It’s time for a tech review. This one is for Canva website builder.

If you haven’t heard of Canva it one of the leading design platforms. They have everything from basic social media posts to office presentations and so much more. Recently they added a feature for a website builder. Which I think is pretty awesome but there are a few drawbacks that I can see from a design and development aspect.

Looking at just their design they have a nice range of designs for different businesses and uses. It does encompass lots of designs in both free and paid versions. This is great if you’re just getting started or need a basic website design.

This also brings up the point of how Canva is actually “making websites.” Once you choose a template and design it they allow you to share your design as a webpage. So this takes the work out of finding a host and domain name. Which are usually associated with a custom website. I think Canva is going for an easy way to layout a website. Once you do decide to share they do have very basic features for a parallax scrolling website or classic navigation website. Again pretty awesome if you’re just getting started.

Now the downsides. So since this isn’t a true web design build there are a few features missing that even the most basic coded website should have.

Number one: I noticed a lot of their designs include buttons or what would be a button like “Register Now” or “Learn More.” I normally associate with items that should be clickable but there not, unfortunately. In coding for HTML there are tags there is a specific tag for buttons with links that lead to new pages. Canva is limited since they are more focused on the look and ease of use rather than functionality.

Number two: Responsive design Canva cannot change to match the screen size. Most website sites today are able to match screen size so that whether you’re on a mobile device or a desktop you’re able to view to site correctly.

Number three: The lead generation or the ability to capture information with online forms. This can be as simple as a contact form where users add their email address and a message that gets sent to the website owner for contact. So Canva doesn’t allow for this which in my opinion is so necessary in today’s world. It makes it so much easier than manually entering information like a phone number or email address to contact a person.

Number four:  Visibility. Visibility means that search engines can index your site and that you have tools to correctly use Search engine optimization so that your site shows up correctly. I think this is another huge issue since the internet is so massive unless you share your specific link that Canva gives you. You’ll never be able to show up in google search results correctly.

Number five: Hosting and custom domain names. Back to what I said at the beginning, Canva gives you a link to share your website but this link is not custom nor is your site actually hosted. All most all websites have a custom domain name and are hosted somewhere. Custom domains can be anything you as the user and creator want and is available. Host applies to where your website actually lives on the internet. This is a service where you upload your site to a server so that it can be accessed.

Overall, I think Canva is a good way to look at the design, and if you need a website that is just static or is only going to be used one time or as a way to get your business going so people can at least get your contact information. But other than that I would recommend using a web design service so you get a fully responsive site and are able to do way more than just display information.

If you’re looking to get started in technology, need help making your digital dreams a reality, just want to reach out check out my services and contact page.

Thanks for reading Tech Byte with Brina.

References

Media, B. (n.d.). Canva Account Holders A Professional Website You Control . Retrieved from Bradd Media Marketing: https://braggmedia.com/turn-your-canva-website-template-into-a-wordpress-website/