Wix vs. Wordpress

There are several different WYSIWYG website editors that make it simple for anyone, from beginner to professional to jump in and create a website. These type of website platforms come with their own different styles and theme presets ready for the user to simply add their own text and images to personalize the site for their own use. Recently I began taking courses in web design. For my assignments I had the opportunity to work with two different platforms: WIX and WordPress. Here are my thoughts, as a complete beginner to web design, about the two platforms and the differences between them. Also, I should specify that I was only using the free versions of each platform so I was limited by what I could do.

First about Wix...

WIX is simple and easy to use as a beginner. Though the options for themes are somewhat limited compared to other major platforms (like WordPress) WIX does a give a large variety to chose from. Once the theme has been chosen they are very easy to apply customization. Backgrounds are easy to customize with options for plain colors, your own images, or even a free image from WIX. Pages, strips, columns, text boxes, images etc…. are easy to add or delete based on what is individually needed for the site. Due to the drag and drop nature of the platform it’s easy to move images or text around and place them where you want. One of the most helpful parts to a beginner who doesn’t know off the top of their heads the general size for web pages and at what location on a page they should be placing their content, is the fact that when placing content lines appear to help you make sure the content is even and centered. If you already have the content for your site ready to go, WIX is very easy platform to use to build your website and have it published in very little time.

On to WordPress...

WordPress on the other hand has a very steep learning curve. For a beginner, using the free templates in WordPress, it is very hard to navigate and figure out how to customize the web pages to fit your style. To start with, each theme is different in what it will allow you to customize, and how many pages you can add to it, different font styles and colors etc… Some themes allow you to customize your background color, others do not, some allow you to add multiple pages while others do not, and so on. This makes the process of finding exactly what you need a time consuming task where you end up having to compromise and just pick a theme that seems to align with what you were trying to design as closely as possible. From my experience using WordPress, it’s not a good option if you don’t want to spend a lot of time figuring out how to use it. This option is better for someone more advanced who understands how web design work in general and the terminology associated with it.

In summary, as a beginner, if you are not willing to put in the time for something more complex skip WordPress and use Wix for a quick easy website setup. However, if you’re willing to put in the time and do some research, WordPress has many more themes and option to help with your design….if you can put it the time to understand it.