WebUser – 21 August 2019

18 21 Aug - 3 Sept 2019 Email us yourwebsite building questions [email protected]

Manywebsites use anattractivecolumn layout that breaks up the page andconverts neatly when viewed ona

smartphone. Here’s howto recrea te it on aWix website

Improve your HTML skills
Manyreaders of Build a Better
Site will befamiliar with
Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML

• the basic
  building
  blocks of
  every web
  page), but
  those who
  aren’t may
  find the
  prospect of
  learning itrather
  daunting. FlavioCopes
  (flaviocopes.com) has written
  a free handbook on thetopic
  that’s easyto read, accessible
  and very informative. You usually
  have to sign upfor his newsletter
  (which is freeatbit.ly/fcnews482)
  to get it, but FreeCodeCamp
  (www.freecodecamp.org) has
  published it without the needto
  sign upatbit.ly/htmlhb482.

SeeWordPressstats more

easily on your phone

Much of the joy of havinga

websitecomes from finding out

who visits it, where they’re

from and which pages

they lookat. A recent

update for WordPres s

users has significantly

improved thestats tool on

the mobile app, soyou no

longer needto be sitting

at your PCto find out

how well your site is doing.

Get theWordPress app from the

Google Play (bit.ly/wpand482)

and Apple (bit.ly/wpapp482)

app stores.

1

Openyour website in theWix Editor

and scrollto the position whereyou

want the newcolumnsto appear. Click

Add,^1 Strip,^2 and choose thestyle of

strip you’d liketo insert.^3 Don’tworry

if it doesn’t have the right number of

columns or sections, becausewe can

change that in the nextstep. Just

choose a designyou lik e.

2

Onceyou’ve inserted thestrip, click

ManageColumns.^1 This letsyou

choose how manycolumnsyou want and

arrange them in order. Now click the

Layouts button.^2 Depending on the

style ofstrip you’ve chosen,you may be

able to space outyour columns asyou

like, and even change how much of the

page eachcolumn takes up.^3

3

Now you canstart editing the

content. Double-click thevarious

elements in eachcolumnto change the

text andreplace images.^1 A context-

sensitivecontrol panel appears^2 that

lets you changefonts, colours and so

on to ensure the newcontent is instep

with therest of your sit e.

Specialist tips, top tools and practical help

Build a Better Site

Top Tips of the Fortnight

MINIWORKSHOP|Addcolumnlayouts to Wix websites

Wix: http://www.wix.com| 10 mins| A Wix website

Deal of the Fortnight

Namecheap (www.namecheap.com) is

offe ring 50% off all its annual hosting

packages, bringing the basic Stella

package down to £1.26 per month.

Web-building Helpdesk

Q

I created awebsiteusingWix

(www.warpoetry.uk)

to replace another

(www.warpoetry.co.uk) that

was destroyed byhackers.

For 10 years myoriginal

site was number onein

searchresults, with a peak

of onemillionpagevisits a year. The

new websiteisn’t even in the top 100.

David Roberts, Hurstpierpoint

A

As you’ve discovered the hard way,

changing your URL and switchin g

site-building techniques is fraught

with danger. All the respect your ol d site

gained fr om Google has been reset to zero.

There are waysto minimise the impact of

this, but most of th em involve replacing

domains and web pages gradually. If you still

have a backup of your ol d site, we’d advise

you to reinstate it, then carefully follow

the guidelines at bit.ly/goourl482 and

bit.ly/mozurl482.

Andy Shaw, Technical & Reviews Edit or

3

2

1

3

1 2

2

1