Today, you don't have to have extensive programming skills to create an appealing website. There are already numerous tools that make it very easy to create websites without writing code. In its version 15 , Odoo has significantly improved its own website builder, making it more user-friendly and modern, so that it can now compete with other dedicated website builders.
At first, creating the website is very simple: in the Odoo module Website, a new website is created in the configuration via the settings. After creating it with name and domain, Odoo redirects us directly to the new site. Here we have the option to have an AI create a theme for the website by answering a few questions. Also it is possible to recognize colors from an already existing logo, and to adjust the color of the website. These themes can also be customized afterwards.
Once we have created the website or click on the "Edit" button, a bar opens on the right, through which we can customize the website.
In the following, we will take a detailed look at the features of the Website Builder, what can be customized, and which elements are essential for a successful website. Now our website can be filled with life in the three tabs "Blocks", "Style" and "Theme" in the bar on the right side.
The most important tab is the "Blocks" tab. Once a new website has been created, it can be easily assembled and customized from numerous different blocks, without any programming. These blocks are divided into four sections: structure blocks, feature blocks, dynamic content blocks, and inner content.
The structure blocks are simpler, building elements, such as covers, headlines, images and image galleries or simple text blocks.
Function blocks are loosening elements, which graphically display information such as prices or articles. These already have some dynamic elements, but are less interactive than the following dynamic blocks.
The dynamic blocks attract a lot of attention and invite clicks and invite a visitor to stay on the website due to the interactive elements. Moreover, a page with a lot of text is attractively broken up with high interactivity. Elements such as map sections from Google Maps, links to blog posts, popups, countdowns or discussions are included here, as well as the "Embedded Code" element can be used here to integrate your own code into the website.
Lastly, inner content are smaller elements that can be inserted into a text block, for example, to lighten it up, and are moderately interactive, similar to the function blocks, such as a "Share" button, a rating or an alert, or serve only as visual support, such as a separator or text highlight.
Most of the blocks are customizable: for almost all blocks, you can set a background, adjust the height of the block (comparable to the distance of the snippet up and down), the visibility (some snippets can be hidden, for example, mobile or in certain languages), and the number of columns. For each block type there are individual customization options, e.g. in text blocks the font size, formatting, numbering or the font markup can be adjusted; in image blocks the description and the tooltip are put here, in addition Odoo offers various frame shapes and transformation options.
Once a lot of work and time has gone into customizing the individual blocks, you can of course also save your adjustments: in addition to the block name, there are various icons that can be used to save, duplicate, link or make blocks (in)visible on mobile devices. If you save a customized snippet, it will appear in the "Blocks" tab under the heading "Customized".
The "Style" tab is used to customize the individual blocks. Here, for example, the font size or text type (heading, subheading, normal text, ...) can be specified for text blocks. You can also define the fret here, or add animations to the text.
Image blocks can also be cropped, transformed, a frame, filter or animation can be added. Also images can be linked with links.
In the Theme tab, the general color scheme of the website can be customized as described above. In addition, fonts, sizes and colors, as well as page margins and buttons are globally defined here. Some of these elements can be customized later, but setting different fonts is not possible. The changed settings can be saved in the upper right corner.
Once the page is created, it can be saved and edited at any time by clicking the save button in the upper right corner. In addition, unwanted changes can be discarded.
A new page can be created by clicking the "New" button in the upper right corner as soon as you have left the editing mode. Here you can create not only websites, but also products, blogposts, events, forums, job offers, courses, a live chat widget or contact form and more, depending on which Odoo modules are installed and which permissions are assigned.
These all work basically the same way, and can all be easily built using drag and drop. The custom blocks can also be used across almost any type of website.
Finally, we come to an important trick of the website builder: by means of the slash "/" many functions can be called quickly, such as links.
With these basic features, it is very easy to create an attractive website with a modern design - without any programming knowledge! How we can take our website to the next level and make it a unique and special website will be discussed in the next blog. Finally, we'll see a visualization of the module's features, as handling is much easier to demonstrate in a video.
Do you have further questions about the website builder or would you like to try it out yourself? Then feel free to contact us and we will help you with your personalized Odoo implementation, including the powerful website builder.
Sources: www.odoo.com