Custom OS-Detection Plugin for Targeted Lightbox Display on Wix Website
Commerce
Branding
Web design
Marketing
San Francisco
2035
Video Demonstration
Summary
The project involved developing a custom plugin for a Wix website using Wix Velo (formerly Corvid by Wix). The plugin's primary function was to detect the operating system (OS) of the user's device and display a specific lightbox based on whether the user was browsing from an Android or iOS device. The goal was to deliver a tailored user experience by showing OS-specific content in lightboxes, enhancing the website's interactivity and relevance to its visitors.
Challenge
- Cross-Platform Detection:
- Ensuring accurate detection of the user's operating system across different devices and browsers.
- Handling discrepancies between mobile operating systems and desktop operating systems, ensuring that the plugin distinguishes between them effectively.
- Lightbox Integration:
- Seamlessly integrating the lightbox display with Wix's existing framework without causing any disruptions to the site's user experience.
- Ensuring that the lightboxes are triggered correctly based on the OS detected and that they do not overlap or cause performance issues on the site.
- Performance Optimization:
- Ensuring that the plugin runs efficiently without affecting the website's loading times or overall performance.
- Implementing the OS detection and lightbox display in a way that is lightweight and does not burden the website's resources.
- Testing Across Devices and Browsers:
- Thoroughly testing the plugin across various devices (Android, iOS) and browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox) to ensure consistent behavior.
- Identifying and resolving any edge cases where the OS detection might fail or where lightboxes might not display as intended.
Solutions
- Accurate OS Detection:
- Developed a robust plugin that accurately identifies the user's operating system, differentiating between Android and iOS effectively.
- The plugin was also able to handle cases where the user accessed the website from a non-mobile device, ensuring no unnecessary lightbox triggers.
- Seamless Lightbox Display:
- Successfully integrated the lightboxes to display only when the correct OS was detected, providing a smooth and relevant user experience.
- Implemented a fallback mechanism to ensure that if the OS detection failed, a default lightbox would still be displayed, maintaining user engagement.
- Optimized Performance:
- The plugin was coded to be lightweight and efficient, having no noticeable impact on the website’s load time or performance.
- Minimized the use of resources by optimizing the code for speed and reliability.
- Comprehensive Testing:
- The plugin was thoroughly tested across multiple devices and browsers, ensuring consistent and reliable performance.
- Identified and fixed minor issues during testing, resulting in a flawless implementation upon launch.
