Website Builders Vs. Hand Coding

When you are about to build your website, there are two main options available at your disposal: Go for a free website builder and drag and drop your way to a beautiful website or code everything from scratch. It goes without saying that website builders get the job done quicker and more efficiently, especially if you choose one of the most recommended website builders. However, if you code everything by hand, you are able to customize at will from the ground up and set every brick according to your own preferences. No matter how much customization a website builder might provide, the possibilities are always going to be more if you do it yourself.

With that said, coding on your own obviously requires development experience and if you are a novice, you will have to watch an ample amount of tutorials before you can get your hands dirty with an actual website. Even then it’s sometimes really hard for some.  In the scenario where you have ample free time and some prior development experience, however, you will be presented with two equally perusable alternatives and in this article, we intend to try to find out which one is better than the other:

What Advantages Do Website Builders Offer?

Let’s begin our comparison by looking at some of the advantages that website builders offer and are not experienced while coding websites by hand:

1. Use Existing Templates

One of the most noticeable things talked about in website builder reviews is the amount of available templates. Templates allow you to choose an existing website design and then edit and customize it to make it your own. Obviously, when you code your website from scratch, you start with an empty canvas.

2. Reduced Time and Costs

When you choose a dependable website builder like Wix or Web.com, you are able to get the job done without requiring any technical expertise. They eliminate the need for any third-party assistance or learning and by doing so, they ensure that you get the job done more quickly and without the need to spend excessive amounts of cash.

3. Drag and Drop Interface

One of the biggest advantage offered by website builders is the Drag and Drop interface. Most of the best website builders have user-friendly and intuitive Drag and Drop features that allow you to design without having to write a single line of code.

4. Easy Customization

Website builders also offer easy customization. All you have to do is navigate to the entity and click on it to be able to change its size, font size, font color, background color, positioning etc. If you have development experience or know HTML, PHP or JavaScript, then you can also open the code editor and make some changes there to affect the overall design.

5. Ease of use

Website builders are inherently easy to use because they are naturally intuitive and very user-friendly. You can see a full array of options from the site editor's easily-accessible menu. Also, the chances of making a major error are lower when using a site builder instead of writing all your code by hand.

Advantages of Hand Coding

Now, let’s take a look at some of the advantages hand-coding has to offer:

1. No Customization Horizon

When you write code by hand, there are no limits to customization. Obviously, website builders also offer customization possibilities, but, there is a limit to how much each tool can be manipulated to help you personalize your site. If you are building a website from the ground-up, the sky is the limit.

2. Code Understanding

If you have development experience, then you would need to be able to understand your website’s code and it’s an established fact that people understand their own written code better than any other developer’s code. When you code your own website, you understand it completely and have better chances of optimizing it, if need be.

3. Hand-Written Code Is Almost Always More Efficient

If you have confidence in your ability to write code, then it’s likely that you'll be able to write code that better suits your needs yourself rather than relying on more generalized site builder code. That being said, you'll need a certain amount of expertise to accomplish this.

What Kind of Businesses Use Website Builders?

In today’s automated world, most businesses, regardless of the size, go with website builders because it’s an efficient way of getting the job done. From small startups to giant conglomerates, businesses over the past decade or so have resorted to website builders because this allows stakeholders and important people without any technical knowledge to actually play a tangible role in the website development process.

What Kind of Businesses Use Hand Coding?

Even with the advent of modern website builders like Wix, there are certain businesses who like to code their own websites. Most of the times, these businesses are from the IT market. Thus, their employees possess enough technical insight to get the job done without the use of a website builder.

The Best Website Builders

The reality is there really is no "best" website builder for anyone. It depends on what your specific goals and needs are. That being said, our expert reviewers are constantly researching the latest tools available. Here are our three recommended website builders you can use to build your website right now:

1. Wix: Wix is probably one of the most well known website builders, and it's not without good reason. All of their plans include complete access to their extensive library of customizable templates and their drag-and-drop editor couldn't be simpler to use.
2. Site23:  Its vast array of simple tools spare the hassle of ever needing any web design or coding expertise. All you need to do is upload some quality content and the seamless web builder will do the rest.
3. HostGator: Recognized for their affordable and reliable shared hosting, HostGator recently introduced the Gator Website Builder which is designed to give individuals and businesses the core features to create a beautiful personal or small business website.

Final Word

In today’s world, having an online presence is of pivotal importance for a business. You get more visitors, and eventually more customers, from your website than you would from your physical store. This is because of the accessibility, ease of smartphone use and modern technology has provided us with. Having a beautiful, responsive and user-friendly website is also necessary and building it using the right tools can have a lot to say about that. After looking at the different aspects of website building and after comparing the advantages offered by both website builders and hand coding, it is safe to say that website builders get the job done faster, better, and in some cases, more cost-effectively. In the years to come, we can only expect these tools to gain more sophistication and be in more use than it already is.