“Pictures speak a thousand words”. This basic designing theorem has been advocated by designers for years. Wix, a free website maker tool, adheres to this principle while allowing users to create an online presence. Targeting young web users who want to project their individual identity on the internet; this tool offers great scope for customization. Aptly, Wix is a creative extension to the list of free easy website maker platforms.
I decided to review Wix.com after reading an expert review on TechCrunch. The review describes Wix as a ‘cluttered’ and ‘candy-coated’ widget to develop creative website designs.
Features Available with Wix
Wix.com allows users to create websites, blogs, portfolios, headers and MySpace themes. A user has to set up an account and register a domain with Wix through his email ID. Once the account activates, the user can select from several pre-designed templates. Although this free website maker online has a number of business themes, most of the templates qualify for lifestyle and studio art category. Wix allows immense scope for creative customization of the template as per specific themes.
After the template selection, the user is directed to the editing interface. The interface is user-friendly and its skin reminds me of the Mac environment. However, the website editor does not match in speed with the Mac OS. It takes time to load and hangs at times.
Wix editing interface offers great flexibility in terms of text formatting. You can insert text and headlines in different pre-defined styles. You can upload videos, animation, photos and songs to any webpage. To add any element all you have to do is to drag and drop it at the preferred location. You can also add Youtube videos, Flickr stream to the website.
Watch this video to the right to learn how to set up a free website with Wix.com.
Here is an example of the website build through Wix http://www.christinacunningham.co.uk/
In this website, the user has used slideshow, portfolio and other multimedia features to garnish the content.
Paid Website with Wix.com
A Wix user can upgrade to a paid account to enjoy greater benefits. You an choose from different upgrade plans according to your individual requirements, such as personalized domain, ecommerce or SEO. Some of the benefits of paid Wix website are:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Better storage
- Web hosting support
- Website statistics through Google Analytics
- Remove Wix Ads from the website.
One of my major concerns was the Flash-based website building platform of Wix. I know that search engines do not index Flash pages. However, on deeper research I found that Wix creates a product that is a mix of HTML and Flash. Thus, search engine optimization is possible.
Overall, I will give four out of five points to this free website maker. It scores highest for creative design and customization options. However, the uploading time and Flash-based platform is certainly a grey area.
