Going Beyond Wix: Custom Search and Filter Features That Transform User Experience

When Holocaust Testimony UK (HTUK) came to us, they explained the issue they would be dealing with as they received data from their partner organisations: there was going to be a large amount of data, and it was going to have many variables and complexities. Being Wix development experts, we knew immediately that the built-in Wix tools couldn’t handle the complexity or provide the user experience needed for their audience, which includes academic researchers, educators, archivists and members of the public.

So we built something entirely custom:

The large (and growing) amount of complex data hosted by Holocaust Testimony UK means that the site required a large number of complex search and filtering options.

Why Wix’s Built-In Search Wasn’t Enough

While Wix’s built-in search and filter tools work well for many small and simple sites, they fall short when you’re dealing with structured content at scale.

HTUK needed:

• A way to filter interviews by multiple fields (interviewee, interviewer, location, birth place, experience, etc.)

• Advanced search across metadata, summaries, and full transcripts

• Real-time performance handling with de-bounced filters

• The ability to share filtered results via URL

• Transcripts linked to timestamps so users could jump to relevant moments in video/audio content

Wix simply doesn’t offer that out of the box.

What We Built

We developed a fully bespoke filtering and search system using the Wix CMS, the wix-data API, and custom code via Velo.

Key Components:

• Dynamic filter options: All filters are populated from CMS collections so nothing is hard-coded.

• Multi-criteria filtering: Users can filter by any combination of dropdowns and tag inputs.

• Search logic: Includes both exact and partial match modes with relevance scoring.

• De-bounced filtering: To avoid performance hits when users change filters quickly.

• Pagination and query strings: Results are URL-shareable, and users can paginate through results.

• Dynamic result display: Grouped by interviewee, showing relevant interviews, with filtering and sorting options.

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Smart Transcript Search with Timestamp Matching

By searching for "bodegraven", the name of a ship that carried Jewish refugees to Britain, you can find the exact points the ship was mentioned in interviews with transcripts available.

One of the standout features we developed is the ability to search within full transcripts and link those search terms to exact timestamps in the content. This was an incredibly complex, custom feature. We could write a whole article about just the process of building this feature, but here's the basics:

• The search system uses regular expressions to scan through transcript text.

• When a match is found, it attempts to identify a timestamp nearby (based on patterns like 00:00:00 or "2 Hours 4 Minutes").

• These timestamps are displayed alongside search results so users can jump directly to the relevant moment in the interview.

  
  

This feature adds huge value for academic or in-depth use of the archive.

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Powerful Results for HTUK

Holocaust Testimony UK were extremely happy with the solutions we provided to their complex issues. The final product gives Holocaust Testimony UK a system that:

• Handles thousands of interviews with ease (and is fully scalable)

• Enables researchers to pinpoint specific content quickly

• Encourages deeper engagement through intuitive filters and keyword search

• Loads quickly and delivers a user experience well beyond default Wix capabilities

And we continue to work with Holocaust Testimony UK today, handling their site maintenance and addressing any errors that are identified in their data as it is provided by their partners and processed. If you are looking for a similar service to help maintain and provide fast, effective support for your Wix site or web app, check out our support plans.

When You Should Consider a Custom Solution

Custom search and filtering is a strong investment when:

• Your data is structured across multiple fields

• You need multi-filter logic or dependent filters

• You want to improve accessibility or engagement

• You want to reduce loading times when searching

• Off-the-shelf tools are limiting performance or scale

  
  

If you're building a serious platform, whether it’s for education, services, or e-commerce, then going beyond Wix’s standard options is the only way to ensure your users are receiving the best possible experience you can imagine.

Need a Custom Search System?

We love solving problems like these. If your platform has outgrown Wix’s built-in features, we can help you go further.

👉 Contact us at Digital Edge to talk about a fully tailored search and filtering solution, or click here to read more about our custom capabilities and what we can do for your business!