6 features the CMS needs to go PRO!

Here’s a follow-up to my post 10 features that would make me love Webflow even more:

Almost 90% of the websites I’ve made and published on Webflow, are with dynamic data (using the CMS).
But there are some features that are missing to be able to really use the collections effectively.
Here is my wish-list for the CMS:

  1. Pagination: Just look at how annoying this is: http://www.stck.photo/gallery

  2. Search: I need a search bar that filters through collection items. Makes sense right?

  3. Embed codes: Embed.ly is awesome, but it just doesn’t cover everything we need…

  4. Dynamic sliders, lightboxes, maps…: This is really annoying… I’ve had to set 10 different image fields to create a fake slider with interactions…

  5. File uploads (pdf, doc…): If you allow unlimited size for images, why not add documents like pdfs to that?

  6. Better rich-text-editor: The rich-text-editor is just not that rich… It’s just not a poor paragraph :frowning:

I know you can do this, devs @ Webflow.
I don’t think my wish-list is that hard or even impossible…
Keep it up! :wink:

P.S.: If you want, I’d like to give my feedback on a video call with someone from Webflow. It would be really cool if you could involve your customers in the development of your product. We’d love to help! :slight_smile:

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Huge agree on the search. All of their documentation points to using Swiftype, which used to be more affordable, but is now $249/month — ludicrous. I have a client who wants search really badly, and it was almost a stopping point for them. There’s not a good solution right now. Not good.

Totally with ya on everything else, too! Great points!

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100%.

I think if Webflow ever wants to truly compete in the CMS market and convert more traditional hand coders over to take it as a heavy/serious product we ABSOLUTELY NEED:

  1. Real pagination
  2. Built-In Search Capabilities
  3. Real File Management/Hosting

These are crucial, 99% of all other content management systems in the world offer this stuff & it isn’t even a question as to whether it is a feature set - it’s just a given. I hope they realize this and are working diligently on it. I know some kind of enhanced file uploading/hosting capability is in the works but the other two mentioned are equally as important.

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It’s the same for me, @Mogeek

I really want to keep using the Webflow CMS, and truly, if they would add these features, I would be able to charge almost double to my clients, and I would be able to accept more and bigger clients. This would also allow me to pay more for Webflow than I already am :wink:

Let’s hope!

I would really love to hear a reaction from the Webflow team :slight_smile: Again, I’d be glad to help out with feedback.

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This. I’m certain that I’m not the only one who recently received that new Webflow pricing model questionnaire, I left honest feedback and won’t go into details about it. It is always nice to have new features, but what stuck out was the hosting price bump in combination with forcing SSL & the CMS on every Webflow hosted project with no built-in pagination, built-in search capabilities, or real file hosting.

In my opinion, I personally think it could do more harm than good for the overall growth of Webflow at this point in time WITHOUT the three key features I’ve mentioned.

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Totally agree.

I’ve got about 15 websites hosted on Webflow, almost all with CMS and SSL hosting. That’s about $200 a month, just on hosting and ssl certificates. And I’m not even counting my Webflow Professional Plan of $42/month…

I’m ok to pay it, because I charge my clients for the hosting. But still, the hosting costs get expensive fast…

Adding these (small?) features would really enable me to go forward as a web designer. Help me out here, Webflow! :wink:

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We’ve been asking for the ability to upload files forever…way before Webflow CMS came along. It really is a limiter for me as most of my clients sites have lot’ of file based content that is refreshed frequently.

I like the Webflow CMS for being a design (!) simplifation tool instead of something like “database based information publishing”. This keeps it simple to use.

I agree, rich text editing could be better.

We don’t need any of Webflows “premium” webspace for simple file hosting. There are tons of file serving possibilities out there and I prefer to manage files for download in a Explorer/Finder styled manner every desktop OS or FTP client provides.

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Hey Norbert

A lot of people use Webflow for a different reason. Some people use it for high fidelity prototypes, some people use it to simplify the design process and export html and css files, and some people build, host and manage whole websites on Webflow. From a users standpoint, the ease of use should be the same for everyone.

But if you look at the “customer lifetime value” (from a business point), it would be smart for Webflow to focus more on the people who use Webflow for the wide range of features like hosting, CMS, SSL certfificates, templates… Why? Because people want to pay for that.
I like to pay Webflow for my hosting. Why? Because I hate managing hosting and DNS-crap by myself.
I like to pay Webflow for CMS. Why? Because it allows me to create bigger and better websites, which I can also translate in bigger clients and bigger invoices.
I like to pay Webflow for SSL. Why? Because it’s so easy to set up, and adds so much value.
I like to pay Webflow for templates. Why? Because starting from a template allows me to work twice as fast, meaning twice the amount of clients, meaning twice the amount of money.

I know this is very business-minded, but Webflow is not a non-profit. That’s why I think it would be smart to keep creating features that people want to pay for. Just my 2 cents :slight_smile:

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I just don’t want to have to buy a heavy book in order to be able to use Webflow.

You’re right, too. I assume your business is to design, create and maintain websites.

My view may be a little different. We’re a trading firm for thousands of machine spares and need to be able to design a single but professional looking site for our business by ourselves. Webflow feels perfectly right for that.

+1 on uploading files via CMS! This is a BIG one for many of my projects!

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@kasperkazzual I totally agree with you.

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Built-in search, file hosting and pagination are also at the top of my list.

Thanks

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+1 for rich-text-editor!

Hey Webflow peeps, could you maybe update us on this list?
I posted this 6 months ago, and unfortunately I haven’t seen any of these very ‘normal’ requests added to Webflow…

Still love you, but I would really appreciate it if someone could reply to this :slight_smile:

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