The final blog...
This was fun! Not web expressions though. After working in Wix, why would anyone want to put themselves through that? Of course, that comment is mostly because I am a novice at this, and Wix was not only easier, but actually fun! The Web Expressions templates themselves were boring, although I realize that I could have located other templates, I doubt I would have had the skill to work with them in a way to produce the stunning results anyone can make in an online web site builder. I did manage to get a video embedded so that made the Web Expression have some movement. With Wix, I was able to have a moving slide show on the front page, nice transitions, embed the video, add a poll and have many more features such as a form for contact. A page in the template actually had a google map to my location, but for this exercise I deleted it. I like how the navigation bar shows all the sub pages when the mouse hovers over it. There was spell check in Web Expressions, but not in Wix. This was certainly not good! But, copy and paste directly from Word was possible, so as long as the text wasn't changed, checking for spelling could be done in Word. Web Expressions has spell check, but text has to run through notepad. I did attempt to past without formatting at the end.
Problems with Web Expression freezing on my computer cause a loss of work quite a few times. On one occasion with Wix my browser shut down, but had less problems overall with the site builder online. Both of these issues are related to my computer, but nonetheless, it was aggravating. Another issue with Web Expressions was that my side border picture did not repeat. On long pages, a side border photo did not show, which did not look nice. Wix on the other hand took care of all of that, with a nice background that was consistent throughout. Working with images was quicker and efficient in Wix. In fact, I did not use Photoshop at all. Compare that with Web Expressions, and ALL images needed to be reworked first and then imported.
Wix templates are all pre-formatted to maintain consistency in color and style and the templates were very professional. There was some consistency in the Web Expressions template, but it was very easy to mess that up and create a site that would break the rules. I worked longer and harder on Web Expressions, but when I was working in Wix I found it to be more appealing and less aggravating. Another area of difference was in creating separate pages for the recipes, which I wanted to do in my original storyboard. This was very simple in Wix but not so easy in Web Expression. In the end, I just moved on and left all the recipes on one page in my Web Expression site. Also, in terms of difference from the storyboard, I did not include animations or video portions. Having the storyboard and information ready was a definite plus. It allows you the time to work on the design, rather than content.
When I compared both sites, the Web Expressions site is just okay, but I feel that the Wix site made my site look so much more professional. I am actually surprised that the Expressions site looks okay since I thought it was going to look very basic or even dated. The basic templates are just that, basic. However, I was impressed with the Wix site and would consider using this in the future to build a website. In fact, a friend just sent me a link to a website he created. I think I might steer him to something like this or offer to create one for him. Although I have worked in graphic design, it has been years since I designed or wrote anything HTML, in fact my skills were terribly outdated. Even though it was a ton of work, I am pleased to have increased my knowledge in web design! Actually, I think I'll leave my veggie bite site up and keep working on it! Thank you for a great class! --Sandy
My Wix site: http://sjos0513.wix.com/veggiebites
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