Does anyone have recommendations on some good, EASY, and customizable sitebuilders to use? I've used GoDaddy's WebsiteTonight for 2 sites: one was a favourable experience...the other not so much due to "upgrades" they made.

I seem to recall reading in one of the many newsletters I receive a few recommendations for online website builders, but for the life of me can't recall which one I saw these in.

I wanted to try a different application to get around some of the limitations with GoDaddy's WSB.

The site would be selling an information product (and me!), if that helps.

Thanks.
LM

LisaMay, let me start off by saying that I'm a techno-dunce. But I build web-sites with free tools.

What I want out of the site, determines what I use.

I use NVU which is free from Here I find it easy to use even though it occasionally has a few quirks.
NVU is a good tool for "mini sites", maybe up to 10 pages more or less.

Another tool that I use is Word Press, which is a blog. There was a Total Package article in the last week or so on this.
I do NOT use Dave's method of installing it. I don't think this works on Godaddy hosting, if you're using it. (I wouldn't) but that's a different story.
I use hosting that has cpanel with a feature called Fantastico. Fantastico allows you to do a complete install in about 2 minutes.
There's stuff you need to do after install to make it function better but it can be used "out of the box"

For large sites, I have started using http://www.xsitepro.com] Xsitepro (This is not an affiliate link)
XSP is not free (around $200) but is a pretty good tool for building large sites for those of us who are technically challenged.
I say that almost grudgingly because I have owned it for a long time but always stopped using half way through building a site until recently because of some stumbling block or other. I know gladly include it in my arsenal.

This could be a whole series of articles and probably not appropriate here.
If you want to discuss this, feel free to email me. larry.foster AT gmail.com

I won't try to sell you anything, just give you my experience on this. There's no strings attached.
Larry Foster

Thanks Larry - I'm sending you an e-mail for more info!
LM

As one of Clayton's web guys, I'd have to recommend a CMS. Instead of using a site builder you could set up a Joomla or Wordpress site. There are a truckload of free templates for both and they require no HTML knowledge to set up or post.

The other great thing about CMS(s) is their scalability. Right now you might be looking for a small site to showcase your work, but down the line you might want to go full-on e-commerce. Wordpress and Joomla (and the like) Let you do that.

If you want more information on how to set up either of these, you should just check out David Dittman's articles on The Total Package.

Joomla vs. WordPress

How To Use WordPress

Hope that helps,
-Forrest the Web Guy

Cool - thanks Forrest.