Expert's Rating
Pros
- Incredibly simple interface
- Offers just the right amount of design freedom
- Can be used to quickly set up sales pages with payments
Cons
- Links can become invisible in some color schemes
Our Verdict
If you need a simple, one-page website, look no further than Tackk.
Every once in a while, I come across a service that leaves me speechless. This is exactly what happened when I first started using Tackk: It took my breath away. Tackk is a free website maker currently in beta, and will help you create any single-page website (or Tackks) in minutes.
Not only is it free, but if you don’t mind your website expiring after seven days, you don’t even have to sign up. Just point your browser to tackk.com and start editing your new page. It’s going to be beautiful, too, regardless of your skills—there’s simply no other way with Tackk.
If you decide to go for a free account, you’ll get Tackks that never expire, the ability to create multiple Tackks, give them custom URLs, and include contact forms. All other features are available to everyone, and anonymously. To help you get started, Tackk comes with five different themes: Anything, Events, Housing, For Sale, Announce, and Business. Each one comes with the features you’re most likely to use on the page, but you can add and remove elements as you please.
After choosing a theme, use the Editor on the right to choose your color, headline font, and background texture. Remember when I said your website is going to be beautiful? This is due to the delicate balance of freedoms and limitations that Tackk provides. You can choose any color you want (there are almost 100 to choose from), but once that’s done, it sets the color scheme for your entire page. When it comes to your headings, sub-headings, and buttons, you only get to choose from 3-4 colors that go well with your background. The weak point of this feature is links, which always take the background’s color, and may become almost invisible when using dark backgrounds.
Your Tackk page is not all about text. You can easily add lists, buttons, photos from your hard drive or Instagram, videos from YouTube, Vimeo or Hulu, embedded songs from Spotify or SoundCloud, maps, a contact form (registered users only), comments, and even a payment widget that lets you sell products and accept PayPal payments. Adding an element could not be easier: hover over an existing element and click on the plus sign. Provide the necessary details, and you’re good to go. Contact forms, maps, and payment elements are added from the Features tab in the Editor.
Tackk’s brilliance lies in its simplicity, but also in the way it lets you personalize your page to a limit. No matter what you do, the page will be an obvious Tackk in its design, but it can be personal enough to be your page, with your background, colors, and content. If you’ve created an account, you can create a custom URL for your page, otherwise, you get a random one. If you’ve included comments, your visitors can interact with you page using Facebook, Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail logins. They can also share your page on various social networks.
Unlike Wix or Breezi, Tackk cannot create full-fledged websites with multiple pages, and doesn’t include many of the more powerful features such as collaborative creation, blogging options, hosting, etc. Unlike these services, it’s also free to use no matter what features you use and how many pages you create. Use Tackk when you want to create a beautiful online invitation, a gorgeous announcement or ad, a stunning sales page, or anything else you can think of that can be done in one page. For businesses, Tackk provides branded Tackks for customers to play with and build upon. You can browse a large collection or public Tackks for some inspiration, but Tackk is so well made, I doubt you’ll need it.
Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor’s site, where you can use the latest version of this Web-based software.