(#hav3dva) @mckinley Well, one of the most basic requirements (_this is for a local cafe for some good friends of ours that own/run this cafe_) is placing an order for a coffee and paying. I found through this reddit article that you can use this service called Snipcart which is only HTML+JS that you can embed/use on any website, including (_by the looks_) a static site (_no backend required!_) This is pretty promising already because all the cafe really needs now is a basic (_albeit swank looking_) landing page with an "roder" form.

(#hav3dva) @prologic That looks pretty nice. It seems like the pricing model is reasonable as well. They don't try to nickel-and-dime you with features most people would probably need like others I've seen. Good luck with it.

(#hav3dva) I think Mobirise is still arguably one of the best offline-first, static website builders I've ever tried, I haven't paid for all the fancy extensions/themes it has, but it is pretty good IMO 👌

(#hav3dva) @lyse Sadly most people either don't have the time or the willingness to learn 😢

(#hav3dva) @prologic It's true that the major players in the WYSIWYG-website-for-dummies industry not only function poorly but are also proprietary SaaS garbage. However, I don't know if it's really possible to make them function any better. HTML and CSS just aren't made for that.

(#hav3dva) @prologic I maintain my opinion that's it's just not worth avoiding learning HTML, CSS.

(#hav3dva) @mckinley Your notes match my own experiences and frustrations 👌

(#hav3dva) @mckinley Thanks I'll have a read! I'm sort of disappointed this space is so fucking hard and complicated 🤯 The worst part for me is watching those around me run a small business and use Squarespace or Wix to drive their websites! 😱 Both Squarespace and Wix are vendor locked-in SaaS platforms where you really have no control over your content nor do you really own it 🤦‍♂️

(#hav3dva) @prologic Probably not the most helpful reply, but I posted my thoughts in a note. Websites are really complicated and there's a lot that goes into making one. When you put too many layers of abstraction on it, you have to cut corners somewhere.

(#hav3dva) Unfortunately, that's true, @prologic.