Our goal at Yola is to give customers the tools and resources to build a beautiful, professional online presence. Bearing this in mind, the team is excited to announce a series of updates within Yola Sitebuilder, giving it a new modern appearance. While this release has updated the visual aesthetics, it has also improved its functionality as a whole, making Sitebuilder more intuitive than ever.
Here’s what we’ve upgraded:
Modern design – The Sitebuilder now features a flat interface with an updated color palette
Improved visibility – Our main navigation menu now holds each of your site properties in one area, including Sitebuilder, Online Store and Analytics, and it all easily accessible within the top-left Menu button
Larger workspace – Our updated layout provides even more space for editing your website content
Updated site preview – Previewing your mobile and desktop website is even easier with just one click from the toolbar
Business hours – Yola Silver and Gold Subscribers can now add business hours to mobile websites with Mobile Plus
Best of all, these upgrades are readily available for you today – check out the new Yola Sitebuilder now. For those of you who have not yet signed up for an account, build a free website with Yola today!
We are excited to extend these upgrades to the Yola family – if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us.
While your new interface is a worthwhile change and makes things easier to use, you still have not made the one change I want most, the ability to download directly from a word program without having to first convert it to plain text.
I just copy and paste.
I was told by Yola that continuing to do that may result in corrupting your site and prohibiting you from posting on it ever again. Unless they have changed this without informing us. Do you notice anything unusual such as misaligned type or graphics, double spacing etc.?
You are right that the “copy and paste” function works, but it also brings with it a lot of useless overhead. It traps all of the formatting commands and pastes them into your code. Jimmy, if you click on the HTML function, you’ll see all of the code that’s been put in there from Word. It may even impact your mobile site worse. Bruce, you’re doing it the right way, however, Yola could easily make that fix by adding a WYSIWYG function that’s probably available to them called “Paste from Word.” Generally, they just have to enable it. You would think that the savings in processing time for them would much outweigh the fix.
Thank you for clarifying this. I hope this will be considered for a future fix.
Just to clarify further, the new text widget does strip formatting and code from text that has been pasted from rich text editors but it’s still a best practice to use plain text to copy and paste.
Are there any plans to allow the use of video in the headers? When I saw this kayak picture, I was hoping it was video.
Thank you for the suggestion!
When we decide which features to implement we take all the user feedback we receive into account, so we appreciate you taking the time to let us know that this feature is important to you.
We are not in a position to tell you if or when this feature will be released as it is not currently on our list of short term priorities. That said, we are constantly improving and updating our software and will always take customer feedback into consideration.
All I can say is I’m loving my now 5 sites – OK not the most prodessional but since I have been with Yola – I am continually getting work. Not being techi minded they are very helpful too – well done guys 🙂
Thanks Patricia! We appreciate the feedback! 🙂
TECHBOOTCAMPS- I’m kind of funny; I think they should do it to because their customers ask for it. Concerning enabling video, that should be a no-brainer.
TECHBOOTCAMPS: I am happy to be a member of yola, it is a great helpful site builder…!
Why do they spend all this time and money on cosmetic changes when the forum is full of practical changes that are years old and not acted on.
Excellent question! I can’t wait to see the reply.
The features implemented were a direct result of extensive feedback, user testing and research of industry best practices. We hope you will see the value in them as you use the updated Sitebuilder!
The main toolbar right at the top is too hard to read, because the font colour is too light. Has to be changed to reduce time looking to see what I need to use. Some of the changes are grant, having more things all in one place.
We have logged the text color feedback for our engineers. We’re glad you like some of the other updates!
I’m dismayed as one keeps having to re-learn stuff that one has finally learned to operate well and get used to changes… 🙂 I’m afraid I can’t say I love the changes and find the toolbar fonts too small to read (zooming in makes working on my website too clumsy) and working with a charcoal-coloured background and the new “colour palette” definitely not my personal favourite cup of tea. I’m sorry one can’t choose to keep working as before if one prefers to… and hope to find the actual changes other than cosmetic worth the huge inconvenience in getting used to the new look. I’m afraid I loved the pink-and-blue and the larger fonts way easier and lovelier to work with…
Thanks for your feedback. We wanted to make our tools easier to discover so we hope in time you will find that to be the case. We have heard mixed feedback on the colors and will be evaluating that further.
Thank you, I do appreciate the need to improve and am with you on that, sorry if I sounded so critical, it’s just that as with the office improvements, often people who have become very adept and expert at using a system, find themselves again in front of a huge learning or adjusting curve, and it can become very exhausting to keep up with this at at time in which in any case changes are constantly required by our overly-fast-moving economic world. The way I feel about it is, the sitebuilder is where you want to feel “at home”, and when that home has suddenly undergone a complete redecoration without your knowledge and participation, it feels a bit less like home suddenly… otherwise – yes, of course, I’ll somehow get used to it and probably find some things to be an improvement even … 🙂 thank you for your reply! Tomer
We definitely understand that and do want you to feel at ease in the Sitebuilder Tomer. We understand it’s alarming to log in and see that your whole work space has been redesigned. We hope it starts feeling like home again soon!
I just began to feel somewhat confident in editing my site, and now I have to take time I don’t have to re-learn things. This is very frustrating.
We’re sorry to hear that Veronica. Our intent was to make it easier to find the tools you need, not harder! We hope that once you get used to the changes you’ll like them!
As im new to the site im waiting for mor good things from it and i hope tp
You need to allow your customers to edit the mobile site as well, that’s very important!!
Please don’t make changes to your site again and again.
* Edit Mobile Site
* Get more designs based on industry if possible.
To clarify, are you asking to access a version of your mobile site that’s different from your main site? We offer responsive templates that are mobile friendly and you can preview how it will be displayed by selecting the mobile icon but it’s not possible to maintain separate versions of a website under the same url. Please let me know if I have misunderstood your feature request.
Well, thanks for your reply, but your responsive sites aren’t as mobile friendly as you think, it doesn’t shrink some mobile images as it should, it doesn’t decrease the size of font as it should on mobile. And I am using the responsive theme.
I don’t mind changing the url to m.whatever site if it is better viewed on mobile phones. Please check your competition such as weebly or dudmobile they allow sites to be edited even on phones, but i am not aware of having different url on them as i haven’t used them, i personally prefer sticking with you guys (as i like your service, pricing and with a hope of better themes and mobile friendly sites.)
Anyone else having trouble publishing their site after you change something?
We can assist you with this if you contact us from the email address associated with your account: https://www.yola.com/support/contact
is there a way to have a count setter to see how many people comes to the website?
We offer analytics that are more sophisticated than hit counters! https://www.yola.com/tutorials/article/How-do-I-find-out-how-many-visitors-I-have-had-on-my-site-1285944432519/FAQs
I Agree with Health & Wellness. All these changes are cosmetic and of no real practical use except to make users re-learn how to navigate the sitebuilder again! Big pain in the ASSignment!
We’re sorry you feel that way, but we respectfully disagree. These changes are much more than cosmetic and were not done with the intention of making things harder for you at all. In our extensive testing we found people were struggling to find tools and settings that were buried in our old interface. This redesign worked to make all of our tools and settings more easily accessible. If there’s anything you are struggling to do or find, please don’t hesitate to let us help! https://www.yola.com/support/contact
well, I’ve used it. Can’t say I’m impressed as I again had to struggle to find things. I have multiple sites on my account and it would be SO-O-O much easier if I didn’t have to click through several layers to go from one site to another when I update!
Yola execs should do a little research on the coca cola fiasco a few years back when a new exec had the coke formula changed. It was a disaster.The only people that like the change were Dr. Pepper and Pepsi.
My old granddaddy had a saying, “son if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
I would think the majority of Yolas users are novice like myself. I was born BC (before computers). So don’t make it hard on us, keep it simple.
That being said. I think Yola is a great product and will continue with them.Being human I will have complaints. I do like a lot of the changes on the new sitebuilder,
Only two things I can ask, fix the toolbar so I can read it better, and never ever get rid of the old text editor if anything add the color selector you have in the new text editor to the old one.
I need to add Yola has the best customer service dept that I have ever been exposed to.
Hi George,
Thanks for your feedback, we have passed the information about the toolbar on to our designers.
We are familiar with the “ain’t broke, don’t fix it” adage. That said, everything about technology is constantly evolving so if we didn’t make updates to the Sitebuilder it would very quickly be broken. We are committed to keeping it simple though!
We can’t guarantee that the new text widget will never go away as it is outdated technology that is already very hard to maintain on current browsers. That said, we will do our best to keep it available as long as we can because we know how important it is to many of our users, like you! Happily there is a color selector in the new Text Widget!
Just joined this blog to post my utter disdain for the changes made to the site builder on Yola. Now I am unable to publish changes made on my page to the internet. The section that says settings lists them on the left but you click on one and it says and does absolutely nothing. Why is it every time you finally get the site running properly you feel the need to change something and mess it up for your users again. There is absolutely nothing in your changes that will help me nor many others I am sure. After posting for help on the community forum I had a host email me with the suggestions I had already tried. Now she’s offering to make the changes for me on my site. I do not want someone else on my site changing things. I DO THAT when I have a properly working site builder. Please clean up your mess and let us get back to operating our sites. This is absolutely ridiculous!
Hi Cher,
I am sorry to hear you are so frustrated by our updates but I feel confident they are not the source of your editing problems. I am familiar with one thread on our forum with similar complaints to yours and after working direct with support representatives we discovered that malware was causing the problem for one customer and browser add-ons were causing the problem for the other. I am happy to investigate this for you further if you either share the forum link you are referring to or the reference number for your support case. I’ve tried searching by your name and was unable to find an account or support requests for you.
Changes seem to come overnight and we have to contend with them without any prior knowledge. Notifications usually arrive some time after the changes do, by which time we’ve figured them out ourselves.
Sorry you feel that way Bill. We did send out an account notification email detailing this update prior to releasing it but we’re always open to feedback about how best to communicate updates and changes better. If you have any specific advice, we’d love to hear it!
Perhaps someone could educate me on the use of the new text widget. I am still using the old text and I am grateful it’s still available. If I try to use the new version, I find that any changes I make to the text I’m inserting at the time, affect ALL of the texts throughout the site, even those that were set in place some years ago. Is it me, or is it integral to the format?
Hi Bill,
I believe what you are referring to is the Style Designer, and yes that is integral to the design! The new Text Widget and Style Designer work together to allow for a consistent use of text throughout your website. That’s because the changes made using the Style Designer are done at site-level. This means
that you only need to adjust the setting once, and it’s automatically
applied to all of your pages. You can learn more about all of the areas you can customize here: https://www.yola.com/tutorials/article/Tutorial-Style-Designer/Site_structure_and_design
So how do I work it if I want different sized text and different fonts in different areas of the site? Uniformity throughout the site isn’t what I need. Do I just have to keep on using the old text in this case?
Hi Bill, thanks for your comment.
Keep in mind that a professional site should not be using a hundred different colors and sizes for text. This makes a site inconsistent and difficult for visitors to read. That being said, you are not limited to one type/size/color of text. With the Style Designer, you set your default Paragraph Text for all of your main text content, and then add up to 6 headings which can be different types/sizes/colors to emphasize sections of text.
This means you can use different fonts in different areas, but each heading will be consistent from page to page to keep your site looking polished.
You may want to create a new test site in your account to explore your options with the Style Designer. This way you can get a feel of how it works without affecting your current site. If you need help, please email us at support@yola.com with your new site name and we can walk you through customizing your settings.
Please remember your inquiries are always welcome.
OK, thanks, I’ll try that.
I have 2 silver memberships, and used to be able to create a site and click Enable Mobile in the preview screen, and when the site was pulled up on a phone, it had a Call button, Map button and Other button. All automatic. I just created a new site (I really like Squeaky Clean in the free styles because I can use different colors and add my own logos) but now I have to use one of those “Mobile Responsive” sites you list as my only options for mobile? You know, EVERY site created today has be be web AND mobile. Can I no longer make the sites mobile that I’ve been making mobile for years? (Squeaky Clean, in particular)
we need a currency changing tab for international customers!
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You can get answers to most questions through our extensive [knowledge base](http://www.yola.com/tutorials) and our [Community Forum](http://forum.yola.com/yola). If your problem is still not solved by 3 January, please contact us again and we will gladly assist you.
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Great article.