is a variety of ways to develop Tumblr locally. However, I did have success with Thimblr.
• After creating your theme locally, you have to literally copy and paste your HTML and CSS into the web-based editor. No SSH, Git, or FTP functionality.

Hubspot

My most recent learning experience was building the Broadcat website on top of the Hubspot platform.

Pros

• Their templating language is pretty easy to understand. It’s very similar to Liquid.
• Hubspot has a tool for running a local server, and it’s very easy to set up.
• Seriously, they have the best in-browser development experience I have ever seen. Take notes, everyone.
• Even their drag-and-drop website building tools are easy to use.

Cons

• The local server doesn’t serve your site’s actual content. It’s all dummy content, and I can’t figure out how to change it.
• No SSH or Git workflow allowed here. Only FTP. I’m hoping they will expand this soon.

Recommendations

For most websites, I recommend Kirby. You can build a variety of websites, avoid database headache, work locally with no problem, use a Git workflow to commit and push your work, and add content using their web-based GUI (what Kirby calls its ​“Panel”).

If you really want to invest in your business, I recommend Hubspot. In addition to being a powerful website builder, their marketing tools are top notch. Also, they use a similar technique to Brad Frost’s Atomic Design to create modules, groups, and pages.

Have you used any tools from this list? Let me know your favorite!