Quick outline:
- What Synthasite is today
- Three real sites I built
- What I liked
- What bugged me
- Who should use it
- Tips from my hands-on
- My final call
Wait, is “Synthasite” still a thing?
Short answer: yes, but it’s called Yola now. Same roots. New name. I used Synthasite back in the late 2000s. I still have the account. I logged in again this summer to build two fresh pages, just to see how it holds up.
If you’re after a concise history lesson on the platform, this helpful overview covers exactly what Yola is.
You know what? It’s simple. Calm, even. Not flashy. That can be good.
If you’re curious how Yola stacks up against other builders, I posted a quick comparison on WebsiteBuilderAwards that ranks the most beginner-friendly platforms. Need the blow-by-blow details of this exact revisit? They're all in my full rebuild log.
Real build #1: My aunt’s bakery site (weekend project)
A while back, I made a tiny site for my aunt’s bakery, Sunny Porch Bakes. It started on Synthasite. Later, I moved it to the Yola version when they changed the name.
- Time to publish: about 3 hours on a Sunday.
- Pages: Home, Menu, Photos, Contact.
- What I added: a photo gallery (I shot pics on my Canon), a Google Map, a contact form, and a simple “Order Now” button that linked to PayPal.
- Domain: I used a custom domain after a month. I bought it in their dashboard and connected it. SSL worked after I tweaked DNS like support suggested.
Did it look fancy? No. Did it work for orders and pick-ups? Yep. She sold out of lemon bars that week. I still brag a little. Compared with the side-by-side sites I spun up during my WYSIWYG builder showdown, this bakery page felt almost relaxing.
Real build #2: PTA fundraiser one-page (built last month)
Back-to-school hit, and I made a one-pager for our PTA raffle. I wanted fast, clean, and easy for parents on phones.
- Time to publish: 1 hour, with coffee.
- Sections: a hero banner, dates and rules, a grid of prizes, and a big “Buy Tickets” button.
- Widgets I used: Text, Image, YouTube (for a short clip of last year’s raffle), and the Form widget.
- Mobile view: auto-responsive. I nudged spacing so the buttons didn’t look squished.
Small gripe here: the font options felt dated. Still, parents found the info fast. Ticket sales went fine. I did miss some of the granular control I had when I tested WYSIWYG Web Builder 12 Portable, but for PTA parents that detail didn't matter.
Real build #3: Neighborhood soccer club mini-site
I also set up a tiny site for our U10 team.
- Pages: Home, Schedule, Field Map, Contact Coach.
- Map: I dropped in a map block for field directions. Parents loved that.
- Schedule: I used a simple table. I wanted a calendar sync, but I didn’t see a built-in one. I added a link to a Google Calendar instead.
- Photos: I added a small gallery. Heavy galleries made the page a bit slow, so I kept it lean.
One funny bit: our goalie tested the form by typing “I AM A WALL.” It sent fine. So, forms work.
What I liked (and why it mattered)
- Drag-and-drop feels calm. No chaos. You add text, images, maps, forms. It just sticks where you drop it. After wrestling with Canva’s animated layers and Wix’s pop-ups during that comparison build, this quiet drag-and-drop felt almost meditative.
- Fast to publish. A one-pager in an hour? Totally doable.
- Reliable hosting. My pages didn’t go down during our PTA rush.
- Simple SEO basics. I set page titles, meta descriptions, and clean URLs. Nothing fancy, but enough for small sites.
- Easy custom domain setup. I connected a domain and got SSL after a quick DNS fix. Support emailed me clear steps the next day.
What bugged me (and what I did about it)
- Template vibe is a bit old-school. Not ugly—just safe. I swapped in bigger photos and bold headings to freshen it up. I admit I was spoiled by the sharper layouts I saw when working with Unicorn Builder.
- Limited block variety. I missed things like fancy galleries, sliders, and sticky headers. I used YouTube and a plain grid to fake it. There’s also no smooth section animation, which stood out to me after my transition stress test.
- E-commerce is simple. Good for a handful of items. For big stores, I’d use a full store tool.
- Fewer app tie-ins. I could paste HTML for extras, but there’s no huge app market. Even Voog shipped a few more integrations out of the box.
- Blog feels basic. I’d use another tool for a content-heavy blog.
So yes, it’s simple. And no, it’s not “basic” in a bad way. It’s more like a neat toolbox: hammer, nails, level. Not a full workshop.
Who it’s great for
- Bake shops, food trucks, and pop-up vendors with a small menu
- School clubs, PTA pages, scout troops
- Coaches, tutors, and local services
- Portfolios with light text and clean galleries
- Anyone who wants a site by tonight, not next month
Who might outgrow it: big stores, complex blogs, and folks who want every visual effect on earth.
Tips from my hands-on time
- Start with a one-pager. Add sections as you need them. It keeps things focused.
- Use strong photos. The themes shine more when your images carry the look.
- Keep galleries small. Large albums can feel slow. Pick your top eight shots.
- If you're planning a private, password-protected gallery—say for boudoir shots or a couples-only album—take a quick look at this straightforward nude wife gallery to see how a minimalist grid and clear navigation keep the focus on the photos and can inspire your own layout choices. For a real-world example of how a no-frills layout converts in an adult-oriented niche, check out this concise Skip the Games Palm Desert guide — studying its emphasis on user intent and safety tips will give you ideas on where to place trust badges and calls-to-action on your own page.
- Set your titles and meta right away. It’s easy to forget later.
- Tidy mobile spacing. After you publish, check on your phone and nudge padding.
- Need a “calendar”? Use a simple table or paste a Google Calendar embed.
- For payments, a single “Buy” button to PayPal is easy and fast.
- If you want an AI co-pilot to lay out the page sections for you, see how Bookmark’s AIDA handles it in my three-site test.
My verdict, as someone who actually used it
Synthasite—now Yola—still does what it set out to do. It helps regular folks put up a site without stress. It won’t wow a designer. It won’t run a giant store. But it will get your bake sale, class schedule, or portfolio live fast, and it will stay steady.
I’ll be honest: I use fancier builders for fancy jobs. But when my aunt calls on a Saturday morning and says, “Can we get a menu up by lunch?” this is the one I open. Simpler tools help real work get done. And that’s the whole point, right?