Old school website creation

Have you ever built a website based on a template? Big chance your CMS has confined you to the limited selection of content blocks in the template. It was hard to create a custom block, and in some content management systems, even impossible. You would usually need the help of a web developer.

The future of Content Management Systems (CMS)

Now the future of website building is upon us. The latest trend in CMS land, is the supply of prefab, drag and drop custom content blocks. Website design templates now let you centralize colors, fonts and different general styles such as buttons and menu's. Customize your website with the content blocks you need. Drag and drop, then add text and images.

Custom blocks

Custom blocks provide advantages such as increased build speed and more customization options for the end-user. Available custom block range include quotes, testimonials, pricing tables, FAQ, countdown timers, awards, galleries and many more. Be sure to look at all the custom blocks before you select a system.

CMS

Let's have a look at the 5 best CMS providers that offer drag and drop custom blocks.

1. PageCloud is a solid website builder that offers many customization options. They have 100+ integrations and a decent template selection to start your website construction process. One cool feature is that from the CMS, you can edit and save the website directly from google chrome developer tools.
2. Webflow offers a Photoshop style interface, to build websites without the hassle of writing code. They recently introduced the option to drag and drop custom blocks into website projects, and have a small selection available.
3. SiteDock has been built around custom blocks. You can use a large selection of custom sections, as well as many templates to start your website project. All custom content blocks can be added in the style of the template. They have some integrations and the option to add widgets using custom code, which most external systems provide.
4. Elfsight has taken a different approach to custom blocks. They provide the blocks only, which you can add to any HTML based website system. This gives the user much flexibility in hosting provider choice. Although they do not provide full templates it is an option to consider.
5. Duda offers a flexible system with beautiful designs and many custom sections to choose from. The basic functionality can be extended with external (paid or free) apps. A custom widget builder is available on higher plans. You can also create and reuse your own sections.