TL; DR: The go-to site-building solution for fans of iWeb and Adobe Muse, the EverWeb drag-and-drop website builder creates cleaner, faster, and more compatible websites than the discontinued platforms. EverWeb offers an intuitive platform that makes web development accessible to a wider audience by offering extensive features, support, and resources in the familiar macOS interface. Fresh off the recent release of Version 2.7, CEO Paul Levine shared how the company focuses on freedom in web design and empowering users to take control of their online presence.
While waiting on a delayed flight one day, a bored Zander Phelps decided to put his new hacky sack to use. In addition to killing time and drawing the attention of bystanders, this play session was a moment of awakening for Zander, who realized the importance of play as a factor in people’s happiness. Zander, who now works as an inspirational writer and artist, eventually launched his own website, Hackido.
Focused on enriching readers’ lives, Hackido contains information on how to use simple, handmade games to relieve stress, maintain physical health, and inspire creativity. The actual process of creating and updating his site, however, was an ordeal for Zander.
Zander had been a longtime user of iWeb when a botched update left his site in disarray. With no easy way to fix his site, Zander discovered EverWeb and used the familiar macOS-inspired interface to recreate his site.
EverWeb’s site builder, with its user-friendly design, has quickly become a popular option, helping many first-time site owners create and maintain their niche in the online world. The platform has included dozens of new features and customer resources that make building one’s site a more intuitive and less intimidating experience.
“I was in a total panic, looking at possibilities for redoing my website and not wanting to have to go from scratch,” Zander said in a customer testimonial. “I was able to not only reproduce what I did in iWeb, but easily made it look even better. I can sleep tonight knowing that, over the weekend, I can reproduce my website perfectly and efficiently. Can’t put into words how good that feels.”
Becoming an Authority in the Web Development Scene
The company behind EverWeb’s platform, RAGE Software, got its start in 1999 in Toronto. Founder and Lead Developer Paul Levine concentrated on producing high-quality programs based on the familiar and comfortable macOS interface.
The company started SEO tools that integrated well with iWeb. When Apple’s site builder was discontinued in 2011, however, many users soon found themselves in dire need of a replacement. More recently, Paul said he expects to see even more users coming to EverWeb on the heels of Adobe’s decision to cease development on Muse.
“A lot of people started using our SEO software for business because of how easy it was to use,” Paul said. “We had a lot of customers left out in the cold when iWeb went away, so we decided to make a replacement that focused on quality, modern technologies and business websites.”
The EverWeb site builder uses a Mac-based drag-and-drop interface for more intuitive web design without the need for code. The company even gives users clear instructions for efficiently rebuilding their iWeb sites in EverWeb, or will handle the conversion for a fee. Since EverWeb launched in 2013, the site builder has added several new functionalities for eCommerce, blogging, animations, mobile design, and more features.
Paul told us that former users of iWeb and Adobe Muse will appreciate the same design freedom and relatively similar interface in EverWeb, along with the ability to create unlimited websites with the native app.
EverWeb: An Offline Platform with a Familiar Interface
Although most website builders have a proprietary user interface and set of tools, macOS users will find themselves right at home with EverWeb. The platform features, which are built for speed and usability, use the same design principles found elsewhere in Apple products.
Even with the simple UI, EverWeb offers significant creative freedom — allowing clients to create stunning, custom websites that look exactly how they had imagined.
“EverWeb is just as easy to use as iWeb, in the sense that you can drag and drop anything, anywhere you want,” Paul said. “Whether it’s text, images, or anything else, you can design a website exactly as you want without coding anything. From there, we also give you access to what you would need for a business website: eCommerce, blogging, animation effects, and more. With EverWeb, it’s all visual.”
As an offline program site owners download to their computer, EverWeb allows users to update site designs automatically by using the Master Pages feature and one-click publishing.
“It’s much faster,” Paul said. “You don’t have that lag you may experience with designing websites online.”
Support and Guidance Help Customers Find Online Success
In addition to meeting cleaner and more modern coding standards, Paul and the RAGE Software team quickly identified another aspect where EverWeb could improve upon iWeb: The company provides 24/7 phone and email support, along with plentiful resources in a robust knowledgebase.
“We have tutorials that pretty much cover everything across more than 400 videos,” Paul said. “They cover more than just EverWeb; the videos cover our related software services and SEO best practices, and more than 100 of them help users build a website.”
EverWeb is particularly helpful to novice site owners who may be intimidated by two relatively complex and technical components of successful online presence.
Since mid-2017, EverWeb users who also rely on the company for web hosting can enjoy automatically configured SSL certificates, which are quickly becoming required for those looking to grow and maintain an online audience. Popular web browsers will soon display warnings when visitors attempt to access unsecured sites and further deter traffic through reduced search engine rankings.
“With EverWeb hosting, we take care of setting you up with SSL, redirecting your website and making sure everything works properly and you don’t lose your previous search engine ranking,” Paul said.
Similarly, the company’s expertise in search engine optimization means customers can enjoy a painless way to implement SEO best practices.
“A lot of people have misconceptions that SEO is something you just add to your website and put it out there,” Paul said. “We also provide a free video course on how to properly do SEO and implement these strategies within EverWeb. The focus was mainly on enabling people who have very little experience to be able to create something without relying on anybody else.”
Making Responsive Design More Accessible with Continuous Updates
The EverWeb team gave customers another SEO boost by introducing increased responsive design capabilities in the platform’s newest release. With Version 2.7, users only need to click a checkbox to make their navigation bar automatically adjust to any screen.
“You have a lot of flexibility in how you design and create your website,” Paul said. “We want to make using all these features as easy as possible. Unlike other software that restricts you on how you can drag and drop elements, EverWeb gives you complete freedom.”
The need for responsive design is a hot topic in web design as mobile usage becomes more and more common and more screen sizes than ever before become available. According to Paul, the currently in-development version 2.8 will continue to add responsive web design features, along with focusing on ease of use for clients and with ease of access for end users.
“We’re really focused on helping our customers create great websites,” he says. “Version 2.8 will have very easy-to-use responsive and adaptive capabilities — more so than any other web builder.”
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