Back in the day when my daughters were small, scrapbooking was the "IT" thing.
No small feat in investments of paper, cutters, embossers, heat guns, stickers, and albums; a small fortune turned into boxes of scraps and albums that would rarely be opened again.
BUT...
My work felt legit. I fell in love with the design process. How to use the elements at hand and how to get creative with limited resources...it became an obsession, more so than the final album that no one would ever view.
Over time, scrapbooking fell to the side, too much work to haul it all out, and when all was said-and-done, too much of a mess to make it worth it. I even tried to make the leap to online scrapbooking applications and programming, yet never fell in love as it came across "less than" to me... I think "cheesy" is a better word for it.
I knew what I didn't want.
After years spent inside Wordpress for my past websites, I was chronically frustrated with its limitations of designs and constant plugin updates that were consistently breaking my site. But at the time, it was THE platform to use if you were going to have a REAL website that made the SEO gods happy.
I had dabbled inside Wix, but was afraid of the commitment and if this platform would deliver me from the rigid "themes" - I still never fully took the leap. Besides, does anyone really take a website by Wix seriously?
It wasn't until a new business startup years ago forced me to create a new website and once again I revisited Wix to play around to see if this would be a valid platform for my needs. At first, as it is for anyone, the learning curve can feel frustrating, slow, and your site ends up looking nothing like the sleek template you started with.
How is that possible?
I quickly learned that just because something has a visual editor and pre-formatted theme, it still doesn't guarantee an end-product that looks professional, sleek, and ready to do business.
You can get close, but with custom copy, logos, and information, it's too easy to make the site turn into Amateur Hour, and I hated it. I prided myself on my past paper designs, building from scratch with no help, yet couldn't quite deliver with even the help of a pre-formatted template.
I decided to take it upon myself to figure it out. I played on the platform constantly. Hundreds of hours, learning the design editor inside and out, learning how to use elements creatively like I did with scraps of paper before, I soon began creating with flair, bringing online pages to life, and finding myself designing websites for loved ones who didn't even know they wanted a website.
Finally set free from rigid themes and boundaries, utilizing "blank templates" but also knowing I can completely tear apart a designed template to make my own custom site, this visual girl with zero coding and development skills could actually create a fully functional, professional website.
I may not know how to code it, but I know what I like and what looks good.
Thankfully I have a developer/coder who can write Wix Code and can expand the sites we build with dynamic pages, databases, and CMS...but this wasn't a stumbling block in getting started in Wix web design for those with a knack for visual design.
Not everyone loves Wix, and why there are multiple companies for multiple needs and personalities. But Wix has provided me a (then) solution to a (current) service I can provide to others, because not everyone wants to become a web designer or wants to spend hundreds of hours learning how.
You never know where past influences and even hobbies can reveal themselves in something down the road and even become something that brings joy and income while doing it.
I would love to know how you started and what your thoughts are when it comes to your own experiences designing a Wix-site whether as a newbie or a longterm Wix user.
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