I've recently had quite a few people ask about the best online website builders around right now for portfolios & e-commerce sites that are easy to use as well as beautifully designed. So here is a round-up of my top 3 to give you a better idea of what platform you should look into.

Key guide:
+ = Positive features
- = Negatives

1. SquareSpace
+ Clean, well designed site templates with a very user friendly navigation. You don't have to be a graphic designer to get a well designed website.
+ Huge bonus is that they have various templates for portfolio's, businesses & even a e-commerce feature that lets you sell digital downloadable products as well as physical goods.
- If you want a combination e-commerce & portfolio site there are only 1-2 options that available but can be adapted with a bit of elbow grease & getting into the developer platform.

2. Cargo Collective
+ Free template options & hosting as long as you have only 12 projects & keep below a certain number of memory space & access to your sites CSS.
+ You can upgrade & get more template options, HTML & the backend are now available & more projects / space is available.
- No e-commerce options. You would have to use another site to refer to.
- You have to be accepted / email them to sign up & show some of your work or have a friend refer you.
Good News: It's not very difficult to get in though.

3. Wordpress
+ Lots of template options to choose from or you can easily develop your own.
+ E-commerce, Portfolio's & Blog options are all avaliable
+ If you are super picky & have a very clear idea of what you want your site to look like your best bet is to go with Wordpress
+ - Wordpress gives you more freedom but requires more coding (that's why this one is a positive & negative point). If your comfortable coding or can put in the time to learn then Wordpress is your best bet.

Hope that helps & gives you a good starting point with your next site!

Also in case your wondering here are the computer models used in my illustration, bc science!
Left: Osborne 1 Model 1981 | Middle: CDC Graphic's Terminal 1970's | Right: Wang Computer 1973