April Post
The Advantage and Disadvantage of Using Webnode for Achieving Your Web Publishing Goals
Webnode is a free to use tool for anyone who is looking to set up their own website. Users are able to set up three types of site when they first use webnode, a personal website, a website for business or an e-commerce website. The only one which requires that you pay is the e-commerce website. Webnode provides a simple graphical user interface that is extremely easy to pick up and this allows you to create a website very quickly without any knowledge in web design. As well as creating pages and content for your website you are able to change the style of your site using a set of created themes (some need payment) and within these themes there are elements which you can change.
For someone with no background or knowledge in web design but require a website then webnode is a great tool for them. However if you do have a background in web design then I can’t see why you would choose to use webnode over building your own website. Where it allows users to create a website it does lack the customisation that someone with knowledge in the web design field would be able to produce themselves. If you look at a few websites using webnode you can tell they are very similar and produced by the same tool. I feel the quality of the finished product isn’t that high compared with a completely custom made website or some of the other tools that produce a website. Wordpress is a very popular tool that people use to write blogs but a lot of people don’t realise that it can also be used to make other websites that aren’t blogs. The quality of a website created with wordpress compared with webnode is significantly different and can easily be seen.
In summary webnode is a good tool for individuals/businesses that want to set up a website in a short space of time. It has some good functionality and the ability to create and edit content quickly is a great advantage. However it does lack the quality and uniqueness you’d get from a website that is tailored to the end users needs. Personally I wouldn’t suggest this as a tool for people to use if they wanted a website created but I wouldn’t tell people not to use it if they were thinking of using it.
Reflective Statement
My aim for this project was to build a website that advertised the sport of Ultimate Frisbee and in turn increase the numbers of people involved in the sport. I feel that I have successfully completed my aim and created a website which is simple and gets the relevant information across to the users. There is quite a lot to learn with every new sport and there is no exception with ultimate Frisbee, I didn’t want to overload new users with information so I tried just to give them a basic overview in which they can get involved and learn the rest as they learn. For the users who want to learn the more complex rules I have put links to external websites where they can learn this information. By doing this I feel have filled the needs of both types of user which is what I set out to do. One thing I would potentially change in the future is the spreading of information when I talk about the sport, I feel there is more information to be put on the website and for that I would like to spread the information across more pages.
The design of the website is set out to be very simple so that users can find out information quickly and without much searching. I have asked a couple of friends and family to give me their feedback on the design and layout of the website and I got positive feedback. They said that the layout was very simple and easy to navigate around the website and they also liked the colour scheme as it’s quite simple and not overly complicated. One thing they did say is they would like more images to break up some of the bigger sections of text, which can be implemented fairly easily over time. I have built websites in the past so I felt very limited with what I could do using webnode in terms of design and layout. The themes that are provided are very basic and all quite similar with some just varying the colours used in the theme. I personally would like to build the website myself using a different content management system because I feel webnode isn’t the best out there.
Overall I am happy with the finished project; I feel it completes the aims that I set out when coming up with the project. My only criticism is that webnode lacks some features that I would like and therefore limits what I feel should and could be done when building a website.