Recommendations for one page DIY website

[Joe E]

I'm looking for recommendations for a DIY one page website builder, I've looked at ccard as one possibility looks ok but are there others people have used and found to be good? It doesn't have to be free but must be fully customisable and have a decent level of security. TIA

 

[DontAsk]

You need to explain more about what you are trying to achieve, if you even understand yourself.

Anything that needs "security" on the site itself (i.e. you're not just embedding PayPal or Stripe Widgets) is going to be way more complex than what you get from a page builder, even if everything is on a single page.

 

[Joe E]

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, its not an ecommerce business just a local exterior property cleaning business servicing local domestic and commercial clients, so just one page awareness page with a functioning data capture and response facility. When I said security I just meant generally protection from hacking etc.

 

[fisicx]

You are limiting yourself. You could be showing work you have done, getting reviews and testimonials, have pages for each of the services you offer. Link all these to your Google business profile and you will soon be getting leads.

Use Wordpress (free) and it looks after everything for you.

Don’t use a cheap page builder service.

 

[paulears]

With one page, there's nothing really to hack is there?no clever forms or processes, or captured data.

The only thing is that people nowadays do expect more than a sort of hello page, and of course that's two hello pages one for phones and small screens and one for bigger displays. That's quite vital nowadays. The also expect all the contact stuff, and details about who you are, and how they should spend with you and not somebody else? It's a waste to just have a one page site.

 

[Joe E]

Thanks for your input guys, I do realise that I'm asking for a starter site just to get going I have looked at WordPress although looks really good customisation wise how secure is it
?

 

[paulears]

Well, security depends on degrees - and if you want to do it all yourself, then Wordpress could be quite hard to get going even for one or two pages. If I wanted better security (and I'd have to ask what I might have that is insecure?) I'd get an expert. People are always able to beat security if their knowledge is better than the designers, but what could they do? Change your images, change the email links to redirect to them to steal your customers, or use your server space for their own purposes? If you can re-upload a site that has been tinkered with the risk is low, but if your site contents sensitive data and possible GDPR material, you need help.

 

[fisicx]

Thanks for your input guys, I do realise that I'm asking for a starter site just to get going I have looked at WordPress although looks really good customisation wise how secure is it
?

Wordpress can be made very secure. You need to know what you are doing but there are loads of online guides or just ask here.

Get some hosting and you can install Wordpress with a couple of clicks. Right now you don’t need to do anything else except add content. You can choose a theme (thousands of freebies) and a plugin for the contact form (also free).

But you may be better off getting help. What will take you days to do someone with the right skills can have everything done in an hour.

I did a site recently for a local business and he was getting leads within days.

 

[Joe E]

Thanks again guys, looks like its worth digging deeper into Wordpress. Cheers for your advice.

 

[Paul - Siteflight Video]

Have a look at Pagio dot co dot uk. It's built on Wordpress so has pedigree and runs on AMS servers so quick and reliable. It's also straight forward and easy to use!

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

I used Wix which isn't free and you're going to have to pay for it. Advantages are that it's dead easy, loads of templates and you can do stuff yourself. Although I hired a designer, I make lots of changes myself.

However, if you begin to grow, need lots of pages, SEO etc..., you will have all kinds of issues with it. And you'll need to move to something else.

 

[fisicx]

Have a look at Pagio dot co dot uk. It's built on Wordpress....

No it's not.

 

[eteb3]

Erstwhile UKBF poster Graeme Pietersz uses https://getnikola.com/

Check his own site: he ought to know what he's talking about. https://www.codeandmore.co.uk/

EDIT: He has a review of a one-page website here.

In short, if the PR aspect of a nice design is important, then you need to prioritise it. If you want to put your users first, then stuff it.

 

[MarketingQuote]

Also thinking long term, would you want it to always be a one page website, or do you have future goals in terms of developing it?

 

[fisicx]

There is almost always more than one page.

If you are providing any sort of service you need more than one page.

 

[Nick@Daydot]

EDIT: He has a review of a one-page website here.

I just want to address some of the comments in the review for the benefit of others. For background, part of my role is to research what makes for effective websites - and I mean 'effective', not pretty. The site itself is for a local theatre company.

Something for people generally to bear in mind when looking to review a site is that they are not the only user. It's fine to look at things from a personal point of view but there may be contexts and audiences to consider that aren't obvious. In this case the reviewer does try to take accessibility into account.

The site is described as 'ugly' which I'd agree with, although that's a subjective personal opinion and probably does impact effectiveness, but that could be tested.

The statement is made "The most important piece of information, the details of the next production, are right there on the home page. No hunting around."
I would argue that many visitors to the site will first want to know the location of the theatre. There are mentions at the top of the page of 'Lighthorne' and 'isle of man' (sic) which could lead people to think that's where the plays are - it appears they are in Stratford-upon-Avon (yes, Lighthorne isn't far).

"Everything else I wanted to know is on a link to the 'about' page".
I struggled to find this link. The resulting 'about' page has tiny text with lines too long to read comfortably. On mobile you have to pinch zoom to read it, and then scroll side to side.

"Because the site is so simple it works perfectly on mobile without anyone having to do extra work." True it renders on mobile but it's not all usable.

"It is accessible (for the blind as far as I can tell. The image correctly has an empty alt tag (as the information in it is repeated as text). Most websites get this wrong."
The lack of alt text or a description for the image means a screen reader will hear "Welcome to theatre company" and miss the name of it. The second image could include a description of a lady in a period gown looking at a stately home, which some blind users would enjoy. It also includes a phone number which is not on the page.

The varying font styles and colour and the patterned background make some of the text effectively invisible to readers with poor sight and colour blindness. It's suggested that "The readability issue is easily fixed by deleting the background image (I tried blocking it and the site looked much better)." Quite aside from the fact that this shouldn't be necessary in the first place, how many prospective theatre goers know how to do that?

The review says the site 'has some faults' but doesn't consider these fatal. These include "some broken links and 'under construction' pages". Research has demonstrated that this type of issues impacts the trust that users have for a site. If broken links are allowed to persist it calls into question the trustworthiness of the operator. Right or wrong.

I note that the 'html title', which is the text in the tab and which goes into bookmarks is 'index'. So if someone finds the page useful and bookmarks it, they'll see a few months later 'index' which isn't helpful.

If you want to book at ticket you have to use your phone to read a QR code. At least the Theatre's Facebook page does have a direct link to the booking site. There should be one here. Why a QR code? It's certainly not going to be easy for the blind.

The conclusion of the review is "In short, if the PR aspect of a nice design is important, then you need to prioritise it. If you want to put your users first, then stuff it." I'd agree. But in this case the 'nice design' isn't about PR, it's about usability.

My takeaway is that if you are really confident that you know what elements of 'nice design' matter to effectiveness and you want to code your own site then fine. Otherwise you need the help of someone who does know, or use a templated site which you can still make a mess of but stand a better chance.

 

[Frimley111R]

I wouldn't bother with a 1-pager. I'd create a Facebook page and post everything up there. It's about as easy as it could possibly to get up and running

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I set this up for my 'private' hosting business to help out a local council.

It created a simple one page 'business card' that displayed core information like contact details and business overview etc. Even using a simple page builder, people found it difficult to use and I have ended up converting m,any people to a basic WP site, but the clients still need help in making things work.

With the above in mind and relevant experience, I launch an online business card platform soon to see if these users would find that any easier.

 

[gpietersz]

Quite aside from the fact that this shouldn't be necessary in the first place, how many prospective theatre goers know how to do that?

My point there is that the biggest problem with the site could easily be fixed.

The lack of alt text or a description for the image means a screen reader will hear "Welcome to theatre company" and miss the name of it.

A screen reader should treat an empty alt tag (not missing, it is an empty string) as a hint to say nothing.

I would argue that many visitors to the site will first want to know the location of the theatre. There are mentions at the top of the page of 'Lighthorne' and 'isle of man' (sic) which could lead people to think that's where the plays are

I disagree. its clear they performed at festivals in those places from the wording.

There is no one theatre - I think they usually perform in stratford, but not always.

The second image could include a description of a lady in a period gown looking at a stately home, which some blind users would enjoy. It also includes a phone number which is not on the page.

Some people would find that description a waste of time and not enjoy it at all. If you are considering going to the play why would you care about a description of a promotional picture?

I agree the phone number should be on the page. You do get it and a ticket source link if you click on "ticket info".

I note that the 'html title', which is the text in the tab and which goes into bookmarks is 'index'. So if someone finds the page useful and bookmarks it, they'll see a few months later 'index' which isn't helpful.

I agree with that.

I generally did not have any issues on mobile either apart from small text.

Overall, despite the flaws, I found it useful when I sent to the site looking for where to book the play. I may be only one user, BUT I am a fairly typical user. It was very good for an amateur production. Not as good as the neighbours, of course!

 

[gpietersz]

Erstwhile UKBF poster Graeme Pietersz uses https://getnikola.com/

Check his own site: he ought to know what he's talking about. https://www.codeandmore.co.uk/

EDIT: He has a review of a one-page website here.

Nikola and the like are not user friendly, but they eliminate most security issues, because you just have plain HTML on the server. If you can manage to use them and do not have dynamic content they are a great solution. They are not that hard to use: harder than getting someone else to set up a wordpress site for you, but easier than maintaining one yourself.

 

[Andy Cornish]

I would give Wordpress a go, it's not really that hard to build a site with and most hosts will install it free for you.

 

[SBC Marketing]

I'm looking for recommendations for a DIY one page website builder, I've looked at ccard as one possibility looks ok but are there others people have used and found to be good? It doesn't have to be free but must be fully customisable and have a decent level of security. TIA

Joe, explore WordPress as it offers a multitude of options.

 

[NickZ]

Any Sitebuider will do.
I wonder what you wish to archiveP

 

[wayzgoose]

Pity Serif isn't still on the go. Good old html page.