JavaScript - How much i need?

Hi. Despite the fact, that webflow is nocode platform, we all know, that javascript is so useful.

Here’s the questions - What level of JS i have to be on, to have barely no limitations in most cases?

How long is a stick. How much speed do I need to go to the city? What kind of language do they speak in another country?

How are we supposed to tell you how much JS you need on a page without knowing what that page is, what features you want, how it’s set up etc? You might need no JS, you might need some JS, you might need a lot of JS. No one knows but you.

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I thought that some average level, known from experience can be estimated

As Fonsume said, there is no way to know in advance what “level” of custom code skills you might need for a project. The best approach is to rely on Webflow to get you there and you will know when you will need custom code to overcome a limitation. How much depends on your requirements / functional specs. Good news is there is a pretty good eco system of third party integrations you can tap for most common scenarios. If you get stuck somewhere post here to look for help / ideas.

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For myself, I Google for answers to my JavaScript needs. Sometimes I understand what I find and sometimes it’s beyond me. But I copy/paste the code in either case, and if it works, great! So my level of understanding is not of great importance, as long as I’m able to ask Google the question intelligently.

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That sounds like a safe way to go about dropping code on a site.

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Thanks, WebDev. I should have given a clear example of exactly what I meant about asking Google for JavaScript answers. So here’s an example I looked up just now:

Say you want to know if your website is being viewed on a cell phone, so you can send it a larger font size to make that tiny screen readable. I googled the phrase:

js detect cell phone

That brought up lots of suggestions. I clicked just one on the first page and it looked really good; a short bit of code that places the answer “CellPhone”, “Tablet”, or “Desktop” into a variable. Here is that code:

const deviceType = () => {
    const ua = navigator.userAgent;
    if (/(tablet|ipad|playbook|silk)|(android(?!.*mobi))/i.test(ua)) {
        return "tablet";
    }
    else if (/Mobile|Android|iP(hone|od)|IEMobile|BlackBerry|Kindle|Silk-Accelerated|(hpw|web)OS|Opera M(obi|ini)/.test(ua)) {
        return "mobile";
    }
    return "desktop";
};
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While that is helpful if you want to do simple device detection I would tell you not to as it is rarely accurate (userAgent). It is preferable to instead rely on viewport dimensions. My point was don’t just copy and paste code into a site without understanding and reviewing the code you are pasting. There are plenty of free resources to learn JavaScript.

It seems there is no perfect answer. I tried using viewport dimensions first, and it thought my LG phone was a desktop due to so many micro pixels crammed so close together. So I tried the method above and it worked perfectly, at least on my phone and desktop. Not sure how far that perfection extends.

It is possible to use CSS media queries targeting device resolutions. See => Media Queries Level 4

I’d I’d like to offer you a more constructive response than you’ve received to your query. It’s true that there is no blanket answer to your broad question but if you can provide some snapshot of what your needs are, what kind of website you are building, perhaps I can offer you a better sense of the road ahead. Webflow is one of the flagships of the so-called “no code” movement which means they have aimed for you to not need ANY Javascript knowledge in order to make websites using the Webflow platform alone. That being said, the more transactional or data-driven your website is, the more you will need to integrate with other platforms or do more robust things that require some level of code. There too there is a growing “low code” movement, of which I am a huge advocate and active developer. I also think that, while “no code” is a lofty ideal, “low code” is perhaps less ambitious but much more realistic. There may be some low-code solutions to solve your problems that can be made to work with Webflow. And if, in fact, your project is more demanding, there still might be a code snippet you can drop in or a service provider you can integrate with not a lot of fuss. While on the subject, a skill that is not optional to use Webflow successfully is an understanding of CSS. You don’t need to code in CSS but it helps tremendously to understand the basic anatomy of a web page and how stylesheets work for you to get any real productivity out of Webflow. If you try to use it like a drawing program, Webflow will frustrate you. I hope this gave you more to work with to go forward. All the best.

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If you want to have barely any limitations, I’d say you need as much experience in javascript as someone who does an only-code solution for living building websites. The stress is on “building websites” here, as the javascript there and somewhere else (like in 3d applications or AI) may be totally different.
To be realistic, you also need advanced-level CSS alongside it and then you’re good to go.
That’s only if you want

‘barely no limitations’

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