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
