Awhile ago I decided I wanted to create a new website, one covering different topics from this one. Sure I could create one from scratch using HTML code, but I frankly lack the time and patience to sit down and fully understand how it works, it’s just not practical for me right now. So I decided to check out some of the various online website builders currently available. One particular website builder that I came across was a site called Snappages (http://www.snappages.com is the URL if you want to check it out for yourself). 

After some time playing around with their editor I wanted to share what I found out. So if you’re looking to create a website using an online website builder here’s a review on Snappages and why it might or might not be a good choice for you.

Snappages is a flash based website builder similar to Wix. It uses drag and drop technology so if you’re like myself and have a difficult time with coding this makes creating an attractive site much easier and faster. The big difference between a site like Wix and this online website builder is that only the editor is 100% flash based. Once you publish your site it’s converted into HTML format. Flash despite updates and changes is considered not very SEO friendly because of its poor load time and that some browsers, especially older ones have a hard time reading it properly.

The biggest advantage I noticed immediately with Snappages is that it’s geared towards simplicity. You can pretty much figure out how to use the site editor in a couple minutes making it ideal for those new to website creation.

1. Everything on the editor is clearly labelled, to add something to your site such as picture, video or some text all you have to do is drag it over to the page you’re working on.

2. Another thing I liked is that you can customize your pages themes without it disturbing the layout of your pages. As for layout you can change it at any time without it screwing up your pages content.

3. If you have a problem or question Snappages offers fairly decent customer service. While you have to submit your questions by filling out a ticket, responses are fairly quick. In my experience the longest I had to wait for a response was a day. So while it’s not terribly fast, it is a lot better then other online website builders currently out there.

As easy to use as it is, this online website builder has some serious drawbacks you need to take into consideration before you commit.

1. For starters you’re very limited in terms of actual templates and customization. That is unless you opt to pay to have full CSS control. And at 30 dollars (U.S prices) that’s why overpriced as far as I’m concerned. Especially considering that many other online website builders for a fraction of that give you complete control over how your site looks.

2. Because of the limited customization options available it can be very difficult to get the items you do add to display properly. I noticed this problem immediately when trying to line up items on the side bar. They would look offset or look too big or small and gave a clunky appearance.

3. While you can pick different templates for different pages each page has to be created basically from scratch. I couldn’t find any option where you could copy an older page for a new one and simply swap out the content, keywords, etc while keeping the side bar with it’s menus and pictures and ads the same.

4. The more content you ad the slower the editor gets. Even with a Pro account the editors loading speed rapidly slowed down once you created more then a couple pages, even with minimal content on those pages. I don’t need to tell you how frustrating that is when your don’t have a lot of time and have to wait a couple minutes just to save your work.

5. Not all HTML code works well on Snappages, for example don’t bother trying to add a Digg button to your site it doesn’t work. The same can also be said for other widgets such as comments, and even different affiliate advertisers whose ads simply won’t display.

6. And keeping with the advertising theme you can ad Adsense ads easily to your site. However like Weebly, Snappages will take 50% of any revenue those ads generate.

7. And while you can add a blog to your website very easily, the blog itself is extremely limited. Unless you have full CSS control it’s very hard to add some of the features that are common on sites like Blogger, or Wordpress.