Page builders won. Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and Framer cover most small business needs in an afternoon. So why would anyone still hand-code a marketing site in 2026?
We run Blackstone Motion, a motion-first web studio. We build custom sites for service businesses, hospitality, and local brands that outgrew their template but do not need a full product engineering team. This is when hand-coded HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and GSAP still make sense, and when they do not.
Templates optimize for launch, not for your funnel
Most template sites solve one problem: existence. You get a domain, hours, a contact page, and something that looks acceptable on a phone.
They rarely solve:
