Static Websites - Weebly

Weebly is a free, online Web site creator. Users sign up to an account and begin to create pages using WYSIWYG editing, with only a few clicks using the drag and drop method. It includes a step by step user guide and has a support centre. It offers design layouts, free domain hosting, website publishing and RSS feeders.

When Weebly was first created the objective was to enable content creation and its mission is to help users put their information online quickly and easily.

Webbly includes a blog editor and allows users to add pictures, music, video, audio, documents etc.
Weebly pro accounts are also available at a small cost which gives users access to more features.
Below I have included a PMI (Plus, Minuses and Interesting) on the use of Weebly:

Blog vs. Weebly (Static Website):

I have begun to explore Weebly by creating my own website http://www.leahbliss.weebly.com

At this stage it is quite basic as I have not had very much time to explore and use it or chose a topic, but after doing research and viewing other user’s Weebly websites I understand their function, purpose and abilities.

I have created my own person blog using http://www.blogger.com/ and am confident in this site and am adding new posts each week, although I find adding some content a challenge or not possible (or I have not yet figured out how to do this). For example: I could not find a function to add a graph to my blog, I created my own in Microsoft Word, once completed I copied and pasted it into a new blog post, the content copied and it looked the same but when I clicked preview the graph did not show and the content was all over the post page, an error message came up on the screen and I could not add the actual graph. I tried to save the graph as a picture to upload but I was not successful.

As I am now familiar with both sites, I find the Static Website (Weebly) to be a useful and better tool. Weebly allows you to create your own website with as many pages you like, you can add pictures, videos etc to create a great educational website for students. The user can also choose layouts and colours making the website very interesting to the eye. Your website can be about any topic you wish and the many different tools on offer make it a great teaching tool e.g. add a voting poll, you tube video etc.

 Weebly also allows you to create a Blog, you have all of the website functions including a Blog where as blogger is used only to create blog’s, Weebly offers both.

After viewing other Weebly Websites some students have created I was convinces, they have done a fantastic job and I think they would be a great tool to use in teaching student’s. I hope soon to create a website just as exciting and useful.

PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) CHART - WEEBLY

PLUS +Free to create & publish your website.
Easy to sign up & create an account.

Beginners step by step guide.

Drag & drop website editor.

WYSIWYG. (What you see is what you get)

Free domain hosting

Many design layouts

Variety of content elements - add pictures, music, video’s, audio, documents etc.

Blogging features.

No advertising on the website.

Support center – FAQ, Email etc.

Add RSS feed readers.

No limit to pages or amount of material.

     
MINUS -

To use all multimedia elements need to upgrade to Weebly pro at a cost.

Some people don’t know how to use HTML code.

Need to be computer literate.

Content is not monitored or filtered.

Cannot use pre-existing plug-ins from other blogging engines.

     

INTERESTS i

Currently 3 Million people use Weebly & growing by day.

Named one of TIME’s best websites 2007.

Reference

Wikipedia.(2010). Weebly. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weebly 

Central Queensland University (CQU). (2010). FAHE11001 – Static websites: Study Guide. Rockhampton. QLD, Australia: Author.