Dev leaders at fast-growing agencies know that the one caveat of scaling their business is the added complexity that comes with it. Staying on top of even more client work with tight deadlines and uncompromising budgets requires leaders to take a step back for a moment and reassess their workflows and processes.
That’s where Wix Studio comes in. You probably already know Wix Studio as a low-code no-code web platform for agencies offering services such as responsive web design, CMS and SEO, but did you know it has robust development capabilities too? With a vast dev toolkit of best-in-class products, your team can get the job done fast and efficiently in the way that suits them (without sacrificing quality). Let’s explore some of Wix Studio’s lesser-known workflows.
01. Build reusable apps for clients, then launch them to millions of Wix users
Does your team need to roll out app updates simultaneously to dozens of websites across multiple clients?
Wix Blocks is a standalone Wix editor for building reusable web widgets and apps, complete with UI, code, databases and back-office management. Create a Blocks app, install it on your clients’ sites, update it once—and it updates everywhere.“ We worked with a company that provides advanced technology solutions and services for libraries, which began developing Blocks apps less than a year ago and have apps across 61 sites,” says Kenny Shen, Wix Enterprise solution engineer. “Blocks allowed them to seamlessly integrate content from the online catalog and event management systems of the libraries they work with.”
By creating reusable apps for clients, dev teams are inadvertently creating market-ready products as well. For a double win, you can take your Blocks creation from your own library straight to the Wix App Market to sell your app, unlocking new revenue streams for your agency. At the click of a button, your custom Wix apps will be reviewed by an expert and ultimately launched to a ready-and-waiting marketplace of Wix’s 250m+ users.
02. Accelerate your output with AI code assistants
Many agencies are already using AI for design and marketing, but few have revolutionized their entire coding process with AI.
With Wix Studio’s AI code assistant, writer’s block is a thing of the past. Never get stuck again by using artificial intelligence to take care of basic coding, then editing and filling in the rest with your human touch.
“AI is an excellent way for devs to create a feedback loop without actually having another person there,” says Emmy Cao, developer advocate at Wix. “Our AI code assistant makes for an excellent pair programmer to bounce ideas back and forth or debug faulty code.”
To get started, go to your Wix IDE and find the AI Assistant in the sidebar. Generate code, fix code and discover Wix API capabilities by selecting ‘look up documentation’ and asking a question.
In the macro, AI code assistants free your developers up to focus on more strategic work. “It's also a way to verbalize your thought processes and code structure,” adds Cao.
03. Write code faster with a mega library of potent NPM and Velo packages
Navigate over to the code section of the Wix Studio platform and select ‘Packages & Apps’ to install NPM and Velo packages (which allow you to reuse already-written code). NPM works on Node.js, and features an especially large library of packages, whereas Velo packages are made by Wix and are used to connect Wix sites to third-party services like Google, GCP Cloud Trace and Zoom.
“The ‘moment’ package is one example of a library that helps you parse all sorts of date and time formatting, which is a handy function to be able to implement (especially if you don’t have to write that logic yourself),” says Cao.
Another NPM package, PDFKit, lets you convert user data into a downloadable PDF. "It would typically be time-consuming to code an app from scratch to do this for you. However, since it’s a commonly implemented functionality, we recommend first searching for publicly available packages before trying to code it yourself,” adds Cao.
04. Unlock limitless possibilities with Wix Headless
What if you had the power to break free from the confines of a single platform? With Wix Headless, you can leverage APIs to extract vital information from your client’s business and seamlessly integrate it into any front end, from mobile applications to custom websites.
Whether you’re operating an eCommerce empire or managing bookings for an events business, Wix Headless allows you to maintain brand consistency while diversifying your digital strategies.
“Consider an agency that builds sites for boutique store owners on Wix Studio,” says Shani Sabag, product manager of Wix Headless. “Through Wix Headless, they can expand their client’s offering by accessing crucial information, such as product listings, inventory levels and customer reviews via APIs. This data can then be integrated into a sleek, user-friendly mobile app, extending their client’s reach to customers on any device.”
In a world where adaptability is paramount, Wix Headless could be the invaluable tool you’re looking for to help liberate business info into a multi-platform approach.Get started with a React Native app template to give you a powerful starting point for building dynamic mobile applications that seamlessly interact with their Wix backend.
05. Take (version) control with our GitHub Integration
It’s important for any dev team delivering projects at velocity to stick with their preferred workflows. That’s why we engineered our platform to effortlessly mesh with industry-standard tools like GitHub to help keep things familiar while enhancing the overall development process.
You can harness the power of favored IDEs like VS Code, Webstorm or Zed, while seamlessly managing version control through GitHub. Imagine coding offline in your preferred local environment, testing creations in real time and deploying them, all while continuing to use the flows and tools you’ve already mastered.
Use the GitHub Integration panel on the Code sidebar within the Wix Studio editor to create a new GitHub repository for storing your site's files. Once your repo is set up using the Wix CLI, you can clone it to your computer and write code in it as you would in any other non-Wix project.
“With more complex code, version control allows you to quickly revert to previous versions or other branches for testing. Larger developer teams can also benefit from conducting code reviews before pushing to production,” says Cao.
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