I come bringing good news for Grassroots.org's nonprofit members: we have a new tool!
The new tool is a web builder, powered by Doodle Kit. I am pleased to say that it is very easy-to-use, and produces professional-looking content in no time. Like all our tools, the web builder is free to all Grassroots members.
Our web builder tool is a great option for members who would like to:
- create their own website
- get a website up immediately
- edit their own content
Being a newbie at Grassroots.org, I was asked to test out Doodle Kit's web builder simple plan a few weeks back. When asked if I had experience with a website builder, I cringed and reluctantly said yes, flashing back to a bad experience I had with another web builder a few years ago.
At the time, my ISP offered free personal website space with a "simple and helpful website builder", which turned out to be pretty simple, but extremely unhelpful. I spent a boatload of time attempting to figure out what each tool was for and how to tweak content boxes. There were no templates to work with (just background colors), limited text box locations that weren't design-friendly, limited fonts, colors and photos, and no Web 2.0 features (forums, widgets, blogs, RSS). The result? After hours of work, a pretty darn ugly site.
And so, as you might imagine, I was rather dubious of this new "great" web builder when Katie and Sura asked me to check it out. But as it turns out, this web builder is great! It's awesome! It makes me feel like I know how to design a website...which is no small feat for an English major.
The control panel is intuitive enough for intermediate users to learn some basic design or HTML skills and for advanced users to experiment with some technical editing. Being an intermediate user myself, I almost got carried away playing with the background and layout templates on my test site and picked up a few HTML tips too.
We are grateful and excited to have the opportunity to offer Doodle Kit's $14/mo simple plan to our members free of charge. The features in the plan certainly address the modern user's needs and interests. Effective technology minimizes the gap between new and experienced users without sacrificing quality. And personally, I don't like to get frustrated when I'm trying to do something creative; it messes up my flow! So check out the tool by signing up now!
