As you may have noticed we’ve had a very busy summer here at Wix instituting a number of big features such as: comments, the matrix gallery, eCommerce, upload/download documents and many more. However there are still significant updates ahead that we’re planning and we’d like to share with you.

Based on feedback you’ve supplied via the Wix forum and support calls we’ve spent a lot of time thinking of updates that will considerably improve your sites.

So what’s coming up?

Server Side Performance

Performance is the biggest issue for a rapidly growing internet company and Wix is no exception to the rule. This is our top priority. We’ve made many improvements during the last 6 months and are tackling it on all fronts: during the last couple of months we’ve added global CDN, tripled our servers and are now using 24 top dell servers for Wix backend infrastructure with more being added on a weekly basis. During the next couple of months we will be doing the following:

• Reducing the size of the viewer.swf – this is the Wix flash program that loads the Wix website, today it is 450K, we are now working on reducing the size to 280K.
• Better compression of PNG
• A major upgrade to our hosting software, which will reduce the amount of calls needed to load your sites
• Remove wix.monitor and static.wix.com

Once we’ve achieved these goals, we will be adding the following:

HTML Component

Adding HTML has been tricky due to security, flash, Java script, browser and OS version compatibility issues, we’ve been working on it on and off for the better part of the last 6 months. So far we’ve completed 3 rounds of pioneers “beta” testing which helped iron out the bugs and tweak the offering. I’d like to thank our fantastic Wix pioneers group for all their great input. Follow the Wix pioneers forum here.

On that note, we’re still experiencing a key problem with Flash technology being incompatible with HTML and non English keyboards at the same time (the infamous opaque/transparent mode bug by Adobe for you ‘techies’).

Password Private pages/sites

Allowing Wix members to define private websites and private pages.
We’re going to be implementing this towards the end of Q1 2010.

SEO for pages

Wix is the only flash platform that is fully compatible with Google and the other main search engines.

To prove our point and ‘put our money where our mouth is’ – Wix.com is built using the Wix editor just like your sites are. We have some new ideas on how to make your website rank even higher. These features are expected to roll out early 2010.

Changing premium documents & cancellations of premium accounts.

We are adding a premium control panel which will allow you to manage your premium documents without contacting support. This feature is well over due and we apologize to those inconvenienced. Naturally, you’ll still be able to contact our support team for special requests.

Flash Side Performance

Our Flash team’s top priority is elevating the quality of your Wix site. Sleeker graphics, faster performance & better all around quality. As a result your website will look and feel even more professional.

Better performance to the editor and to your sites. Faster editing, and improved loading speeds.

Visual loading of Wix documents.

Yes, the notorious blue bar! We’re working on a solution to give you the ability to choose how it will look. In addition premium members will be able to create their own customized loader.
We are also working on having the HTML background look better while the site is loading (Eliminating the current “jumps” in certain browsers).

Menu, Buttons & Languages.

More options for the menu and better graphics with a lot of new ways to customize them.

Improved selection in the Editor

New ways for selecting objects in the editor: editing objects behind objects, easier grouping and ungrouping and a better ability to manage galleries and mini pages.

Editor Liquidity

The editor is optimized for Hi Resolution. We are now making it liquid – meaning, it will work better on all resolutions, especially on Laptops.

Picture Galleries

We’re revisiting all our galleries to give them a better look and smoother movement. In addition we will be adding lots of new and exciting galleries which we’re sure you’ll love.

Mini page and Slideshow Transitions

We are fixing several bugs and improving overall performance. In addition we are working on the ability to add your own graphics to the transition – a great improvement for branded sites.

Shopping Cart

The shopping cart will be upgraded soon, more currencies, more options for your products (size, colors, etc), visual indication of when an item is added to the cart and more…We won’t be adding all features at once, but improvements will start being introduced soon.

For those of you who’ve been asking about inventory management, that will take much longer. Inventory management is complex, so we’ll probably be adding a 3rd party product in the future, which will take a while to choose and integrate into Wix.

Help Shape the Future of Wix

We get tons of great suggestions daily and we’ll gladly take more. To make it as simple as possible for you, we’ve launched a dedicated wishlist page for you to jump in and share your ideas and suggestions. Some of our best ideas are inspired by member feedback.

Thank you for your cooperation, assistance and perhaps most importantly, your participation!

Gig,  Avishai & Nadav

Wix Founders

Fresh from the Studio: Featuring Mira German’s Original Photography

Our studio is a name to reckon when it comes to finding new photographers and giving them platform to show their talent to the world.  Their latest find is too good not to share with everybody!

Meet Mira German, a bank clerk during the day and a relentless, passionate photographer in her spare time. Mira’s website is currently under construction but you can get a peek to some of her work here and many of her photos will be available to download from the Editor starting today.

Mira German’s Photography:

Hi Mira and welcome. We’re truly happy to have you here. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

- MG – Sure. I was born and raised in the former USSR, where I worked as professional photographer. I dabbed into almost any sort of photography you can imagine: actors and models, landscapes, artwork, doing gigs for publishing homes, I was truly out there, working as a busy bee up until 1989.

What happened in 1989?

- MG – Well, I decided to make Aliyah (immigrate) to Israel and that kind of turned the tables for me. I remember a conversation I had with a family relative, Lev Borodulin, a celebrated Russian photographer who had immigrated to Israel in the 70’s. I asked him how could I best go about establishing myself as a photographer in Israel, and I’ll never forget his reply: “go work at a bank” (laughing).

And you did.

- MG – Yes, I did. But I never stopped taking photos. I still pretty much live my life behind a lense. I have a friend from a local photography club, Shuki Sela, with whom I make adventure photo expeditions in Israel and overseas. Many of the photos I contributed to Wix are outputs of our joint travels. We spend most of our trips arguing and bickering about light and and angle but end up being happy with our outcomes.

What do you like taking pictures of most?

- MG – Fog is a real obsession with me. Which is funny, since Israel isn’t exactly a natural habitat for fog lovers. I have to travel to get my fog. I’ll never forget my first: I shot some incredible fog photos in upstate New York in 2005 and I haven’t been the same woman since. Fog simply fascinates me.

What are you up to today?

- MG – I’ve been recently in touch with Rechovot’s – my hometown – city hall and we’re putting together a photography workshop for underprivileged kids. My general world view is that a camera is a far more engaging and convincing tool of self-expression than a gun.

What do you dream of at night?

- MG – I dream of opening a photography academy here in Israel. We have photography schools here they don’t really provide budding artists with a platform and an opportunity to display their work. My vision is for an academy where talented photographers who aren’t supported by massive PR can still present their work and get the exposure they crave.

Thanks for being with us today. We wish you the best of luck and hope to see more of your work soon.

- MG – Thank you for uploading my photos to Wix. It makes me proud to know they’re out there, I can’t think of a better way to share with and reach out to people.

There is a new addition to the Wix Universe: WixBox.com!

WixBox is a website dedicated to helping Wix members share their web creations and design techniques.

Each WixBox submission is given its own landing page.  Members can rate each submission, leave comments and provide feedback to each other.

On WixBox, you can easily browse Wix sites by category and peek at the latest Wix designs from around the world.  You can even browse the Freebies section and pick up some tools for your own Wix sites.
WixBox was created by Shiri Amram, a member of Wix Designer Directory.  Thanks Shiri for creating such a fun and inspirational website. Keep up the good work!
If you would like to see more Wix user creations, you can visit the Wix Explore section.  And of course you can submit your sites to be Wix of the day.

PS Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the Wix User Forum!

Memphis, Tennessee – This Thursday, October 8th, AIGA will host their biennial Design Conference in Memphis, TN.  The conference is titled “Make|Think”, a theme that includes writing, idea-making and content-making, as well as strategy and, of course, craft and traditional design.

Wix.com is proud to sponsor the official Wi-Fi connection for this event.  If you, or someone you know, will be attending the AIGA “Make|Think” conference this week, let us know!  Send an email to Designers@Wix.com.

AIGA Make|Think Design Conference landing page

Follow us at the conference here for blog posts and on Twitter @WixDesigners.

Last week, Wix.com hosted our first learning workshop in New York City. In conjunction with Meetup.com, Wix organized over 20 designers, photographers and marketing professionals for a lesson on resumes and portfolio design.

Wix.com will be hosting many workshops in the near future on topics that include:
• Web design
• Graphic design
• Marketing strategy
• Business strategy
• New technology
• And more!

http://www.meetup.com/digitalcreatives

The next Wix.com/ Digital Creatives Meetup event will be Oct 28th, 2009

For more information, visit: http://www.meetup.com/digitalcreatives

Our first ever template design contest has come to an end.  Congratulations to everyone who participated!  All of the sites submitted were incredibly well done.  After much deliberation, we have decided upon our winners:

1st Place – Karen Keith, Karen Keith Designs

2nd Place – Simon Patterson, Design Communications

3rd Place – Loai Bassam, Designers TM

The winning templates were selected for their presentation of content, aesthetics, and ease of editing.

These templates and several other designer portfolios will soon be available for you in the Wix Create section!

Search engine crawlers will index your new Wix website, but it may take them anywhere from 1 month to 3 months.

Three months is a long time and I know that I for one really don’t have that kind of patience.

So for those of you who are like me, here’s some information on your Wix website’s indexing process and what you can do to help.

Read on for 7 super tips to getting google to crawl your site faster

Hey Wixers! Lace up those design boots!

We’ve just launched our first ever template design contest!  Wix is looking for a few “designer portfolio” templates: sites that showcase web design work to prospective clients.  You’ve got two weeks to get ‘em done- the contest ends September 8th, 2009, at 5pm EDT.

We’ve got some great prizes lined up including:
First Place: $250 CASH and a $50 gift card to Kid Robot [kidrobot.com]!
Second Place: $100 CASH
Third Place: $50 gift card to Kid Robot

The primary objective of this template is to promote a web designer and his/her work.  Aesthetics should be the priority.  Go for the “wow” factor!  The first time someone opens the page, it should provoke excitement.  Make sure the overall look of the site is eye catching as well.  For all the guidelines, giveaways and details, visit the contest website.

Submitting is easy! Just send the address of your Wix template website to designers@wix.com.

You can also contact designers@wix.com with any questions you have… Oh, one more thing… Good luck!

Inspired by the Siberian hamsters we just got for the studio, these are just some of the pet site’s made with Wix of late.

Please show us your pet & pet related sites in the comments below!!

And feel free to watch our hamsters:

We’ve been working hard to give you a beautiful way to set up shop on Wix – and now it’s live!

Setting up shop has never been so easy!!

We’ve had a lot of requests for an eCommerce solution on Wix. Well, we’ve been working hard to give you something great! Our new eCommerce widget is simple to use, beautiful to display and able to handle all of your selling needs.

We’ve also uploaded several new eCommerce templates for you – you’ll find them in Create. As usual, you can start from scratch or add the customizable eCommerce widget to an existing site and make it your own.

How to start selling online:

Open the editor (via your site or our new eCommerce templates) and go to Widgets > eCommerce

The eCommerce widget is a premium feature made up of 3 elements: product gallery, shopping cart and checkout button. You can take them apart and customize each individually OR work with all the elements together via “Stores”.

To start customizing each section, simply double click! Use the property panel (bottom of editor) to change skins, colors, manage your product and add your PayPal email into ‘settings’… You’ll find the full ‘how-to’ here in our help center, Wixpedia.

Ready to add eCommerce features to your site?

Go play with the Wix eCommerce widget in the editor. Then all you need to do is upgrade to the Wix eCommerce package and your ready to sell! If you have an existing upgrade, don’t worry, we’ll only charge you the difference when you upgrade to eCommerce.

We’d love to see what you’re creating with Wix eCommerce!

Be sure to drop us a line in the comments and share a link to your Wix sites!