I am trying to build a small website. I don’t know how to write HTML or JavaScript or CSS. I always hear sponsorships about SquareSpace from content creators such as TheLinuxExperiment. I understand that a website is public information but I want a builder that does not come with any unnecessary trackers, I.E. a noninvasive website. Are there any options?
I do not know about trackers. The modern web stack can have a very big supply chain.
On the other hand WordPress is the most common FOSS site builder tool. You can have this hosted too in a variety of ways.
Hugo? It builds a website with no trackers or cookies at all
But it might be difficult to learn for a beginner
SSGs (Hugo, Jekyll, Pelican, Zola, etc.) are an excellent option. I was a beginner when I tried and I did manage. I would vote for this over WP.
It’s not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor website builder like OP seems to ask for. You definitely need some editing or at least Markdown markup.
But I personally can recommend getting into that.
If it’s mostly about the content and text content Hugo may be a very good option and starting point into website creation/development. Because it generates static webpages it can be hosted for free too - e.g. on GitHub pages.
If they want to play around, move and modify the layout and positioning though they’ll have to dive at least a little bit into HTML and CSS, or use a different tool.
Anything on this list if you want to build it yourself: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted#static-site-generators. I’ve used Hugo, Jekyll, and Zola, all are very good. Neocities if you want an easy start and want to learn the HTML/CSS/JS stack because editing is very easy.
I found Publii. It’s open source and it generates a static website with an easy editor. You need to backup locally the SQLite database that hold your pages or you won’t be able to edit your site in the future (unless you do it manually)
I don’t know how to write HTML or JavaScript or CSS
Not to sound like I’m saying “just learn it lol” but the coding required for simple website building is probably 1000x easier and quicker to learn than you think it is, even if you’re like myself and have both a learning disability and a babylike grasp of math and formal logic
Learning a bit - just the bare minimum - will probably open up your options a ton. Most of the answers in this thread are already more DIY than what I’m guessing you’re hoping for anyway
The results website builders produce are a bloated waste of resources on the server and client side so I generally advice against using them but if you really want to Wordpress with some drag and drop builder is probably your best bet!
The other direction is to look at one of the 30 or so Fediverse platforms. These tend to be pretty specific though. Tubesites, blog sites, etc.
