Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Marcus Louison
Courses Plus Student 49 PointsWix and other website-making websites..
Is it still necessary to learn CSS, HTML and Java etc when websites like "Wix" offer "easy" website startup solutions? Should Web Developers and Designers be concerned by the emergence of these sites?
4 Answers
jerry bremser
3,941 Pointsit makes it easier, but sites like these and even Wordpress, allow you to apply a theme and customize it on your own. so most themes can be used as a "base" or a "foundation" for your ideas. also, if youre interested in creating a theme that can be used by thousands, you can code one from scratch. i suggest checking out the "wordpress" tracks in treehouse. i had the same questions and they were all answered.
Marcus Louison
Courses Plus Student 49 PointsSounds awesome fellas.. Thanks.
James Fulkerson
4,474 PointsIt always seems like the latest, greatest WYSIWYG editor comes along, and people ask that question. Those types of applications have been around since the 90s (like Microsoft Frontpage). I have yet to see one that outputs quality code, or even comes close to the flexibility and power that you have by knowing HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They could be good for a placeholder site or something, though. But once you dig into that code, it's been a nightmare, in my experience.
Sue Dough
35,800 PointsWix sucks period. Don't waste your time.
Luke Glazebrook
13,564 PointsHey Marcus!
It is funny that you should ask this as I found myself asking the exact same question a fair few months back on this forum when I was first learning learning some more about the web.
Do not worry about any of this sites! These sites have a tiny effect on web development and design on the whole so it is not worth worrying about them at all. If you have ever used one of these "quick website creation" sites before you will realise that they are often very limited and if they aren't then the user won't have the knowledge to edit the HTML/CSS anyway and just find a proper web developer.
Sites like Wix are good for people who just want a basic template-based site up and running quickly but anything beyond that really and a hiring a web developer is the best path to go down.
-Luke
Richard Walton
10,861 PointsRichard Walton
10,861 PointsI was a new web designer in the early days back in the S.F. Bay Area. I learned to design in html (often using tables) before there was stable css. One of the reasons I quit was because in 2000- 2001, there was a crash of all the dot coms and a flood of web designers from former dot coms that went bankrupt. Mix that with lots of new wysiwyg editors like dreamweaver, golive, etc. and more being developed, and coming from the perspective of of a Graphic Designer not having lots of control over layout it seemed to me that there was only a small role for web designers in the future.
Obviously I was very wrong!!! Here I am at treehouse 15 years later catching up for all those lost years!!! The web moves towards complexity as much as simplicity, so the lesson learned is that if someone is trying to communicate visually there will always be a need to organize and present content in a pleasing and effective manner. Learn, evolve, learn!