My Web Design Evolution

Creating a Wix Website

I come from the generation of MySpace (that is not around anymore) and Tumblr which is where we learned all of our CSS and other coding. If you didn't know how to code, your page was generally plain with limited template options. So, we sought out tutorials, copy and pasted others' code and learned to do at least the bare minimum ourselves. This certainly helped when I began building websites in my career.

For this assignment I thought I would add a blog to my Wix site for my CNM coursework about the multiple websites I have created, assisted in updating and continue to maintain. I have worked in a large variety of website design platforms.

When I first created my brand, MaeBerry Cosplay, I started with a Wordpress Website as that was the best blogging platform at the time. I started with the free version and, within a year, upgraded to the paid version for added benefits.

I was working as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Santa Fe Birth to Career Collaboration at the Santa Fe Community foundation during that time where I oversaw a Weebly website and helped create two additional websites for other partners within the collaboration, one of which even received commendations from The Santa Fe New Mexican. This platform is more like Wix than Wordpress, but still does not have all of the freedoms that Wix offers. I managed the blog on this platform and even wrote a couple entries during my service year.

The second year of managing MaeBerry Cosplay I wanted more creative freedom as far as the look and feel of the website. I feel this was my first fully created website as it was not based on a template. I looked at all the websites I wanted to imitate. I was working at the Santa Fe Opera at the time and they had just undergone a huge website remodel the year before. So, I followed their style of large blocks with cascading content as you scroll down. This included many full size carousel banners with multimedia. This style is now incredibly overdone and I have since come to appreciate different forms of website layout so my site is a couple years old and could do with a remodel. I did keep the blog on Wordpress, however, as that is where we had grown a following. Wordpress is very limiting and does everything to keep users in their platform. This is still the best blogging platform, but you have to upgrade for any creative freedoms the other website platforms offer without necessarily upgrading to their paid tier plans. It does tend to be expensive, but I pay a routing fee yearly for the blog as well as pay for Premium Wix which I always buy on Cyber Monday for the best deal. Because I kept the blog on Wordpress with limited creative functions, it does not aesthetically reflect the website which is one of my qualms I am still working on solutions for.

The website I update for my current job and assist in managing is hosted on Sports Engine. This is a very widget based platform that was originally created for youth soccer teams to manage certain back end functions that are relevant to that field. We have weekly calls with our managing organization for their coders to make updates for it. As everyone in the league uses this platform, if we tried to make our own CSS or HTML updates, it could affect all the other websites in the league. So, we have less freedoms with the layout, however, we can usually request any changes or updates to the look we want.

My personal website for marketing myself as a professional writer and digital marketer has also undergone two iterations. I started one on Wordpress and, seeing the limitations I was seeing with my other Wordpress websites, quickly changed to Wix. I have the old site rerouting any traffic to the new website. I currently have this site live and updating it is relatively easy. Making sure the desktop and mobile layouts are reflective of what I want can sometimes be cumbersome, but I appreciate the option to optimize for both as most people view everything on their mobile devices.

So, there you have it folks—my five years of digital marketing with website design all summed up in one blog. If you have any questions feel free to comment. I always love interacting with people interested in this field.