Wix

Wix is a drag-and-drop GUI website builder that also offers hosting services. Wix is a great option if your client has no technical experience and no technical team, but they need to easily change website elements after the end of the Client Project. Wix also has Developer Tools that allow you to write Javascript EventHandlers and dynamically display information from a database. However, you are unable to edit the overall HTML of the site (ie. no changing the breakpoint, no custom upload features etc). Overall, Wix seems to be a great option for clients looking for an eCommerce site due to its ability to customize forms, add a custom checkout feature, and display database information in consistent layouts, but is lacking for clients looking for other functionalities.

Features

• Easy-to-use drag and drop GUI w/ built-in instructions and prompts from Wix
• Pre-made design components make it easy to create an aesthetic website, even with no design experience
• Wix App Market contains hundreds of plug-and-play applications, including Forms, Google Maps, DropBox, and EventBrite
• APIs can also be integrated for features not included in the App Market
• Wix Developer Tools allows you to write Javascript EventHandlers and dynamically display information from a database

Wix.com - a great platform for nontechnical clients.  To set up Google Analytics with the free version of Wix you can add an invisible HTML box on the front page of the site and paste in the analytics script. 

Wix Plug-ins

Google Calendar: you can use this plug-in to tie a Google Calendar directly into your website’s page. This is a great feature if your client needs to show events that are happening. The google calendar plugin allows you to sync your personal calendar as well. Their is a great monthly calendar view that allows you to see the overall view, and then click on specific events for more details.

Tips:

If you utilize Wix premium for an initial trial period and wait until the end to create an account and begin paying, Wix will give you a discount for the first year. This was very helpful for a client who had little to no budget.

Wix -Corvid:

Wix has an advanced toolset that allows for more custom development and a fully functioning backend. It’s called Corvid and it is included atno extra charge for anyone who uses Wix. You can create databases simply and it also features built in authentication functionality with social media logins.

Tablemaster: 

Wix allows for the integration and display of a google sheet to act as a backend database that can be edited and added to. This plug-in is called Tablemaster.  

• More information can be found here: https://www.wix.com/app-market/table-master 
• This plug-in was used in order to display a google sheet on the page of a Wix page and filled a role that other website editors did not have without custom code or outside API integration. This allowed for the sheet to continue functioning as the DB without outside intervention. 
• A couple of tips:  

• Create a new sheet on the google sheet and choose that to display when working with table master - this allows you to select which information that you are showing rather than showing all of the cells unnecessarily. 

• This can be further automated by linking one page to another to transfer information as it is added - i.e. if a row is added on the main sheet, specific cells will be copied to the “shown” page through a simple =(click on cell) function by just clicking.  
• This function can then be dragged to infinity, which allows for continuous copying of added rows and information.  
• Publish the google sheet by clicking File → Publish to the web. The link you get through this tab will be the link you use in Tablemaster. 

Wix also has a plug-in for making really easy charts that are easily edited called Chart Ninja. 

• Charts Ninja can be found here: https://www.wix.com/app-market/charts-ninja 
• This allows for the import of CSV files to generate visuals with the information if necessary, but otherwise just allows for easily editable charts that are not hand-drawn.  
• By using this extension, clients can update the data and not have to use excel or an outside editor to make the visuals with every update. 

Wix also has a promo code on student beans that can be applied for the first year to receive a 50% off the yearly premium plan. Create an account on student beans with your utexas email address to access the code. Additional information can be found here. 

Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence)

Wix ADI is a user-friendly way of creating a website from scratch without any coding knowledge. Additionally, depending on the type of business/organization you are developing for, Wix ADI will come up with a theme that can help you get started with a one-of-a-kind website. After the creation of the original theme you are free to go edit the website in many different ways including adding forms, changing texts, changing backgrounds, changing theme colors, and changing the design of sections of each page. Overall, the Wix ADI makes it very easy for someone with no knowledge of web development to start the creation of a simple website in a few minutes. Although, there are many benefits to the Wix ADI there are also some drawbacks, which should be considered before choosing this as the option for your development.

Benefits:

• No coding needed
• Creates personalized website based on business
• Easy to use
• Easy to maintain for client

Drawbacks:

• Lack of full customization - may not be able to resize pictures and section sizes
• Sometimes changes back to old section designs without warning
• Slow and laggy at times

Overall, Wix ADI is a great web design and development tool that can be used for a client that may not have technical knowledge and does not want to spend too much time and effort on maintaining the website. However, the ease of maintenance comes at the cost of not being able to customize different features and dealing with the bugs of the ADI environment

Wix ADI vs. Wix Editor

The Wix Editor is a more complex, but flexible web design and development environment that allows you full control of all features of your website. It allows you to move things around with your mouse, change font sizes, create different functionalities such as search bars, and many other features that the ADI does not have. However, with these benefits the complexity can be an issue for a client who needs to maintain a website as it is much more difficult to access places that information needs to be entered. Therefore, if you are looking for an easier to use and maintain website then the ADI is better for you, but if you need more complex features and do not mind a bit more maintenance times the Wix Editor is for you. Contrastingly, many people start their websites on the Wix ADI just to get the base and then convert to editor to get access to more features, however this comes at the disadvantage of never being able to switch back to the ADI once you switch to the editor, which is something to think about before converting.