Usability

Study
Free Web Authoring Tools

Kelsey Rayborn
April 19, 2015

Introduction

In recent times an online portfolio has become a convenient way to present

information to a future employer or client. This white paper presents a usability
study concerning the ability of two free web authoring tools to create a wellpresented portfolio. These two tools, Weebly.com and Wix.com, were tested to
compare both their functionality and usability. A typical user of these products
would be a standard professional who is well versed in using web based applications

and technology to create documents. I would expect this user to also have a solid
foundation of web-based knowledge.

Methods
This test was performed using a desktop PC with a Windows 7 operating system,
and Google Chrome was selected to be the browser used to access the websites.
This desktop PC was located on the fourth floor of the University of Idaho library,
which was chosen because it is a quiet floor and thus a good distraction-free
working environment. Testing was performed over several days over the week of
4/13/2015 - 4/17/2015. Several tasks were performed with each tool in order to rate
their usability, and these tasks are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Creating an account
Choosing a theme
Changing the background
Changing the font
Incorporating pictures
Incorporating videos
Adding buttons
Uploading documents
Publishing the site

Web authoring tools were judged based on the followting three criteria: I was
quickly able to locate the function needed, the function did what I expected from it,
and I was satisfied with the amount of time it took me to complete the task. These
criterion were judged based on the following Likert scale:
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree
1

1 | Page

Results
1 Creating an account
Weebly The welcoming page of Weebly prompted
me to enter my name, email, and desired password.
I did just that and created an account.
Wix Wix took me through a few steps in order to
create an account. It first prompted me to enter my
desired email and password once, but upon entering
it prompted me to re-enter both of these things. It
may have been better to have all of the inputs on
one step. This is seen in figure 1.1
Figure 1.1

1
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
5
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
5
4

2 Choosing a Theme
Weebly After creating an account,
Weebly prompted me to choose the focus
of my webpage, and I chose the site
option. It then gave me several options for
a startup theme that matched my focus.
Each of these themes gave you the ability
to customize the color scheme. This
option is seen in figure 2.1. After choosing
a theme I was also given the
Figure 2.1
ability to choose my web
name.

domain

2 | Page

Wix Wix also gave me the option to choose a focus

for my site, but it provided many more options. I
chose to create a personal portfolio. It then gave me
several theme template options related to my choice.
I could view the
Figure 2.2
template, but not edit it
until I had chosen one to
use. Options are seen in figure 2.2.

Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
5
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
5
5

3 Changing the Background

Weebly Changing the background on Weebly was
not a provided feature. It required me to go in and
edit the html5 code to insert my own background
image. I was able to figure out how to do this
through a Google search, but not having this
option being automatically available is a bit of a
downfall of Weebly. It required changing one line of
code wherein I included the name of the jpg for my
desired background. I then had to upload the jpg to
the site.
Wix Wix was significantly easier. They was a
background option in the design tab which allowed
me to choose from preset background or upload
one of my own from my computer. The initial
option button is seen in figure 3.1
Figure 3.1

3
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
1
5

The function did

what I expected
4
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
1
5

4 Changing the Font

3 | Page

Weebly There was a fonts options in the design tab where I could change any layer
of font, i.e. headers, footers, captions, etc. to any font they had preloaded in there
website. I could also change the font size in this menu.
Wix Wix also had a separate menu for fonts, but it also had an option for a font
theme. It had several preloaded font packages that worked together cohesively. You
could also choose each font separately if so desired. I chose a font package because
that seemed simpler.
4
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
4
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
5
5

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5 Incorporating Pictures
Weebly Adding an image on Weebly required one of two things. Either I replace an
old picture already used in the theme with one of my choosing, or I drag an image
into a customizable block that was already incorporated into the website. Dragging
the image is seen in figure 5.1. After this I uploaded the photo of my choosing into
the block from my computer.

Figure 5.1

Wix The process is very similar on Wix. You can either replace an existing photo
with one of your own, or add an image box to the page where you want an image.
Uploading from your computer is once again the process to do this. One difference
is that you do not need a preset box to place the image in, you can put it wherever
you like.
5
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
3
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
5
5

6 Incorporating Videos
Weebly Video additions were
similar to pictures, but the addition
of video files not uploaded to
YouTube is not included in the free
version of Weebly. It does allow you
to add a video to try out the
feature, but you cannot publish
your website with the video on it. To
add a YouTube video to the site, I
dragged the YouTube icon over to a
Figure 6.1
customizable block and clicked on
the video that came up. I then pasted the link to my video in the provided box, seen
in figure 6.1.

5 | Page

Wix Wix also only provided a YouTube

video option. The process was very
similar; I added a video option from
the Add menu and pasted the link for
my video in. This can be seen in figure
6.2.

Figure 6.2

6
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
3
3

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
5
5

7 Adding Buttons
Weebly The method for adding a button the page is similar to pictures and videos.
I dragged the button into the customizable frame, changed the text within, and
added a link would be accessed by pressing the button. The font of the button text
can be changed in the font menu.
Wix After going to the Add menu, I clicked button and one popped up on the
screen. If I clicked on the button I could change the text, link, size, and many other
things.
7
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
4
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
5
5

8 Uploading Documents
Weebly On the side menu there is a document option that I dragged to a
customizable block. After this, I could click on the document and upload one of my
choosing. It a while to upload a simple PDF document. The entire document
displayed on the page.
6 | Page

Wix on the side menu a clicked on Add->Media->document to create a document

button on my site. I clicked on the document and was able to upload the document
of my choosing. The default icon for this document was a PDF symbol, but that
could be changed by clinking on the link and choosing new picture.

7 | Page

8
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
5
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
4
5

9 Publishing the Site

Weebly To publish the Weebly site, I clicked the publish button in the upper right
hand corner of the screen. I was then prompted to choose a domain name, and then
I published my site.
Wix After my site was completed, I published by pressing the publish button in the
upper right hand corner of the screen. It then gave me several options to customize

Figure 9.1

that can be seen in figure 9.1.

9
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
5
5

The function did

what I expected
5
5

I was satisfied with

the amount of
time it took
5
5

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Recommendations
After going through and testing several different basic features of each free web
authoring tool, my final recommendation would be Wix. While both application had
many of the same features, Weebly limited its user to a single customizable block
space for each page, which severely limited the creativity of the user. Wix allowed
the user to really make their own website instead of relying solely on a template.
Both websites would be able to create a functioning portfolio, but it would be easier
to really make something of your own in Wix. I also complied an average Likert scale
score for both of the websites. This score is seen in the table below.
Applicatio
n
Weebly
Wix

I was quickly able

to locate the
function
4.56
5

The function did

what I expected
4.22
4.78

I was satisfied
with the amount of
time it took
4.44
4.89

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