Review: Is Editor X a serious option for Web Developers?

This review assesses Editor X, Wix's advanced website builder, to determine its suitability for developers and designers. While many can build websites independently, Editor X promises efficiency, speed, and maintainability.

Key Findings:

• Editor X, aimed at tech-savvy users, offers robust functionality, flexibility, and a JavaScript platform for complex interactions. However, its reliance on CSS Grid might pose a challenge for flexbox-familiar developers.
• The platform boasts a flexible CMS, extensive third-party app integration, and advanced design features. However, pricing escalates with large video and data storage, and its basic e-commerce plan is slightly pricier than some competitors.
• Editor X provides three responsive design breakpoints but lacks "mobile-first" support. While breakpoint adjustments are straightforward, maintaining a comprehensive responsive strategy might prove demanding. Despite these limitations, its scripting capabilities, business solutions, and design tools make it a strong contender for developers.

Editor X Overview:

Editor X is a powerful website builder from Wix, distinct from the simpler Wix platform. Unlike Wix's preset-focused approach, Editor X empowers users with greater control and customization. This review, geared towards developers and experienced website builders, analyzes its functionality, limitations, and viability as a custom site alternative.

Project & Evaluation:

To thoroughly test Editor X, a Figma design was recreated from scratch. This allows for comparison with other platforms. The review uses five criteria:

1. Layout & Design Tools: Assesses the designer's control and capabilities.
2. CMS/Data Management: Evaluates its ability to handle datasets (products, posts, etc.).
3. Integrations: Examines e-commerce, multimedia, and custom integration options.
4. Mobile Performance: Tests responsiveness and mobile-friendliness.
5. Pricing: Analyzes the cost-effectiveness.

Setup & Onboarding:

Editor X offers a user-friendly onboarding process, guiding users through the interface with helpful walkthroughs that reappear as needed.

Layout & Design:

Editor X utilizes CSS Grid for layout generation, which can be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on user familiarity. While the platform auto-generates the code, a working knowledge of CSS Grid enhances its usability. The visual layout creator is intuitive, offering modules like mosaics, bricks, and sliders. Content insertion is primarily point-and-click, with styling adjustments in a right-hand panel. However, the unconventional ordering of margin controls (LEFT TOP BOTTOM RIGHT instead of the standard TOP RIGHT BOTTOM LEFT) and the lack of independent border-width/color control are drawbacks.

Layers & Masters:

The "Layers" panel aids in understanding component nesting, reordering, and precise styling. "Masters" allow for creating reusable UI components (mastheads, navigation, etc.), with updates instantly propagating to all instances.

SVG Support:

Editor X efficiently handles complex SVGs, even those with symbols and patterns. It automatically extracts colors from SVG logos, adding them to the color palette. However, SVGs cannot be used as background images.

Dev Mode & JavaScript:

Editor X's prominent "Dev Mode" activates its JavaScript interface, utilizing Wix's Velo platform. This enables scripting complex interactions and building custom components. Numerous examples demonstrate its capabilities, from dynamic pricing to SMS notifications.

CMS & Data Management:

Editor X provides a flexible CMS builder with preset data models and the ability to create custom models. Adding fields (date, image, file upload) is straightforward. Connecting CMS data to the layout uses the "Repeater" module, seamlessly replacing static elements with dynamic data. The CMS functionality, even in the free plan, is robust and user-friendly.

Integrations:

Editor X leverages the Wix App Store for third-party app integration, offering a wide range of functionalities, including advanced search, social media automation, live chat, and web analytics.

Mobile Performance:

Editor X offers three preset breakpoints (mobile, tablet, desktop) with easy addition of custom breakpoints. It adopts a desktop-first approach, layering mobile and tablet customizations. While adjustments are easy, maintaining a comprehensive responsive strategy can be challenging. The ability to define image focal points for responsive cropping is a useful feature.

Pricing:

Editor X offers three standard website pricing tiers and three e-commerce tiers. Pricing varies based on storage, with higher tiers offering more storage for images, videos, and data. The base e-commerce plan is competitive, offering no inventory caps and features like shopping cart recovery and social media selling.

Conclusion:

Editor X provides a balance of flexibility and ease of use, exceeding expectations with its JavaScript scripting capabilities. While the CSS Grid approach might be polarizing, the platform's overall functionality, CMS, integrations, and design tools make it a compelling option for developers and designers. Pricing is comparable to competitors, though storage costs can increase significantly. The lack of a mobile-first approach is a notable limitation.

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