Tilda is an elegant looking website builder with loads of templates and fully customisable blocks\u2026 but might it be too hands-off for your needs?<\/b>
\nTilda is one of many website builder services out there, but does it offer anything special that sets it apart from the competition? Unlike some, Tilda does offer a free service, which gives you an idea of what\u2019s available, without unlocking all features, and it\u2019s a great way to see what all the fuss is about without committing yourself. Even better you can also try out the paid features free for 14 days. Three plans are available, as Tilda tries to make things as simple as possible. The first one is called \u2018 Free \u2019, and allows you to create one website, with up to 50 pages and 50MB of storage. Your customisation is limited though, with only access to \u2018key blocks\u2019 to design and customise your online presence. Next is \u2018 Personal \u2019, the first of two paid plans. All the restrictions from \u2018Free\u2019 are lifted as you are not only able to fully customise your site, you\u2019re also given up to 500 pages and 1GB of storage. Creating a blog and setting up an online store is also open to you. This plan would cost you $10\/month when billed annually, or $15 monthly. Finally there\u2019s \u2018 Business \u2019, which expands your creativity to five websites as opposed to one, for $20 a month when billed annually or $25 monthly. lda\u2019s website service is based on blocks: you select those want, add them to your page, and build your site that way. There are currently over 500 fully customisable blocks with more being added regularly. You also have access to over 200 responsive templates, can add animations to jazz up your site, have access to a photo editor, a royalty free stock image library, a collection of icons, and are able to embed YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud and Coub media. Not to mention of course blogging and ecommerce facilities. There\u2019s a lot to entice potential customers, so let\u2019s have a look at it all first hand\u2026 After registering (which involves giving your name, email, and setting up a password), you\u2019re given access to the dashboard without even having to provide any credit card details (that\u2019s because the free plan is automatically selected when you do this). Creating a new website takes you to the template section, which is broken down by category (such as Business, Store, Event, etc) and also comes with a search field. Choose the one you like and get ready to customise it\u2026 As you scroll through your template, you\u2019ll see menus appearing top left of each block. These allow you to replace that block with another, alter the block\u2019s settings, or customise its content. Customisation is done via a sidebar that appears on the left when invoked. From there, you can change the block\u2019s height, colour, padding, select the style of buttons, a different typography, or any animation you\u2019d like to apply to specific parts of the block. It\u2019s all very simple, even if you have to drill down multiple menus to get to the control you\u2019re after. Editing a block\u2019s content can be done by clicking on the orange \u2018Content\u2019 button, or much more simply, by clicking on or selecting the existing text and typing away. When you do this, basic text controls appear top of the window. Moving beyond the free plan unlocks Tilda\u2019s true potential. For instance, every part of a block can be fully altered and customised. This is known as \u201cZero Blocks\u201d. You can move objects around, resize them, delete them, add others, etc. Essentially, the block is merely a placeholder for your inspiration, letting you customise any of them beyond recognition. Setting up a blog is way more complicated than expected, but thankfully Tilda has a host of very useful and informative video tutorials to guide you through the process, but be warned, this is not a \u201cone click and you\u2019re done\u201d affair. You have to set up a special block (from the News and Feeds section), create a Feed from scratch, and most importantly, link your feed to the blog\u2019s block on your page. However, once set up, the process is then similar to other competing blogging tools. You\u2019re able to add text, insert images and videos, and schedule the post\u2019s publication, for instance. Another feature that\u2019s increasingly viewed as essential these days is an online store, and this is accessed via one of Tilda\u2019s many \u2018Store\u2019 blocks. You use the content section to manually replace the placeholder images, text and price. Adding products can be done more quickly via the Catalog option, although this is still a manual process and we couldn\u2019t find a way to upload a CSV file or similar with all the required information in one go. Setting up a payment gateway is done via the Site\u2019s main settings page (in the appropriately named \u2018Payment Systems\u2019 section). You have the usual suspects, such as PayPal,2Checkout, and Stripe. There\u2019s also options such as Cash on Delivery or Bank Transfers. You can add as many or few as you like. This is also the place you can you create promo codes. Your customisation options are quite extensive, and what you lose in having to set up pretty much everything yourself, you gain in creating a truly unique experience for your visitors. This is obviously not ideal if you just want to type in your info and go, and if that\u2019s the case, there\u2019s a myriad of other services out there for you, but we do like Tilda\u2019s more tailored approach, even if it takes more time to setup. Tilda has quite an extensive support section, with articles broken down into categories, and a search field to help find answers quicker. The articles are well written, easy to understand, and are filled with annotated screenshots to facilitate the entire process. As mentioned above, video tutorials can also be found to help you navigate through the more complex functions. If you need more individual attention, you can open a ticket with your query. We found that within their opening hours, the staff responded quickly and efficiently (you\u2019re informed that it can take up to 2 hours to get a response during those times, but we got answers quicker than that – obviously, YMMV). Tilda is a very nice website builder and is perfectly suited for people who like to understand how their system works by essentially connecting all the dots themselves. Although the broad brushstrokes are provided for you, you have complete control over the customisation, and this is nowhere more clear than with the blogging and ecommerce tools which won\u2019t work unless you connect all the systems yourself. It\u2019s not hard once you know how, and the instructions are very clear, but this is not a service for people who want everything done for them. Yes, Tilda can help you create very simple sites with very little input from the site owner, but its power does lie in its customisation features, which are very good indeed.<\/p>\n