Static Websites and Their Pro’s and Con’s

Static Websites and Their Pro's and Con's

This article is a continuation from our previous article “How to Choose the Right Website (Static or Dynamic)“.

When it comes to static websites (the “simplier” websites), small business owners often come across two options;

  1. Cookie-cutter static websites (fill-in-the-blank template website)
  2. Custom-made static websites

Cookie-cutter websites are typically the sites that are often sold as a monthly subscription fee. If you purchase on of these website, you pick one of the available templates or layout options and you fill in the text and add some of your own pictures.

Here are the pro’s of cookie-cutter websites:

  • Do it yourself
  • No HTML, XHTML or CSS knowledge necessary
  • Can be quick to setup
  • Costs less than a custom-made static website
  • Costs less than a custom-made dynamic website

Here are the con’s of cookie-cutter websites:

  • Do it yourself
  • Often looks similar to other cookie-cutter websites
  • Can lack individual/brand identity
  • Some can look “cheap” or even “homemade” (really cheap)
  • You need to brainstorm, gather and create the website content on your own
  • Can be slow to setup because it’s do-it-yourself
  • Can become a distraction and a time-waster to the small business owner (some will even label it as a part-time job)

Custom-made websites are websites that are built by Web designer(s) and/or Web developer(s). The biggest difference here is someone else does the work for you. There is often a one-time design or development fee and an ongoing fee for hosting and maybe a maintenance fee (this all depends upon what you choose and agree on). To create a custom website, the creator at minimum, needs to be proficient HTML/XHTML and CSS knowledge/experience to create these websites.

Some of the pro’s of fully-custom websites:

  • Looks professional
  • Website can be made to look as “good” as you want
  • A unique appearance giving your website and business individuality and brand-identity
  • Can be built to matches your business’s existing style for a cohesive business image or brand identity
  • Little to no work on the small business owner’s part
  • Greater flexibility when it comes to things like optimizing your website for SEO (search engine optimization)
  • All the work is done by someone else helping to minimize distraction for the business owner

Con’s of fully-custom websites:

  • Costs more than cookie-cutter static websites
  • Changes and maintenance must be done by someone with HTML/XHTML, CSS knowledge

If you have decided on a custom-made static website, you should have one built on HTML 4.01 along with CSS. Because HTML 5 is the future standard (as of the time this article was written) and HTML 4.01 is its predecessor, you will be “future proofing” your website. With HTML 4.01, you will have a website based on codes that are both current and proven, and it will be much easier to transition into HTML 5 in the future, if and when you need to.

Here is a brief background on HTML:

HTML has come a long way, evolving from version 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0 to 3.2 to 4.0 to 4.01 and sometime in the future, to 5.0. Every time HTML had evolved, new features had been introduced making websites feel more modern and fancy. XHTML has also been very commonly used in building static websites. XHTML is more of an evolutionary spin-off of HTML 4.01 and adds something called XML or “extensible markup language”. While the underlying codes of HTML and XHTML are a bit different and lead to different capabilities, as a business owner, you’re likely more interested to know that they can both be used to build simpler forms of websites that look and function fairly similar.

Because HTML 5 is a future standard, your best choice today for creating your new static website would be to use HTML 4.01. As of the time this article was written, HTML 5 is more appropriate for websites that look, feel, and behave like applications. One way to get a visualize or compare this idea is to pay attention to how some of the apps on your smartphone look and behave and compare it to how popular websites you are familiar with, look and behave. Your “nicer” smartphone apps likely behave and feel similar to how HTML 5 websites will feel.

You might be wondering “why not go with HTML 5 now?” There are many reasons but the top three are:

  1. HTML 5 is still a work-in-progress
  2. There are still many elements/features of HTML 5 that aren’t available or finished yet
  3. At the time of writing, not all Web browsers will be able to handle HTML 5 websites and all the currently-available features

Although, there are websites out there that use HTML 5, none are finalized or “true” HTML 5 websites.

In summary, if having a professional image for your business is important then the your best choice for today and for the future, is a custom-made HTML 4.01 website. It is proven and it is ready to become HTML 5, in the future.

In our next article, “Dynamic Website and Its Pro’s and Con’s“, learn about dynamic websites and how they help small businesses.

If you have a question regarding websites, please contact us.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *