Wix Repeater Not Showing on Live Website

As a Wix Website Designer, I sometimes run into strange bugs or issues and figure out solutions to them. So I like to share them in this blog in case anyone else runs into the same mysterious issues! Here is the latest issue I ran into: I have a Speech Therapy App client that has a simple Repeater on their Apps page which was hidden/all white in the live website in my browser, but in the editor looks fine. Other computers and my phone also had no problem viewing it. We were not using Velo, and I couldn't figure out why in my my browsers on an iMac the repeater on the page was showing up blank. Well, I figured out the solution, read on below...

Missing Repeater Fix / Solution:

I figured out how to "fix" the hidden repeater so that it shows up in my browsers now, I simply removed the Animation from the repeater box, and now it shows up fine.

Once I set the animation from "Fade-in" to "None" in the repeater's box element, the repeater loaded fine in my browsers. It is as if the animation is getting stuck on my browsers, so a repeater with animation would get stuck at the first frame. I could roll over the items and see my cursor turn to a hand indicating an object was there, but it was just blank white on my screen. Once the animation was removed, the repeater elements showed up immediately in my browser, so the animation was somehow blocking my view of it.

I am using Chrome 96.0.4664.55 and Firefox 94.0.2 (latest versions as of today, Dec 6 2021) on an iMac running Big Sur, and I don't have any active ad blockers installed..so it's strange that it was somehow blocking the Wix repeater animation.

I do recall having another issue with another page on this very website about 6 months back where an animated object that was supposed to fade in too and it wasn't showing up in my browsers. But I still find it strange that it didn't work on my browsers (Chrome and Firefox) where it did work for the Wix phone support person who helped me troubleshoot it, and, it also worked on my client's computer and other iMacs and testers. This was only occurring on in my iMac's browsers.

I usually eliminate unnecessary animation anyway, so if removing animation from the Wix repeater fixes this issue, that is fine with me.

My Advice on using Animation on Wix:

I typically remove Wix animation from any elements like repeaters, as animation can slow down page loading time and can affect SEO (search engine optimization) as that animated hidden content may not be seen by search engines. Animation has it's place sometimes in website design, but overall, I avoid any animated elements on Wix websites to keep the site loading quickly and fully readable by search engines and users upon page load. I avoid using "Fade-in" or other animations on elements on Wix websites for best performance. Sometimes, these animations come in by default when adding a Repeater or other elements or if you're using a template from Wix. If you see animations, simply click on the element that is animating, click on the Animation Icon (see screenshot for reference,) and choose "None" in the animation icon.

Happy Wixing!