With new technologies springing up and current technologies evolving – or getting left behind – it can be difficult to know which platforms are worth investing time and money into. Recently, our team took a look at Acquia Site Studio (formerly known as “Acquia Cohesion”), a new Drupal website builder produced by Acquia. Site Studio is one of the first component builders and libraries built with user experience front of mind.
As an Acquia partner, and an early adopter of Site Studio, our team was able to take an early exclusive look at the technology and have found ourselves absolutely loving it!
Why? Because Site Studio…
- Is intuitive to use
- Is easy to integrate
- Minimizes project overhead
Site Studio is intuitive to use
Site Studio‘s interface was built specifically with the user in mind!
Site Studio is the first Drupal website builder created that needs low coding! This is a game changer for Drupal site managers, who have historically needed to be either part-developer, or rely on a developer to help create pixel-perfect websites.
Using Site Studio’s simple drag-and-drop component builder, admins can now build entire websites, not just layouts, and make edits to existing websites and layouts with a few simple clicks, or drag-and-drops. This gives an enormous amount of control and ability to website managers.
Site Studio also provides extensive documentation & instructional training videos–and is still creating more as this article is being written. These materials are designed to equip users with the knowledge to get them up and running in as little as a few hours.
Site Studio integrates easily
Site Studio fits with existing processes and brings teams of all compositions & sizes together!
Site Studio is also easy to use on a team level. Site Studio not only brings all roles on a team onto one platform, but also keeps the interface easy to use for all roles & skill levels.
Site Studio integrates well with the development and design process, as well as the content admin equation of a live site. On the design side of things, Site Studio’s “Layout Canvas” and “Live Preview” allow designers to view and implement their layout designs into the website without needing to deploy code. On the content side of things, teams can make edits to live website content or page settings, without interacting with the backend aspects of the website.
Site Studio minimizes overhead
Site Studio shortens feedback loops & cuts out “middle-men” from the build to production process!
A huge win for Site Studio is that it speeds up the amount of time it takes to build and maintain a website. From the initial use of Site Studio to build a low-code website, the software makes things speedy, as content editors and design teams can now build right in the website. Direct access to create pages means that editors can bypass the traditional stages of pushing code to deployment, review, and testing, thus creating shorter feedback loops, and an expedited timeline.
Site Studio also allows builders to reuse past component libraries; if you build a robust library once, you can reuse it for multiple projects. This is helpful during an initial build, as well as through the lifetime of the website, as any time you need a new layout or component, you can reuse components of a previously built website to create a new page.
Between being able to reuse libraries and eliminating the traditional deployment process, Site Studio dramatically decreases project overhead and expedites build time exponentially.
Site Studio: what’s next?
Overall, our team was impressed with what Site Studio enables you to do. No matter what role you play in the process of website building, Site Studio has the potential to empower you to do more, and to do it faster. As the first low-code Drupal website builder, the technology is revolutionizing the way that developers and non-developers alike interact with their digital web presences.
