If you have have built a website or tried to with Wix or Squarespace what did you find most annoying?<p>I've been working on a new product to build websites, and I'm going to start the second iteration of development. Your answer can help a lot.<p>I'm mostly interested in targeting the market for simple website builders for the non-tech-savvy. Hence the mention of these two services that I think own a large part of this market.
The problem I have with it, and I would imagine a good percentage of people who frequent Hacker News, is that I know how to build websites, and Wix, Squarespace, etc. just slow me down more than speed me up. Some of this may be psychological. But I feel like no matter what was built, this would be the case.<p>For example, my son was required to use one of these builders to make a site for his English class over the weekend. He wanted to connect up a simple link in the homepage to an about me page. Simple, in a static website this would be an <a> with appropriate href and such. But with a site builder you had to know which box to go to. You had to have already made the about me page so that the site builder knew how to link up. Etc etc etc. A task that takes me 3 seconds took 10 minutes.<p>Additionally, as someone who works for companies for a living, I get calls from potential clients that say "I want my Squarespace to do X, Y, and Z, and Squarespace doesn't let me do it. Can you make it do it?" Well, no. I can build you a site that does that, but I can't make Squarespace do something it doesn't do.<p>These site builders aren't bad at all. Non-technical people use them successfully all of the time. But I am definitely not your target audience.
Both are good if you want a quick start & temporary solution or as a landing page for your all. But in a long run it is better to have a custom website.