How to use WIX

For contributors - how to use WIX

We're trying to see if people who can use a text editor, such as Word, can contribute to this site. This page will grow to contain links to articles and videos on using it, as well as giving some initial guidance. Let us know what works for you and any helpful sources you find.

If you've just started, you are not being asked to produce final, pretty layout, using all the features of WIX. It's sufficient to add pages you need, text boxes (with bullet points rather than WIX lists), and images to be used.

The WIX documentation for the editor is here.

Warning: this is being written by a new user - it's probably be full of mistakes, but these can be fixed.

Finding things in the WIX editor user interface

In your WIX account, click on 'Edit Site'. The editor will open at the home page. There are boxes around elements, that aren't visible on the published site. Make sure you don't work in the header or footer (it should be possible to lock these for most users).

Hover over 'Site', to the right of the WIX logo. The 'Preview', 'View Site' and 'Exit Editor' options are useful for now. Ignore the rest, and the rest of that row of controls, except for 'Help' of course. You can also 'Save', 'Preview' and 'Publish' the site using the controls at the top right.
Just below it a drop down box, starting 'Page: ...'. Click on the down arrow and you'll see a list of the pages on the site. Select a page to edit it. (It should be possible to limit editing / publishing of a page to nominated users.)
Beneath the drop down, on the left of the screen, is a column of icons. In order they are:
- Add Elements: You build a page by adding elements (such as a 'strip', a text box or images) to it. See below.
- Add Section: The top level of each page consists of horizontal 'sections'. You work within these sections. See below.
- Pages & Menus: Let's you access the site's pages, create new pages and edit the menu (simply drag and drop).
- Site Design / Add Apps / My Business: ignore these three.
- Media: Let's you see images, documents and videos already uploaded and upload more. You can also upload as you add new media to a page.
- Content Manager: looks as though it should let us organise content and make it easier to use. More to come ...
- Marketing & SEO: ignore for now.

Using the WIX page editor

This isn't as easy as it might be, but is quite useable once you've had a play. The following concentrates on the basics, so you can (1) edit text or change or add images to an existing page, or (2) create a new page and bung some content on it, leaving the final layout, for now, to someone else.

Basic page structure

The top level of a WIX page is a stack of 'Sections', each of which is a horizontal layer across the page. Touch a section and it will be outlined, in purple for me at the minute. With it highlighted, you'll see an 'Add Section' button at the bottom, which adds a new section beneath the selected on, and an up/down arrow to let you change the height of the section (at the bottom, you can't move the top border down).

The next (optional) level of hierarchy is a 'Strip'. This is a horizontal layer to let you group other elements within a section. I think that one thing it does is help advanced users make sure that pages appear sensibly on mobile phones. Touch the '+' (Add Elements) button on the left to see the elements you can add and drag a strip to where you want it in your section.

You can place other elements either directly in a section or nested within a strip. I'd avoid using strips for now, but it's helpful to know they exist.

Other elements range from text boxes and images, through to complex structures, including ones under 'My Designs' (which I guess we should use to create standardised layout for us novices to use consistently). People adding content can probably get away with text and images for now!

Before proceeding, note that two vertical dotted 'guidelines' on the page. You need to keep all content within the lines to be sure they are visible on smaller displays - see the documentation on guidelines. Guidelines in columns (like those in the next section) override the normal guidelines, as in the documentation.

Editing an existing page

I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.

Creating a new page

Click on 'Pages and Menu' on the left and click on '+ Add Page' at the bottom of the pop-up menu. You're offered a host of possible templates to start from, but few of them look useful to us. For now, click on '+ Blank Page' to get a blank page to play with.

Add a blank section and then add a text box. Size it to fit if necessary. To edit text in the box either double click on the box or select the box and click on 'Edit Text'. It's best to only format the text using the Themes in the Text Settings window. (I'm currently using Paragraph 2 for this text.) I think it's probably best to have a separate text box for each heading and for each block of text, as in the section. I may be wrong. The headings can then each use an appropriate Theme (like a Word 'style').

A different new section

Now click on '+ Add Section' at the bottom of the first section you created.

Choose 'Basic' and select the template that looks like this section. It has a heading on the left and text in a box on the right, and isn't laid out very well!

You could correct the layout, but don't bother for know. All that matters is that you can add a heading and some text as content. That can subsequently be put into a consistent layout for the website.

As a final step, add an image element beneath the title in this section and resize it to fit. You can use an offered image or download one into the site media store. Again, the aim is simply to store an image away as content to be used with your text.