True to its name, Homestead QuickSites whips up Web sites in a hurry.
True to its name, Homestead QuickSites whips up Web sites in a hurry. As with Bubbler, you can establish an attractive, functional Web presence without knowing the first thing about Web hosting or HTML. But whereas Bubbler uses a blog-tool-on-steroids approach (operating entirely from a local client), QuickSites is better thought of as a full-blown—though approachable—Web site creation tool and hosting service.
QuickSites caters to individuals and small-business owners, providing everything you need: a hosted domain, an e-mail address, 100MB of server space, and blissfully easy site-building tools. Just choose from hundreds of themed templates, mix in your own text and graphics, and—presto!—you are online.
Such quick-and-dirty Web publishing services aren't new, but QuickSites surpasses most of them. Without so much as an e-mail address, you can browse Homestead's collection of 800-plus templates, select one, and start editing it. Before your credit card ever comes out of your wallet, you can see exactly how your finished site will look and even get a temporary URL for it. Contrast this with services that require you to subscribe before you get any hands-on time with templates and design tools. QuickSites lays all its cards on the table, thus reducing the potential for unpleasant surprises later on.
The only potential "gotcha" is that use of the templates is not free. In addition to the standard hosting fee ($24.99 per month; less if you forgo certain options), Homestead charges between $49 and $299 for the use of its templates. Thankfully, they're priced according to audience: Baby, Resume, Wedding, and most other "personal" templates cost $49, while business and service templates, which represent the bulk of the library, sell for $99 and up. Paying more, however, doesn't necessarily get you a flashier design or more features; some of the $49 offerings look just as snazzy and offer the same functionality as the $199 selections. Only at $299 do you gain anything tangible—namely, a few animated site elements. All told, considering what you'd pay a freelance Web designer for the same results, the prices are very reasonable.
Read the full story on pcmag.com: Homestead QuickSites
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