These sites were all created with one template – Nail Salon, yet they manage to display altogether different styles and genres. Have a look at this wonderful variety and see just what you can do with a good template and a creative attitude.

The Original HTML5 Template

Nail Salon Template

See How Users Owned It

Sha Main | The Official R&B Mix-tape Release

Hair About Town | Hair Care

Stiletto Woman Magazine

America's Power Source

Jackie Alise

The Burlesque Academy

Soap & Suds Laundromat

Idan

Age: 2.7

Astrological sign: Libra

My mom is: Carolina, Wix’ Spanish Community Manager.

What I think about her job: “Is ‘Viral’ a mammal or reptile?”

Favorite food: Vanilla soy dessert combined with chicken shnitzel.

Favorite toy: A race track where he plays with about 100 different small cars he owns.

Quirk: Pretends to know the words for every song he hears, even if a record of Iron Maiden is playing and it’s the first time he hears it. He just sings the last vowel :)

Elliya

Age: 1.5

Astrological sign: Scorpio

My parents are: Nir, Wix’ Chief of Operations, and Hagit, Studio Manager.

What I think about their job: “Management meetings are like play dates for grown ups”.

Favorite food: EVERYTHING!

Favorite toy: A lion stuffed-animal.

 Talma

Age: 10 months

Astrological sign: Gemini

My mom is: Ron Ron, Community Team’s Art Director.

What I think about her job: “I can make pretty pictures too!”

Favorite food: If  I can swallow it, I will eat it.

Favorite toy: Beaver dolly. And knocking down towers made from cups.

Quirk: I love baby breakdancing. I also have the perfect Toni Soprano look to keep the folks in line.

Michael & Itamar (Twins)

Age: 1 year old

Astrological sign: Aries

Our dad is: Elad, Wix Studio Designer.

What we think about his job: “We’re more into programming”.

Michael’s favorite food: Organic oatmeal porridge with Maple syrup. Anything sweet goes :) Oh, and plastic and paper too.

Itamar’s favorite food: Will only eat things he sees his dad eats first.

Michael’s favorite toy: My brother, Itamar.

Itamar’s favorite toy: My brother, Michael.

Quirk: Michael loves shoving his hand into his brother’s mouth so he can nibble on it. And also really wants an iPhone.

Itamar enjoys pushing things around in his cart, his favorite cargo being his brother Michael.

Arad

 Age: 1.4

Astrological sign: Capricon

My mom is: Zohar, Wix Studio Designer.

What I think about her job: “Wanna see me design something on my plate?”

Favorite food: EVERYTHING!

Favorite toy: A singing tractor with animal noises.

Quirk: Looking for my belly button in front of the mirror.

Alice

Age: 3.5

Astrological sign: Virgo

My dad is: Daniel, Software Engineer on the Business Intelligence team.

What I think about his job: “My daddy’s smart!”

Favorite food: Sausages and chocolate. Not necessarily in that order.

Favorite toy: Mickey and Minnie Mouse dolls.

Quirk: A real lady! Loves mirrors and everything related to cosmetics, dresses and dancing waltzes.

Itamar

Age: 10 months

Astrological sign: Gemini

My mom is: Katya, Wix Studio Designer.

What I think about her job: “Can I help paint the website?”

Favorite food: Broccoli and yam soup.

Favorite toy: A music box with 2 dancing turtles.

Quirk: Traded his pacifier for his two fingers at 4-months-old, a move his parents most appreciated as he has two sets of those on each hand and he finds them on his own.

Leia

Age: 10 months

Astrological sign: Leo

My dad is: Eugene, Database and System wizard.

What I think about his job: “Daddy can make machines do things”.

Favorite food: Baby formula.

Favorite toy: Andy, the family’s Golden Retriever.

Quirk: Loves telling stories with a scary voice, in a language known only to her.

Ilay

Age: 7 month

Astrological sign: Libra

My mom is: Rotem, SEO Specialist.

What I think about her job: “My mom has a friend called Google”.

Favorite food: Chicken pâté and baby formula

Favorite toy: Anything that can go into my mouth.

Quirk: Laughs at the sound of people coughing.

 Nitzan

Age: 3 weeks

Astrological sign: Aries

My dad is: Omer, HTML5 Product Manager.

What I think about his job: “Daddy, how are HTML5 websites born?”

Favorite food: Mommy’s milk. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and midnight meal.

Favorite toy: Black and White modern baby art.

Quirk: After a good meal, Nitzan is grumpy for about 5 seconds, and then she falls into a deep sleep like a log.

But what about brands and companies? Ever since Facebook introduced Timeline for Fan Pages, businesses and organizations are using cover photos to strengthen their social brand identity. These following images are a sample of how cover photos are changing branding strategy.

If you’re looking at these cover photos and feel inspired to play around with your Timeline design, check out these 10 tools for creating awesome cover photos.

The Muppets

Amazon Kindel

Madonna

Threadless

Virgin America

My Milk Toof

adidas Originals

The Big Bang Theory

Hello Kitty

Radiohead

Why We’re Dropping Support for IE8

Following the exciting launch of our  HTML5 website builder, our current target is to turn it into the most powerful website builder in the market. IE8, however, interferes with this mission. In terms of browser functionality, IE8 is is considered far behind the curve: it is slow to load, ranks low on web browser security and doesn’t support rich HTML5 features. Every revolution is fueled by change, and in order to give you the full the power of HTML5 technology we’re letting IE8 go.

How Will this Impact Me?

If people using IE8 will visit your website, they’ll still be able to view and interact with your content. However, some advanced HTML5 features will not display as nicely as they would for people using modern browsers. The great news is that by freeing our HTML5 platform from the constraints of IE8 compatibility, we will now be able to integrate spectacular new features for your benefit.

Why Wix Users Are Happy about this Change

During the last few months we’ve been running some tests with Wix users to check your response to the upcoming change. A sample poll we ran showed an overwhelming 89% of Wix users support the addition of advanced HTML5 features over continued support for IE8.

Why This is a Historical Moment 

We’re the first web publishing platform to drop support for IE8. We see this step as a serious commitment to long-term customer satisfaction, greater design flexibility, wider choice and stronger performance.

What If I Have Flash Wix Website?

You and your website visitors will not be affected by this change.

I’m an IE8 User, What Do I Do? 

You can do a number of things. If you like Internet Explorer and want to continue using it, you can switch to IE9 or wait for IE10, which is supposed to be released soon along with the much anticipated for Windows 8. Alternatively, you can switch to either FireFox or Google Chrome (for best results, make sure you download the latest version). You can also consult this comparative table, to see which browsers work best with HTML5.

So What’s Next?

At Wix we’re super excited about every web evolution – and revolution – that enables us develop the most user-friendly, robust and dynamic web publishing platform in the world. Our developers are already building  added functionalities, ease of use, and beautiful designs. Stay tuned!

Photos by Ronron edited with PicMonkey

If you’re anywhere to be found online these days, whether through a Wix site, a blog or just about any social network, you’re going to need some visuals. Appealing photos draw attention and help you better demonstrate any story or statement, no matter where you choose to tell it.
You don’t need to be Photoshop savvy in order to edit and fully enhance your photos.  There are great online photo editing tools that can be used for free by those of us who haven’t quite mastered professional editing tools.

To make things easier for you, we gathered a list of 5 awesome and free(!) photo editing tools. All the services we’ve listed are web based which means you can also access them from anywhere, anytime.

iPiccy

Simplicity is the name of the game.  iPiccy is the perfect tool for the less experienced user and has many fun features to offer. With Picnik recently integrating into Google+, many users are now packing their photo stacks and moving to iPiccy as the next editing tool.
iPiccy allows you to get pictures from a variety of places. You can upload photos from your computer, from a URL, from your camera, from Facebook or create a drawing from scratch. Few words of guidance are needed, the interface is inviting and simple to operate.
Once you’ve chosen your image, you’ll find a nice selection of editing features including cropping, resizing, sharpening and rotating. The best part of iPiccy is that you need no background in photo editing to start working – it’s that easy!

Aviary Phoenix

Phoenix application by Aviary delivers the key features of a desktop image editor with the simplicity and accessibility of a web-based application. This of course means you can easily import all your recent photos from sharing sites like Facebook and Flickr and give them an extra touch. Phoenix gives you tons of features such as: layers, different brushes, masks, editing and effects tools. It’s most recommended for the intermediate to experienced user. However, if you’re just starting out, there is a pretty big community behind Phoenix that provides very good guidance, and support – try them!

Pixlr

Pixlr offers online, mobile and desktop image editing services. They have a suite of applications that are very intuitive and can serve both experienced and inexperienced users.

Some of the featured offered:
- A fully customizable user interface with movable and scalable windows
- Intuitive design and paint features with a dedicated history window for reference and quick undo/redo
- A “Photo Express” platform for quick, simple changes to images and photographs. Photo Express is better if you consider yourself a beginner.

Pixlr also provides Pixlr-o-matic, an awesome tool that lets you play with cool effects, overlays and borders on any photo from you webcam, Facebook, or computer.

There’s no registration required so you can jump right in and party.

Splashup

Splashup is another powerful editing tool and photo manager. It’s easy to use, works in real-time and has advanced features such as layers and layer effects and blending. You can use it to edit multiple images at once which is a feature that is usually only found in premium photo editing software. Not looking for the full suite of features? Not a problem, get Splashup Light, a well-rounded photo editor with standard tools like rotate, crop, resize and many other fun effects.

PicMonkey

PicMonkey is another easy and intuitive tool to use, similar to iPiccy in terms of style and simplicity. Once you’ve uploaded a photo you can start using features such as basic adjustments, cropping, rotating and sharpening. It offers a huge selection of frames and textures as well, and of course vintage filters, a feature we cannot go without in this day and age.
PicMonkey offers cool touch-up effects which makes it excellent to use with portrait photos. From wrinkle remover, to blush boost to spray tan, all your basic styling troubles are left behind.

Know a good photo editing tool that’s not covered here? Let us know in the comment and we’ll be happy to include it on our next review of great photo editing tools.

Here’s the Wix Blog’s Smartphone photography guide: From Joe to Pro.

1. Check Your Photo Settings

All Smartphones today can take pictures in different resolutions, so we can change the size of the file (for sending a photo through an MMS or email, for example).
Be sure to take your photos in the highest-quality available, to minimize the limitations of your Smartphone camera.

2. Hold the Smartphone like a Camera

One of the reasons that professional cameras take such beautiful, sharp pictures is their weight, which serves as a stabilizer. Since smartphones are getting smaller & lighter by the day it’s important to compensate for this lack of stability by “anchoring” your phone correctly – hold your smartphone as close as possible to your body, instead of holding it with your arms stretched (after all, you are taking pictures, not dancing tango).

3. Use the Timer to Avoid Blurry Pictures

Because not all smartphones were designed to be photographer-friendly (duh!), the actual act of taking a picture can be a little tricky. Even if you’re one of few lucky people who have a dedicated shutter-button, the ergonomics are just not there yet. So instead of doing finger-yoga, try to use the timer feature. This way, you can press the shutter first and then you have time to hold the phone correctly.

4. Zoom with Your Legs

Since the lenses on a smartphone are very small, it’s hard to find a phone camera with good zooming capabilities (at least not yet). Instead of counting on your camera’s limited zoom, try walking and closing the gap between you and your “object”.

5. Use the Best Apps Available

Most smartphones you can buy right now have an OK-but-not-great photo app. But there are much better alternatives, for iPhones and Androids. Apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic or 360Camera are the most common ones, but you can find alternatives for specific types of photography (like HDR, Panoramas or Macro photography).

6. Have a Shortcut for a Quick Start

Photography (especially on a smartphone) is all about timing. Since you already have a camera with you at all times, make sure you’re prepared and ready to use it at a moment’s notice!

7. Diffuse Your Flash

Your smartphone’s camera flash is really strong (to compensate for its small size). This is something that affects every camera that comes with an on board light (like the popup flash on your DSLR).
The solution is simple and effective, and one that MacGyver would be proud of: just put a small piece of transparent tape over your camera flash! It will act as a diffuser, spreading your light over bigger area and avoiding that harsh deer-in-the-headlights look that normal flash photos have.

8. Use Your Flash Even During the Day

This one may sound strange, but it’s actually one of the most useful tips in photography. By using your camera’s flash during the day, you can handle difficult conditions, like when shooting towards the sun or when your model has that hard shadow under their eyes).

9. Try Different Positions

Kamasutra jokes aside, the good thing about having a small camera in your pocket is the fact that you can take a picture in some really cool angles, something that you can’t really do with a full-size camera. Try getting really low on the ground, or putting your phone inside other objects for a different point-of-view.

10. Shoot, don’t talk!

There is a rule about photography that says that “the best picture is the one you take”, meaning that it doesn’t really matter what kind of camera or lenses you are using, the important thing is for you to have your camera with you.

The best thing about digital photography is that after you get a camera, taking pictures is free! There’s no revelation/processing costs, so go ahead and get crazy with your shutter finger! If you think you have a good potential picture, take 10 photos of the scene, trying each and every angle that is possible. And when it’s time to select the winning photo (and deleting the bad ones), do it on your computer; because the screen is so small on the phone, you can miss some cool detail, something that actually looks good once you see it at full-size :)

Freelancers and small business-owners  constantly face an old-age dilemma: Should I put prices on my website? As with any juicy, complex question, there’s no one tidy answer. But if you are considering displaying prices on your website, here are 3 good reasons to do it:

Reason #1 for Pricing: People like to Know How Much Stuff Costs

People shop for any imaginable product or service online: books, music, clothes, catering, copywriting, wedding photography – anything goes. For most people, pricing is one of the first things they want to know: Where can I get the best deal on manicure? What’s the going rate for a good web designer? Can I get a better deal on a local B&B during off-season?

The tricky part is that the pricing we set depends on many factors:  client’s requirements; their profile (student / start-up/ big company); desired deadline, and overall complexity of the project at hand. How do we integrate all these into one fixed price? Susan Payton has an excellent advice: list a “starting price” for your service or product. This will drive out anyone who can’t pay the minimum, and serve as a starting point of future negotiations for all others.

Reason #2: The Question Will Come up Anyway, Right?

If the set of factors in pricing is so complex that you can find no way to give a starting price, try creating a price range. This works as well as a starting price, in terms of giving potential clients a clue to their ability to afford you.

Remember: Pricing has always been and always will be at the root of every transaction. In any initial talk with a client, the question of “how much” will be there from the very start. If your product or service indeed depends on so many factors, why not let customers browse all the options on your website, instead of losing them to a competitor who does?

Reason #3: Google will love you for it

According to this illuminating post by Marcus Sheridan, his pool and spa business made a cool $1 million from traffic to a single article about fiberglass pool pricing. Since very few in the industry have ever addressed the issue of pricing on their websites, Sheridan’s business ranked #1 on Google for phrases like “average cost of fiberglass pools”, “how much does a fiberglass pool cost” and so on.

In other words, when the company lost the fear of actually pricing and talking about pricing in the pool business, price-related keywords worked brilliantly in terms of traffic and leads. But you already know this: keywords are at the essence of any good SEO. So why not apply it for pricing-related keywords as well? :)

HTMLin' Wix Style

We received many beautiful photos which proved what we already knew: Wix users are extremely flexible both in body and mind! Choosing the finalists wasn’t easy – our panel of judges had lots of heated debates, but after going on a beer break everyone seemed to be in consensus. Now everything’s up to you!

Vote for your favorite and help your HTMLin’ master win a fabulous trip for two to New York, San Francisco or Tel Aviv!

Our 10 finalists for the “Wix is HTMLin’” Photo Challenge are:

1. Roya Sabeti for “Brooklyn Vintage Wix”

2. Brett Ritzenthaler for “Don’t Look Down”

3. Alice Shevela for “Answer is in the cat”

4. Pablo Olmeda Casado for “HTMLin’ Wix Style at Westminster Bridge”

5. Kulthum Kivia for “Sunday beachwix in Bagamoyo”

6. Mike Barclay for “Riding High, HTML style”

7. Katherine Mitsopoulos for “HTML stops traffic in Sydney!”

8. Abhirama Ashwin Kharidehal for “HTMLin’ Singapore Style”

9. Sean Jones for “On Top of the World”

10. Melissa Lenhardt for “HTMLin’ as the Sun is Settin’ “

Vote for the “Wix is HTMLin’” winner now>>

Wix Pro Designers are professional web designers that use Wix as a working tool. They create Wix websites for their clients for very fair costs, and use their skills and experience to easily leverage the Wix editor and what it has to offer. Each Pro Designer has a profile on the Wix Arena, our very own eMarket that connects designers and potential clients.

The launch of the HTML5 editor was a new departure for Wix Pros. It spells out exciting and extended business opportunities. It was also an opportunity to challenge themselves professionally, get familiar with a new platform and learn to master it as soon as possible. And they did.

We put together a small selection of HTML5 websites created by Wix Pros. These websites can not only serve as a source of inspiration for all Wix users, they also inspire us, here at Wix, and gives us a fresh look on web design today.

Enjoy!

Designer: developmedia

This agency is located in Bristol, UK. Their designs are fresh and non-conventional, but their service is extremely friendly and they offer clients assistance in the website management.

Zombie Media

Designer: easyparma

Located in Bologna, Italy, and working with both Italian and English-speaking markets. They put a strong emphasis on simplicity, functionality and usability, which is a great plus for the client.

One Shot Squash Team

Designer: Designmy

Designmy is located in Melbourne, Australia, and offers web design services as well as brand identity services. Professional work for affordable prices, with various packages suitable for the needs of each client.

Salt & Pepper | Bar & Grill

Designer: agencedesignplus

Need a website in either English, French, German, Russian or Spanish? This agency does it all! Situated in Florida, USA, agencedesignplus has vast experience with various types of websites and web design styles.

Millennium Car Services

Designer: Adgiant

With more than 25 years in the advertising industry, AdGiant (Dallas, USA) offers not only beautiful website designs but also an understanding of how end-users interact with the design.

Wicked 6 Sports

Designer: kjandersononline 

Combining web design and photography skills, this Wix Pro knows how visuals work. In addition to websites, kjandersononline (Michigan, USA) has experience with product design, brochures, book covers and more.

KJ Anderson Online

Designer: Galiano Graphics

Based in New York, USA, this agency offers a full package of web design, marketing strategy and brand identity. In-house photography services get things done quickly and more efficiently. Their designs are practical and functional without losing the WOW effect.

Galiano Graphics

You hear a lot these days about how the future is mobile. Let’s face it, the present is mobile too. For businesses and brands, having a mobile web presence is no longer an option. It is a must, and if you want to make the most of it you need to optimize your website for mobile use.

Recently, Wix introduced the HTML5 website builder, allowing users to create beautiful HTML5 websites without coding. One of HTML5’s biggest advantages is that it can be viewed on all devices. Following the release, a lot of users contacted us and asked if we recommend creating a mobile website as well, even though HTML5 websites are mobile-friendly. Many were to surprised to hear a decisive “Yes!” as an answer.

Why is it so important to have a customized mobile website? Because the rules of the mobile game are different than those of PC’s. A website that was created for the full screen was designed for a completely different user experience. Let’s be more specific.

Ground Rules of Mobile User Experience

Efficiency: Phone screens are so much smaller than regular computer screens. You have to think carefully how to squeeze in information in a more efficient way than you do on a regular website. You need to reconsider the text style, the spreading of images and the use of links. Put yourself in the visitor’s shoes, ask yourself: “What is the main reason I’m visiting this website?”, and make sure your mobile website is build in a way that responds to this need quickly and easily.

Connectivity: There are different ways to encourage your site visitors to contact you. While contact forms are a rather popular method, they work less well on mobile devices with a touch screen. However, mobile sites offer the opportunity to immediately call or text the website owner. Consider the different ways your audience can get in touch with you and list them in the order that best suits their needs, as well as the nature of your business.

Simplicity: A beautiful background image that might look amazing on a full screen can be a disaster on a mobile website. You need to use design elements that simplify things for your users, not overwhelm them. Simplicity also means reducing loading times by using lighter files and less multimedia. Your mobile users would be grateful for that when dealing with slow connection speeds.

Creativity: If you keep an open mind, you will see how your mobile site can recreate the same effect as your full site, without using as much space and time. For example, adding a touch of yellow to the site’s header will convey vitality and spare you the need to use descriptive texts that send the same message. This is exactly the reason it is important to have a customized mobile site. The process of making a mobile website raises these kind of options, leading you towards optimizing your mobile to the fullest.

Flexibility: The way people consume content on mobile devices is rapidly changing. A mobile website owner should be able to keep up with these changes and quickly adapt to them. The full website, however, remains indifferent to these developments and will eventually be less and less relevant for mobile use.

Make the Best Out of Mobile

These key issues show that we can no longer think of full websites and mobile websites in the same terms. Put that together with recent studies that show the speedy expansion of the  Smartphone market, and the incredibly fast pace in which new mobile trends are developing, and you’ll understand why it is important to give mobile a serious thought. Even if your HTML5 website absolutely rocks, let it rock on a PC and give millions of mobile users a chance to enjoy your site.

GO MOBILE!