Remember that website you always wanted to create but never managed to find the time or lacked the technical expertise to get it running? Or maybe you’re a designer that loves being creative but you’ve always struggled to grasp the process of converting your designs into a theme that can be integrated into the CMS of your choice. Or it may even be the case that you’re such a whizz when it comes to site management, that you’ve got a few websites but find it mentally frustrating to keep a track of everything on each one.
Now there’s a really interesting solution that can solve all of these problems. Enter, Halogy.
Overview
Halogy is a shiny new app that allows anyone to get a fully functional website, complete with various great features to make your website that extra bit awesome, up and running in minutes. With support for multiple websites at once, it should be every person’s solution to the somewhat painful task of managing a lot of websites at one time.
Overview
Although multiple sites are only supported with the higher plan, the free trial is a great way to try out the fully-featured app and see what the app can do for you and your website.
User-Interface
Halogy’s interface is quite plain but is designed well, and the with the user in mind. Each page comes equipped with a full navigational menu from which any part of the admin panel can be monitored. The consistent blue and grey in the color scheme makes the website visually appealing to most people and the shiny interface makes the app quite pleasing to use.
User Interface
All important information that comprises the site’s text is clear and concise; stripping the usual rubbish you find in some websites and gets straight to the point.
Pricing
The charges for using Halogy are quite different when compared with those of other hosted content management systems. Pricing is set based on the amount of websites you wish to host with Halogy and there are no caps whatsoever on the amount of storage allocated to your account, thus . This is an interesting concept as each plan (even the free one) carries pretty much the same features and this marketing technique is a good way of drawing users to the site by offering them a fully-featured plan and then if they like what they see – which would be the case with myself – they can then upgrade their account to a higher plan and give back to the Halogy team for their great service.
User Interface
It also may be worth noting that the source code for Halogy can also be purchased and then deployed on your own server; giving you even more control.
Getting Started
It’s really fast and simple to create a Halogy website and their simple one-page registration process allows you to get a fully functional website up and running within minutes.
Registration
After entering some very basic account information and a title and chosen URL for your Halogy website, you are ready to begin. (You should also note that the registration process for paid plans is not as instantaneous, but requires the use of a form to provide them with some basic information about your company, after which the account to be created.) Once you have created your account, visit the admin panel for your site and after logging in, you will be taken to the dashboard.
Dashboard
The dashboard is the central hub from which you can manage almost every aspect of your new Halogy website. One of the great features of the dashboard is the ability to view all statistics for your site from one place. Within a matter of seconds, it’s possible to find any piece of information relating to your site or a statistic that you require and they are all presented neatly for ease of access. It’s possible to track the disk space usage for your account as well as the amount of traffic your website is getting, presented in a quaint little chart.
Dashboard
From here, it’s also possible to perform useful tasks for the maintenance of your website (such as managing files, users and content) through a selection of well-placed links – as well as those in the navigational menu residing at the top of all pages.
Multi-sites
One of the main features of Halogy and where it provides the most appeal is the multi-site capabilities in the higher paid plans. Sometimes, it can be quite complicated to maintain several websites at once and if using the same CMS, generally requires several instances of the same software – causing web space usage to soar. With Halogy, it’s easier than ever to manage several websites without ever losing sight of the most important thing: your content.
Content Creation
In terms of flexibility of content, Halogy comes out on top. With a blog integrated, it can turn any otherwise plain website into a hub of information for the site’s readers. Halogy’s content creation process is extremely detailed and it allows heavy customization of information associated with blog posts and pages such as meta data, custom templates and redirect paths for those pages that would redirect to another.
Adding a Page
Overall, Halogy should be everyone’s first choice for managing static content as it just seems great at it. With page revisions and drafting, it’s not lacking any functionality in terms of content management and it perfectly suited to almost any website.
Customization
Halogy comes loaded with a fully-functional templating system to give your site that extra bit of personality. You can import your pre-existing design using their handy ZIP uploader or simply customize the default to match your website’s needs. The level of customization available is somewhat reminiscent of the blogging platform, Tumblr, but it gives a lot more control over almost every aspect of the design.
Editing a Template
A built-in includes system allows you to copy and paste your CSS, JavaScript and other templates and then hosts them as files on their servers to allow inclusion into the design. I have never found another service that offers this level of hosted customization and it really is a great asset to the app overall.
Creating Assets
Modules
One of the great features of Halogy is the availability of various modules that can provide enhanced functionality to your website. With services such as an e-store to allow for e-commerce to be integrated, a discussion forum for users to talk about your great products and a wiki to provide them with a wealth of knowledge to aid sales, Halogy really does come prepared for the task of aiding you in creating a content-rich website that benefits yourself and your users.
Creating Products
Final Thoughts
Personally, I’ve never really been a fan of relying on content management systems that are not hosted on my own server for the simple fact that I need control over everything. When I heard about Halogy, I was astounded at the level of control I could have over a website which is entirely managed and deployed on another server.
The interface of the app is near perfect so that users can easily manage everything they want but still focus on the actual content of the site – attention that generally gets diverted when you’re worrying about updating several websites. I have found next to no flaws in the app and would definitely recommend it to anyone, regardless of technical ability, because it is a really promising solution that is suited in different ways to every webmaster.
Get this post’s intro. image, 3D Servers, at GraphicRiver.net by author rtofvnt.