Web design has come a long way, with responsive design and the implementation of mobile devices. In a way, it’s been great, because having so many different devices has forced us to rethink web design, forcing an evolution of how we build websites from beginning to end. With that being said, it’s not enough to simply have a website anymore. You must have a website that is creative, engaging, and one that draws the user in. Design and functionality is all about the user experience and how easy and intuitive a website is for users to operate. Using tools like Wix, you don’t have to know how to create a website from a technical standpoint. You can use a variety of templates to help you get started.
Functionality & Usability
Templates are a great starting point, and Wix has plenty to choose from. It’s important to understand how the structure and functionality can affect the user experience for your website. Users almost expect to see animations and special features built into a website now. You can animate text to flow in at certain intervals, which is a great way to spruce up a text heavy section. You can break up longer text into smaller blurbs and add graphics to break it up even further.
Accompanying graphics help to break up text and make it less intimidating to read. It also makes it more enticing to read as well. Think about it: If you saw a web page full of text only, and it was 4 or 5 paragraphs, would you take the time to read it? How about if it was broken down into sections and sub sections with icons, graphics and attractive photos that help tell your story? It’s more likely that you would read the one with supporting graphics.
Breaking Up Long Content
Information is better consumed when it is delivered in more digestible chunks. Also, it appeals to people who of all levels who are looking at your website. You will typically have 3 different types of people who visit your website. The first level is someone who needs 1 small piece of information, and they are simply scanning through to find exactly the piece of information they are looking for. The second type is a person who is looking for more information, and they are looking at your content paragraph by paragraph. The third person is the person who is coming to your site and is going to spend 20 or 30 minutes reading your content thoroughly.
It is important to approach your website content in a way that breaks it down and makes it appealing for all 3 types of visitors. Adding animations will also hold their attention, captivating them with motion. They may explore your content just to see what it’s going to do next. It adds an element of fun to you website, with a little of the unexpected.
You don’t have to be a website designer in order to deliver a high quality user experience. You can hire one on Wix’s marketplace, called Wix Arena. If you have the time, you can easily build a website with Wix’s templates, and customize them to fit your business. They have so many to choose from, and they are packed with features that visitors like, such as parallax scrolling, and animations.
Vector Art
If you want to add custom graphics, Wix has you covered there, too. Wix has a library of vector illustrations you an add to your website with a click of a button. To add vector art to your wix website, click on the Add button in the left column menu. Then, choose Vector Art. Vector art is a great choice for a website, because it will scale up and down infinitely without losing quality.
The thing I like about the vector art choices is that you can customize them. You aren’t stuck with specific colors. Wix also makes it easy for your vector graphics to match your website. By default it pulls up the colors used in your website first. Then, you can change the different colors of the vector illustration to match your website, giving it a custom feel. Other options include the ability to add animations to your vector art, and keeping them proportionally sized when resizing them, so they don’t accidentally become distorted. Another feature is that if something goes awry with your color options, you can click to reset the colors back to the original settings. You can also link them to other pages, which is a common practice now, to make icons link to a different page.
Conclusion
With all of these features, you’ll be able to create a highly engaging website with customized vector graphics and animations that captivate your audience. You don’t have to have years of training to be able to build a professional website that is user friendly and beautiful. Wix has all the tools to help you do it with a few button clicks.