4 ms·

Chances I will ever use Squarespace or Wix: 0%.

andybak 4y ago
Well I guess chances I will ever use Squarespace, Wix or Wordpress: ~0%. But I'm not sure what that adds to the conversation without some background context on our requirements, use-cases or constraints?
- mitchdoogle 4y ago
  In my opinion, the main difference between those is that you can self-host WordPress, so you can have full control over your site. Wix and Squarespace are hosted on their own servers. It's a lot easier, from a development point of view, to customize WordPress to do what you want.
- dgb23 4y ago
  There’s literally a market for extracting data from those platforms so people can move to more flexible solutions that they can control and extend.
  - andybak 4y ago
    I don't disagree but I'm still not sure how that relates to my comment or the one I replied to.
haswell 4y ago
The HN community is a bubble. I doubt very many people who participate here would either. But many creative types I know have used at least one if not both. We are not the intended market.
- CSSer 4y ago
  Sorta, kinda. Some of us do agency work for clients. We're consulted for our expertise to help medium to large companies avoid pitfalls like vendor lock-in (relevant in this case), performance bottlenecks, and cumbersome content management. We're then paid to implement those solutions in a creative, strategic and compelling way. I don't know if it'll hold my interest, but it was certainly a way to get into the industry. It's a great fit for anyone who's passionate about advertising, marketing, and technology. I think there's a (perhaps unintentional) true, deeper subtext to what you're saying though. WordPress has become too undifferentiated. There are parts of WP that are very mature and still as of yet unbeaten, but that's not what it takes to stay relevant.
- justinator 4y ago
  >But many creative types I know have used at least one if not both. We are not the intended market. I have an art degree.
kstrauser 4y ago
A friend of mine has a Wix account for who knows why. We were planning an event and he asked me to make a web page for it. I didn’t have the free cycles to do it at that moment, but he came back to me with a mostly finished Wix website a couple of hours later. I’ve gotta say, while I’m not interested in using it, I was impressed with how quickly someone less technical was able to get something decent up and running.
- Robotbeat 4y ago
  What does Wix do for your friend that you couldn’t do in Microsoft Word (which makes acceptable HTML static pages)? (I’ve never used Wix myself, so it’s a real question.)
  - kstrauser 4y ago
    If you generate a static page, you have to upload it to something to host it. Wix and Squarespace handle that "last mile" for you. You drag and drop things to get the layout you want, click the publish button, and it's live. They also support things like response forms, etc., that you'd otherwise have to manage yourself. I wouldn't use Wix or similar for those things, but after seeing how someone less technical uses them, I see the appeal.
    - Robotbeat 4y ago
      Thanks, that makes sense.
Gigachad 4y ago
This isn't really a constructive or useful comment. From what I saw, designers were able to build with Squarespace most of the stuff the devs were doing in wordpress and the sites were more reliable and cost less in the long run.

Well I guess chances I will ever use Squarespace, Wix or Wordpress: ~0%. But I'm not sure what that adds to the conversation without some background context on our requirements, use-cases or constraints?

mitchdoogle 4y ago
In my opinion, the main difference between those is that you can self-host WordPress, so you can have full control over your site. Wix and Squarespace are hosted on their own servers. It's a lot easier, from a development point of view, to customize WordPress to do what you want.
dgb23 4y ago
There’s literally a market for extracting data from those platforms so people can move to more flexible solutions that they can control and extend.
- andybak 4y ago
  I don't disagree but I'm still not sure how that relates to my comment or the one I replied to.

haswell 4y ago

The HN community is a bubble. I doubt very many people who participate here would either. But many creative types I know have used at least one if not both. We are not the intended market.

CSSer 4y ago
Sorta, kinda. Some of us do agency work for clients. We're consulted for our expertise to help medium to large companies avoid pitfalls like vendor lock-in (relevant in this case), performance bottlenecks, and cumbersome content management. We're then paid to implement those solutions in a creative, strategic and compelling way. I don't know if it'll hold my interest, but it was certainly a way to get into the industry. It's a great fit for anyone who's passionate about advertising, marketing, and technology. I think there's a (perhaps unintentional) true, deeper subtext to what you're saying though. WordPress has become too undifferentiated. There are parts of WP that are very mature and still as of yet unbeaten, but that's not what it takes to stay relevant.
justinator 4y ago
>But many creative types I know have used at least one if not both. We are not the intended market. I have an art degree.

kstrauser 4y ago

A friend of mine has a Wix account for who knows why. We were planning an event and he asked me to make a web page for it. I didn’t have the free cycles to do it at that moment, but he came back to me with a mostly finished Wix website a couple of hours later. I’ve gotta say, while I’m not interested in using it, I was impressed with how quickly someone less technical was able to get something decent up and running.

Robotbeat 4y ago
What does Wix do for your friend that you couldn’t do in Microsoft Word (which makes acceptable HTML static pages)? (I’ve never used Wix myself, so it’s a real question.)
- kstrauser 4y ago
  If you generate a static page, you have to upload it to something to host it. Wix and Squarespace handle that "last mile" for you. You drag and drop things to get the layout you want, click the publish button, and it's live. They also support things like response forms, etc., that you'd otherwise have to manage yourself. I wouldn't use Wix or similar for those things, but after seeing how someone less technical uses them, I see the appeal.
  - Robotbeat 4y ago
    Thanks, that makes sense.

Gigachad 4y ago

This isn't really a constructive or useful comment. From what I saw, designers were able to build with Squarespace most of the stuff the devs were doing in wordpress and the sites were more reliable and cost less in the long run.