We started with the DigiStore template. The site builder interface features an intuitive left sidebar where you’ll find tools for managing and designing your site. These let you customize your theme colors, text, and navigation, as well as add and manage pages and site settings from choices on the left panel. An arrow lets you collapse this sidebar for a helpful, full-page view. Also helpful are the Undo and Redo icons that work no matter what you’re doing on the site. Ctrl-Z works, too. Furthermore, you can always get help by clicking a chat bubble icon at the bottom right—very handy.
The basic page elements—images, text boxes, buttons, dividers—appear when you click the Widgets button. You may find this a bit confusing, as widgets are typically third-party goodies rather than these basic site elements. You drag the elements onto your web page, as with Weebly and other competitors. Aside from Flex sections, you can only drop elements in allowed areas, but it’s not hard to add columns or change spacing to customize the layout to your taste. In fact, we love how you can choose Add Row or Add Column right from a page’s Row button, which appears when you hover over any section.
Third-party items, such as Disqus and Facebook comment modules, are included in the Widgets group, but Duda lacks a large catalog of third-party integrations like those found in Wix. Duda has continued to update its limited App Store with a handful of new selections, such as Chatfully and EmbedReviews. However, using a web builder like Bluehost WonderSuite connects you to the much more expansive WordPress plug-in ecosystem. Upon launching Duda, you see the latest service updates, including new apps, templates, and features.
(Credit: Duda/PCMag)
Duda also integrates with services such as OpenTable, PayPal, vCita, and Yelp. For example, its integration with Yext embeds structured schema data into your website, making it easier for other sites to machine-read it. This helps search engines parse your site.
The service makes it a breeze to incorporate social sharing buttons, including Facebook Likes, comments, and albums; a Twitter/X feed; and a WordPress feed. When we added the Click-to-Call feature to our test site, it merely displayed our number, which smartphones display as a link that opens the phone dialer.
Duda’s editor works well due to its clean and consistent layout. Along the top is an ever-present toolbar that lets you switch pages, undo your last edit, save your work, preview your site, publish your site, and view your site in three different screen sizes. The toolbar also grants access to your Dashboard page, from which you can manage all your existing Duda sites, start new ones, and connect them to a personal domain. There’s an option to purchase a new domain name through Google Domains or Hover, and Duda offers specific integrated help for using a custom domain obtained from the major domain name registrars.
If you don’t choose a custom domain, Duda assigns your site a URL (you can pick your own prefix if it’s not already taken). If you’ve built pages but aren’t ready to publish them, you can save your edits for later publication. Duda lets you schedule overall site publication at a specific date and time, as Weebly does.
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(Credit: Duda/PCMag)
Whenever you hover over any item on your site, you see a button offering relevant edit options. It also supports right-clicking, which gives you a context-sensitive menu for each element. This provides an easy way to edit, align, or remove content. You can move elements around the page and resize them, though, as with most mobile-friendly site builders, your choices of where to move items are limited. For a paragraph object, the context menu lets you pull content from another site, edit the text, format it, and even hide it for selected device types. Clicking a page navigation link in the site designer takes you to that page on your site; you don’t have to select it from a page menu as in some other site builders, though there’s also a dropdown menu for switching among your pages.
The Manage Pages panel is simple and clear, with SEO and navigation options available under a gear icon. It also lets you import images and site info from an existing site. To add a new page to my site, you simply tap the +New page button. There’s a selection of 10 page types to choose from, including Blank, URL, About, Contact, Photo Gallery, List, and Complex Page. Pages can be password-protected via the Settings menu. Hovering over a page type’s thumbnail shows its layout on the three device sizes. The AI SEO Assistant can generate relevant meta tags for your pages, and you can grant permission for team members to adjust tone and translate text with AI Content Assistant.
Duda also has a very serviceable blogging tool. This lets you save and preview posts that you can format and add images to taste. Every option dialog for every Duda site element includes a Settings tab that lets you edit spacing in pixels, the CSS code, and—for premium accounts—the actual HTML code for the element.
The service lets you use Secure Sockets Layer certificates (SSL), so site visitors see HTTPS in the browser address bar. Most modern browsers make HTTPS connections by default; this level of security is especially important with the arrival of GDPR. Duda offers all the tools you need to stay compliant with privacy regulations for your European visitors. You can activate a cookie notification, implement a privacy policy, enable opt-in consent for contact forms, and offer a way to delete personal data.
In the end, building a site with Duda is a pleasure: The interface is mostly quick, unlike some builders that take a few seconds to load modules. As with most such services, moving objects around can be finicky, but Duda got us the results we wanted.
(Credit: Duda/PCMag)
