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Finding the right Intranet platform isn't simple: while it is nice to have choices, it can be confusing. There are the four different flavors of Windows NT (Intel, Alpha, RISC and PowerPC), even more varieties of Unix, Macintosh and Novell's NetWare. A number of products only run on a single brand of processor (such as Intel NT or SGI Unix) and others work best under certain system components (such as using Open Transport for the Mac to support TCP/IP networking).
We recommend examining the following five criteria before picking the right set of operating system and hardware:
- ease of setup/configuration
- functionality
- integration into existing file, print services
- scalability
- availability of third party tools
Ease of setup refers to how quickly you can install the hardware, OS, and various Intranet applications and configure them to getIf you're new to site building and just want to try it for free, you can use these products as free website builders - in addition to paid services, they enable creating your own website for free with some restrictions.
They give you a chance to test your netwriting skills. You can create a website for free and cancel the project at any time if something goes wrong, or switch to a paid version if you are totally delighted with the result and want to remove restrictions and include additional features.
One of the best things about online website builders is that the content of your website is stored separately from the layout. At any time, in a few clicks of the mouse, you can easily change the appearance of your site - the template, colors, fonts, etc., without ever having to retype any information.
The reviewed free website builders are the current leaders in their fields - an extremely easy-to-use online website builder for creating small sites, an ecommerce website builder, an advanced website builder and a popular tool offered by many hosting providers...
1&1 Instant Website
This is a popular website builder, which anyone can use to quickly create small websites (up to 12 pages) without the need of HTML programming skills or expensive desktop software. It's suitable for those who just want to make small professional looking websites very quickly, easily and inexpensively - affiliates, home and small businesses, families, hobbies, sports teams, etc.
Unlike other reviewed free website builders, 1&1 Instant Website requires no registration to get started. You can start creating your own website for free immediately and see what your pages would look like before you join 1&1.
Building a website is a five-step process...
Choose your layout from a library of 120 website templates.
Refine your design - choose your favorite graphic and pick the font size, text color, and navigation button style.
Edit your content with easy to use online editor.
Add extra features like Flash animation, a counter, feedback forms, guest books and more.
Publish your website.
In comparison to other website builders the main advantage of 1&1 Instant Website is its price. The main disadvantage is less options when customizing your template and page layout.
1&1 also offers cheap domain registration and a wide variety of hosting plans.
More details... (See also the similar tool - iPage)
Bizhosting
Unlike other free website builders, this is a web store builder. It allows business owners or individuals to focus on building their business instead of managing their website. Bizhosting has been named the #1 "Ecommerce Website Hosting Service of the Year - 2002" by 100-Best-Web-Hosting.com.
In one simple integrated service, Bizhosting provides everything needed to build an online store with credit card processing...
Web hosting.
E-mail accounts and e-mail forwarding.
Visual site building tools. Click here to see an example.
Professional pre-designed site templates.
Accepting payment by phone, mail and credit cards.
Automatic credit card processing.
Shopping cart.
Merchant account.
Real-time shipping.
Product catalog.
Discount manager.
Store management tools.
Professional site statistical reports.
Site promotion tools.
Phone and e-mail technical support.
First month free.
They offer Professional, Value and Free packages. The first two include everything needed to build a full featured ecommerce website. Even individuals, which don't have a business bank account and a Federal tax ID number, can get approved instantly using only their Social Security number, and start processing credit cards the same day with no extra monthly fee.
The third package enables creating your own website for free - it includes limited-feature ecommerce website hosting, minimal site building tools and banners at the top of each page.
More details...
Site2you
This tool takes a different approach to site creating than other free website builders - one time fee package. You can make a complete website with unlimited pages for one flat fee.
First of all, you get a 7-day free trial account and can try your skills creating your website for free. After switching to the registered account, you get two weeks of access to your website as you develop it. You can make the unlimited quantity of downloads or direct file transfers to your hosting company servers.
They won't delete your website from their base after you have finished it. If you need to make further changes to it, you can either do them yourself or use their 10-day or 1-month access plan (for a small fee) to make updates and download or transfer your website again.
They offer a powerful online editor and hundreds of high-quality professional website templates to choose from. (Site2you partners with TemplateMonster - one of the world's leading website templates providers.)
Click here to try the Site2you website builder for free.
Site Studio
Unlike other reviewed above free website builders, this browser-based solution for website design and construction from Positive Software Corporation isn't a standalone tool. It's a software that hosting providers can install on their servers to help users build professionally looking websites without knowing anything about FTP, HTML, or imaging software.
Key features of Site Studio:
Simple to use: Site Studio guides you step-by-step, providing simple choices regarding color, style and images. There is no software to buy, and no code to learn.
Layout templates: Site Studio provides over 1000 professionally designed templates. The content of your website is stored separately from the layout. This way, you can completely change the look and feel of your website in a few clicks of the mouse, without ever having to retype any information.
Customizable color schemes: Site Studio includes a number of built-in color combinations that look great with any layout. But if you want to add a little originality to your site, all the colors can be changed, either by using a point-and-click color picker, or typing in the color as a hex number.
Complete control over images: you can upload your own images without having to leave your browser. The required images, including logos, rollover buttons and sidebars, can also be generated automatically in the colors you want, with the desired text.
Variety of pages: Site Studio includes a lot of predefined page templates: About, Links, Download, Firm Profile, Survey Form, FAQ, Catalog, ICQ Contact Center, Site Map, Contact Us, Services, Add-A-Cart Catalog, Amazon.Com Web Store, etc. Generic Page template enables creation of custom pages that do not fall into any other categories. Advanced users can copy-paste existing HTML pages and create web pages based on their own HTML code.
One-click publishing: The website is published with one easy click. But even after publishing, you can go back and change it as much as you wish.
Many hosting providers offer this website builder for an additional fee. However, here are three inexpensive hosting services which provide their clients with Site Studio for free...
IXWebHosting
10 GB of disk space and 100 GB of traffic for $3.95 a month. Additionally, you can host 2 domains (separate sites) within one account - a low-cost solution for owners of multiple sites.
WebsiteSource
5 GB of disk space and 50 GB of traffic for $7.83 a month. You can host up to 4 domains (separate sites) within one account.
midPhase
12 GB of disk space and unlimited bandwidth for $7.95 a month.
See Resources: Inexpensive Web Hosting for more details about these hosting providers.
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