Jan 17, 2023
Introduction
It seems like every single website technology today feels compelled to implement Drag and Drop design functionality. Squarespace, Wix, Elementor and Weebly are among the most popular, but there are literally dozens. While these drag and drop website builders are certainly convenient and user-friendly, it's important to understand their limitations and criticisms before diving in.
D&D builders serve a very real audience and play an important role in the growth of the web, but the people that use them, or think they need them, have unrealistic expectations when it comes to their capabilities.
D&D builders serve a very real audience and play an important role in the growth of the web, but the people that use them, or think they need them, have unrealistic expectations when it comes to their capabilities.
How often are you dragging and dropping?
My overall thesis of drag and drop is this: "Once the website is designed and the layouts have been created, how often are you creating new template layouts really?" The answer, more often then not, is quite rarely. Feel free to disagree, but in all my career, the web design process typically goes like:
- Work with stakeholders to understand goals and requirements
- Create wireframes of the home page, full page, page with sidebar, maybe two column and some three column layouts, or a couple other variations of the same. Let's say overall, 5 to 6 different page layouts.
- Move from wireframes to design to lock down branding, colors, etc.
- Code up the website into a CMS
- Migrate content over and launch
After that, the customer doesn't really need new layouts. And when they do, they often want to talk anyway because it results in a whole new set of requirements and functionality.
Who is doing the dragging and dropping?
One of the primary objectives of drag and drop website builders is to make creating websites more accessible and easier to spin up for non-technical folk. And there is a large cohort of people that are tech-savvy, but not coders, and D&D fills that gap exceedingly well.
But the truth is, most non-technical individuals, no matter how great you make the user experience, will simply not be able to use a drag and drop builder to create a website. They don't even want to login to the admin portal. What happens then? They end up hiring a tech person to create the website anyway. But for some reason, the stakeholders feel as if they need a drag and drop website builder even though they are not the ones dragging and dropping!
But the truth is, most non-technical individuals, no matter how great you make the user experience, will simply not be able to use a drag and drop builder to create a website. They don't even want to login to the admin portal. What happens then? They end up hiring a tech person to create the website anyway. But for some reason, the stakeholders feel as if they need a drag and drop website builder even though they are not the ones dragging and dropping!
Limitations of drag and drop
There are obvious limitations to drag and drop website builders and they have been blogged to death by many others, but I am obligated to at least list a few here:
- Limited design options: Many drag and drop builders use pre-designed templates, which can limit the uniqueness and customization of a website.
- Lack of control over code: Because the website is built using a visual interface, users may not have access to the underlying code and may not be able to make certain customizations or add certain features.
- Dependence on the platform: Websites built using drag and drop builders may only be able to be hosted on the builder's own platform, which can make it difficult to move or export the website to a different host or platform.
The end result
From all of the above, you end up with the following problem:
- Technical people, who know how to write HTML already, are the ones using drag and drop website builders because stakeholders think they need one.
- Limitations of the D&D platform force the builder to have to fight the platform and then, if possible, go into advanced settings and modify the HTML of the pre-built themes anyway.
- All of this unnecessary nuisance upfront, with very infrequent layout changes made after the fact.
Overall thoughts
HTML is still as relevant as ever. Sometimes the path of least resistance is to just code some HTML templates and build them into the content management system. It is arguably faster, more cost effective, and easier to maintain in many cases compared to using a D&D. You just have to know when to use the right tool for the job.
Zack Schwartz @apexdodge
ENTREPRENEUR & SOFTWARE ENGINEER, AUSTIN, TX
I enjoy tackling a wide array of business challenges ranging from front line product support and operations to sales and marketing efforts. My core expertise is in software development building enterprise level web applications.
I enjoy tackling a wide array of business challenges ranging from front line product support and operations to sales and marketing efforts. My core expertise is in software development building enterprise level web applications.