Introduction

Making websites doesn’t have to be an overly complicated and confusing endeavor, because there are several online tools out there that have drastically simplified the process. One such example is IM-Creator, which is “all about making website building a simple and enjoyable experience, accessible for everyone.” It features an easy-to-understand visual editor where each of the page elements can be easily dragged, stretched, resized and repositioned into place with a simple movement of the mouse. IMCreator also includes your web hosting, making it a unified solution for anyone looking for a more attractive presence on the web.

Features

Design, customizing and publishing a website with IMCreator is meant to be as painless and easy to follow as possible. Many of the features revolve around this philosophy.

• Drag and drop website editor
• Vivid themes and templates
• Search engine friendly
• Unlimited web hosting included in price
• Web standards compliant for older browsers and mobile devices
• Images and text are resized and cropped automatically
• Custom email services with Google Apps
• Free to create a website with IM-Creator
• Easy ability to overlay multiple website elements

Drag and Drop: The website editor is entirely visual, so every webpage element can be easily dragged and dropped to create your custom design. The various elements, like images and text boxes, can also be easily resized just as you would do inside a word processor or simple image editor by dragging the edges or corners. What’s great is that the images will automatically resize and crop to fit your dimensions. Also, it is possible to stack elements on top of one another, so you can place a text box on top of a photo without any trouble at all.

The available web elements are quite varied too, including paragraphs, videos, galleries, slideshows, contact forms, menus, and sub-menus. If you need to insert some HTML code from a third-party service, as would be the case with ad networks for example, you can do that too. Simply add an HTML element the page, copying and pasting the code into the edit HTML box.

Varied Templates: IMCreator offers a wide range of pre-designed templates that you can then edit to make your own. These templates vary considerably, giving you layouts appropriate for photography sites, artists, restaurants, real estate, legal, hotels, designers and more. IMCreator collaborates with many designers to create an “outstanding” collection of elegant themes and templates. There are also several mobile site designs available that have been optimized for viewing on smartphones and tablets. Alternatively, you can start your design from a blank page, but starting from a themed template is a lot easier.

Free to Use: If you would like to simply try IMCreator, you can do that for free. There is a free plan that includes a subdomain structured as im.co/username/sitename. This only includes 50MB of hosting, but it does provide the unlimited templates and it is, of course, completely free to use with no strings attached.

Unlimited Hosting: While the free account can be useful for trying out the IMCreator website editing tool and getting an understanding of how the system works, most people will be interested in the “Premium” plan that allows you to use your own domain. It also bumps you up to unlimited hosting and gives you 10 e-mail addresses. The cost of the unlimited hosting, which can get as low as $5.95/month when you prepay for three years, is comparable to other shared hosting providers that do not include such a robust web design editor.

New Themes: There are already many different website templates that you can use, but IMCreator operates “like any fashion house.” It releases new “seasonal collections” of new themes twice a year, reflecting the “most recent styles and trends from around the world” to “suit a wide range of audiences.”

Support Team: In addition to standard e-mail support with an average response time of under 12 hours, IM-Creator also has a very robust support section on the site with a forum, FAQ, and a large “HowTo” section with additional guides and information.

Cons

• Mobile theme is separate from main theme
• Premium plan only includes one domain
• Premium plan only includes 10 e-mail addresses
• Proprietary engine means exporting website may be difficult
• No apparent support for blogging

Designing a wonderfully elegant website with IMCreator is a lot easier than you may think. The drag-and-drop website editor is very intuitive to use, making it easy to add, remove, and move various website elements to suit you particular needs and tastes. The visual style of the available templates is sophisticated yet understated, making for beautiful websites for any number of different industries and niches.

While this “simple and elegant website builder” is free to use, you will need to upgrade to the Premium plan in order to get unlimited storage and bandwidth. The Premium plan is also required if you want to use your own domain, but it is restricted to a single website. If you need additional websites, you will need to upgrade further to the Pro plan, which has varying pricing. Even so, IMCreator is easy to use, comes with a wealth of tools, and is remarkably affordable for people who want to design their own website but don’t have the technical expertise to do it.