Web Development Platform

 Web Development Platform post

For my web development platform, I decided to use the free version of Wix https://www.wix.com.

From the moment after creating and signing in to Wix then naming your website, it starts off by allowing you to select out of three types of homepage designs, these presets can be customizable to be changed to how you prefer later on in the edit page section. I selected the middle preset, as it resembled the storyboard I created. 

In the next step, Wix offers to add pages to your website, that come with different apps and widgets that you can choose from to which you think best suits your site. I selected what I deemed fit and proceeded to make my website. The setup procedure using Wix was simple and quick.

During the creation of my website, I found the whole process to be easy and relaxing as all the options to add features and apps were all located on the left side of Wix. From top to bottom being Add Elements, Add Section, Pages & Menu, Site Design, Add Apps, My Business, Media, Content Manager and Ascend Business Tools.

After designing my website to my preference, I found many useful features on Wix which best suited how I wanted to portray my website. 

One of the features I enjoyed adding to my page was one of the Gallery features from the Add Elements section. 

This feature allowed me to add pictures with titles and gave me the option to add a link (when the picture was clicked on) to either an external site or on to one of the other pages on my site. This feature best suited my website because for this part of my site 'Activities and Destinations' it allowed me to showcase a large number of activities and destinations located within New Plymouth and the Taranaki region making it easier for a user to do quick browsing. 

One of the more difficult features I wanted on my page was an interactive map of New Plymouth. It took me awhile to find but eventually found it by going into the Add Apps section then typed in maps and selected the one I liked the best.

Once I added it to my page, I located New Plymouth and pinned it. 

Overall, my opinion of using the free version of Wix from start to finish was simple and easy, with some minor difficulties that I fixed by watching videos from other users of Wix. I chose Wix because it allowed me to do more of a customizable job to how I preferred my site to look in comparison to other sites such as Weebly. When it came to adding features, I found that almost every feature you would want for any type of website is available and customizable to how you prefer, which is excellent considering I was only using the free version. In the near future if I was to use a web development platform again, I would definitely come back and use Wix.