More than 50 years ago, computers were regarded as tools for scientists – used mainly to compute arithmetic equations. These computing machines were so big that anyone could fill a standard room.
The computers had dedicated operators whose main jobs were to accept data input from their colleagues, punch mathematical equations and the provided data, and then receive the result, or more commonly the output.
Computers have since grown smaller in size and in complexity – from the command line interface to today’s graphical user interface which is more or less intuitive for users.
The internet started off on a similar path – created by American military working with scientists. And then educational institutions came into the picture, before businesses and finally individuals.
Web creation had been the exclusive reserve for programmers who built everything from ground up using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and SVG.
Programmers had all the fun and of course all the budgeted pay for web design and development.
This situation has been changing recently with the introduction of website builders. Now anyone who knows how to use a mouse, or move a cursor can design their own website.
Our review profiles one of the most popular website builders in the market.
The main topics covered in our 1&1 Website Builder Review are:
- What is a Website Builder and How is it Used?
- Overview of 1&1 Web Hosting
- 1&1 Website Builder
- Main Features of 1&1 Website Builder
- 10 Powerful Reasons to Use 1&1 Website Builder
- 1&1 Website Builder Pricing and Plans
- Pros and Cons of 1&1 Website Builder
- Conclusion
What is a Website Builder and How is it Used?
A website builder is a tool that lets users quickly create different types of websites without needing programming skills or experience. Most website builders come with drag and drop features that make it very easy to design and edit websites.
Website builders depending on the functionality and features can be used to create different kinds of websites. An individual without any knowledge of HTML or CSS can create nice looking blogs, social media networks, e-commerce stores, and forums. Users are provided with templates that they can easily use for these websites.
For those with a little more taste, website builders allow you to edit different elements of a template or website. You can change the color of the template or a section of it; edit the font type, size or color. You can also change the layout to fit your brand.
Website builders are very easy to learn especially for those who know how to use a computer mouse or cursor.
How is a Website Builder Used?
Website builders are broadly categorized into 2 – online and offline website builders.
Online website builders are usually owned by web hosting companies that offer the website builder as a free or paid service for subscribing to their hosting services. Some other companies offer it as their main service while you get web hosting as a free or additional service.
Online website builders are usually meant for users to create their private websites or blogs. Some popular online website builder companies include wix.com, Squarespace, and 1&1 hosting.
Offline website builder is packaged as standalone software to be installed on your computer. It is then used to create websites that are uploaded to web servers after completion.
Offline website builders are most used by web design professionals who have multiple clients. Some of the well known offline website builders include Webflow, Dreamweaver, and Mobirise.
Offline website builders can be installed on Windows, Mac or Android OS depending on the versions available.
Overview of 1&1 Web Hosting
1&1 is a web hosting company founded in Germany in 1998 delivering the full range of web hosting services to small businesses, medium and enterprises. The range of services that can be obtained from 1&1 include web hosting of different pricing plans for its users, and domain name registration.
Users can also access the company’s website builders, VPS and dedicated servers, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, cloud backups and cloud apps. 1&1 is currently owned and operated by Universal Internet having more than 8 million current customers. A merger in 2018 led to a rebranding and a name modification to 1&1 IONOS.
1&1 IONOS web hosting offers a free domain for subscription on some of the hosting plans. You are however responsible for subsequent years’ subscriptions at a rate of $15 annually. The shared hosting plans are covered by 30 days money back guarantee while offering a range of features to users – competitive storage and bandwidth, fully responsive round the clock customer support, and website builder.
1&1 Website Builder
1&1 provides an easy-to-use website builder for users to build general and business specific websites without requiring HTML, CSS or any other programming languages.
With this simple tool, you can have your website or blog running in a few minutes. The 1&1 website builder is a tremendous cost saver for site owners, especially those who have budget constraints.
The drag-and-drop functionality of 1&1 website builder takes away any form of complexity in the web design process, giving you lots of control over the look and feel of your site.
This website builder comes packed with a lot of functionalities to ensure that you get the best out of it.
Here are some basic features that endear 1&1 website builder to me and millions of other users.
Main Features of 1&1 Website Builder
1. 1&1 MyWebsite Interface – Makes it much easier to use the website builder even for novices by offering a very intuitive user interface.
Once logged into your account you can start with the creation of your site based on your requirements.
2. MyWebsite Templates and Layouts – This feature offers tools to create visually appealing sites with cool templates. There are business and sector specific templates to choose from.
These templates offer some form of flexibility for those who like to tweak them by giving access to the HTML and CSS codes. There are also plenty of copyright-free images specifically designed for certain layouts.
Users have enough freedom to personalize their sites to suit their preferences or reflect the brand.
3. 1&1 MyWebsite Editor – An editor that lets you create professional-looking websites without writing a single line of code. With the use of the drag and drop feature you can place different elements where you want them.
This Editor also allows you to edit images without using an external image editing software.
The editor also allows you to correct any mistakes made with the “undo” button.
4. 1&1 Form Builder – Makes the creation of webforms very seamless by allowing for easy addition of text fields, text areas, check boxes and other form elements.
The forms are presented in a particular order but allows for users to change the order using the form builder tool.
5. 1&1 Website Mobility – This lets you create mobile friendly sites for your visitors. From this tool you can create the 1&1 website creator for mobile devices by enabling the “MyWebsite Mobile” option.
6. 1&1 Additional Features – Users can extend the functionalities or features of their sites using this tool. Features like modifying photos, embedding YouTube videos and social media accounts can be achieved using this tool.
Add third party tools and apps create simple blogs, and integrate features like guestbook and comments on your blog using 1&1 Additional Features.
7. 1&1 WordPress Setup – With this easy to use WordPress wizard you can integrate an existing blog to your company’s website.
8. 1&1 Ecommerce – Although this offers very limited Ecommerce capabilities you can create a basic Ecommerce store which runs with PayPal.
Should you need an Ecommerce store with extra capabilities, the 1&1 app store provides different Ecommerce applications through its 1&1 app store.
9. SEO Capabilities – Create SEO optimized sites so they can be discovered by Google and other search engines.
10 Powerful Reasons to Use 1&1 Website Builder
These are 10 reasons to choose 1&1 for your website builder
- Easily integrate third party tools and web applications to your site. Using 1&1 template tools you can integrate blogs, social media accounts, Ecommerce stores and different apps to extend the functionality of your site or improve user experience.
- Provides business and sector-specific templates. This is essential for brands who want their sites to have certain similarities that go with their businesses. Examples are hospitals, flight booking, hotels, photographers etc.
- Responsive customer support for requests or questions from users. You can have correspondence through live chat, email and if very urgent through phone call.
- Widely known for reliability and quality services. 1&1 is a brand that has been in existence for more than 30 years offering quality service to its customers. Through this experience the company has been able to build reliability into all its offers.
- Website Builder is designed to focus on a wide variety of applications of different business sectors.
- 1&1 is a brand with more than 30 years experience, a good enough reason for choosing their website builder.
- 1&1 offers manpower to help in building the sites of customers who are too busy or preoccupied to build the sites themselves.
- Helps businesses focus on their core offerings while spending as little time as possible on tasks like web design and editing. The website builder takes away the complexity of website creation and instead introduces a cost and time saving tool.
- 1&1 forum that provides community and support for users. Most Information concerning the use of the website builder can be found on the forum.
- Ability to personalize your website further by granting access to the HTML and CSS codes for those who know their way around.
These reasons should be convincing enough to give this website builder a trial.
The pricing plans are flexible and reflect your needs.
1&1 Website Builder Pricing and Plans
The company doesn’t offer any free plans for its website builder but instead have packages with different features and pricing.
All pricing plans come with the following features:
- 10GB web space
- An online photo editor
- Automated mobile optimization
- 1&1 SiteAnalytics for tracking site stats
- Free domain name registration for one year
- 200 email addresses which must match your domain name
Pricing for online store comes with:
- SSL certificate
- Access to 1&1 image archive containing more than 20,000 photos
- Online marketing tools
1&1 Pricing
- Basic – $9.99 per month for those paying annually and $12.99/month for users paying in monthly subscription
- Plus – $14.99/month for users paying yearly subscription and $19.99/month for users paying for monthly subscription.
- Premium – $19.99/month for users paying for annual subscription and $29.99/month for monthly subscription payments.
Pros and Cons of 1&1 Website Builder
Our review isn’t complete without highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of using 1&1 website builder.
Pros of 1&1 Website Builder
- 30-day free trial for new users to test 1&1 website builder.
- The website builder’s services can be accessed in several countries around the world.
- 1&1 has an extensive and Informative FAQ that provides answers and explanations to how to use its services.
- 1&1 website builder is an ideal tool for those who are new to web design. Also ideal for programmers who know their way around web design codes!
- Access thousands of images that comply with copyright laws.
Cons of 1&1 Website Builder
- The website builder places restrictions on customizing the fonts, instead setting it to 12 which is default for browsers.
- There are lots of good looking templates provided by the company but unfortunately users are not allowed to change their style.
- 1&1 website builder does not provide any tools to edit the site’s footer.
- The feature-rich tool does not extend to Ecommerce websites. You may have to get other tools or apps to enable you achieve your goal of designing a good Ecommerce store.
Conclusion
1&1 IONOS is a web hosting company that provides the full range of hosting services to small, medium businesses and enterprises.
The company offers domain name registration, different types of hosting services and website builder.
The 1&1 website builder makes the process of website creation very easy and quick. You can customize the provided templates to suit your preference.
The pricing plans are affordable and new users can sign up for a 30 free trial to test the service.
Aside from the 1&1 website builder platform reviewed in this post, there’s a stronger similar platform in terms of speed, security, reliability, power, and support – and that’s popularly called Wealthy Affiliate. Check out my review of this great online business community here.