Are Website Builders a Credible Threat to Professional Web Designers?

Drag and drop website builders are nothing new, but they’ve been refined to the point that some industry insiders now think that they could replace human web designers. The most enthusiastic supporters have suggested that the next few years will see the release of tools that produce a professional-looking website after users simply fill out a short survey. These tools would shoot out all of the code based on specific design metrics even if the users in question never touched HTML or JavaScript in their lives.

In spite of all of these amazing promises, there’s some debate over whether or not it’s realistic to think that this might happen. Some of what’s going on might in fact be sensationalism or bare-faced promotion of various products. Nevertheless, it is clear that web designers aren’t immune to the big sweeping changes coming to the industry.

Website Builders – Major Threats to the Web Design Industry?

It’s no secret that these technologies have gotten far more advanced than they’ve ever been. Most tools can allow marketing specialists to design each of the parts of a page in such a way that they don’t have to worry about the ultimate flow of the site. These pages simply look good on a variety of devices, which has limited the need of many small businesses to actually seek out a web designer. The large collection of tools on the market makes it even more likely that there’s something that should meet everyone’s needs, further reducing the requirement for hiring actual staff.

Economics, rather than technology, are the biggest drivers of this sort of consideration. Commodity-scale sites are a lot like any other commodity. It doesn’t really matter where the company that needs one gets it from, though they would like it to look attractive and function correctly. These are the kind of site development projects that are likely to migrate totally to website builders. In spite of the gloomy predictions being tossed around by web development experts, this is actually much better for consumers who might have otherwise been beholden to the whims of an outside developer. While it’s unlikely that those with absolutely zero experience could make a professionally-looking site using nothing more than a construction tool, small business owners have often been empowered by them.

Form Builder

Those who have at least a basic understanding of how web technologies work can even use them to construct some fairly sophisticated resources. For instance, you might not need much more than a WordPress form builder and a text editor to create advanced order forms and surveys. At one point, doing this would have required an intimate knowledge of several different types of database software. It’s unlikely, however, that website builders will beat out all of the world’s experienced web designers. In fact, they would have already done so if they were going to because the industry has already been around for quite some time.

The Remarkable Longevity of Website Builders

Some form of the old Microsoft FrontPage tool has been around since at least 1995, and it included most of what you’d expect out of a modern website builder. While it certainly was clunky compared to most modern WYSIWYG editors, it was revolutionary at the time. Nevertheless, it didn’t completely replace humans and is today all but forgotten about. Business owners still often hire web developers, but chances are that many people haven’t heard of FrontPage technology. That’s because website builders are tools rather than artists. Just as the invention of hammers didn’t make carpenters obsolete, it’s doubtful that website builders can ever replace those who are skilled enough to write detailed PHP libraries by hand.

It’s true, however, that these tools have gained a large audience because they fulfill a specific need that a number of people have had. Those who wanted to create multiple landing pages quickly didn’t have to wait for someone to code these for them. Sophisticated templates have made it easier for these consumers to deploy sites. That’s why it’s likely that at least some of the predictions are true and website builders are going to capture at least some portion of the market share currently enjoyed by professionals. As a result, this could encourage more companies in the website builder space to compete against one another as opposed to against human developers.

Choosing Between Different Construction Tools

While we’re unlikely to see a repeat of the browser wars, debates over which website builder to use can get pretty heated. There’s a constant back and forth discussion between fans of tools like WordPress and Wix as well as those who prefer something simpler like Blogger. Considering the feature sets of most of these tools, however, it often comes down to little more than personal preference. That could change very shortly. It’s almost a foregone conclusion that every tool on the market will begin adding additional features as they try to differentiate themselves from one another. Some might bolt new functionality onto the existing interface while others may opt for the WordPress method and roll out dozens of plugins that users could selectively install later on.

At the same time, there’s likely to be any number of enterprise-level operations that can’t figure out a way to integrate DIY web design into their marketing schemes. These companies are either attempting to project an extremely professional image or are developing web apps that run inside of a browser.

Anyone who uses a word processor or spreadsheet program inside of their browser is already aware of this segment of the market. As people clamor for platform-neutral tools that work equally as well on the desktop as they do mobile devices, it’s highly likely that these industry segments will continue to grow.

Website Builders – The Face of a Changing Industry

The difference between an application and a web page is becoming increasingly blurred. Those who still need traditional sites will probably gravitate toward site builders in huge numbers. Companies that need to have a custom-tailored online app, however, will be the ones to spur on the continued growth of the web development market the way that we know it today. Regardless of what happens, though, there should be plenty of room for both factions to coexist in a world where more people browse the net than ever before.