Hi all, I’m a freelance designer who subcontracts out all the coding work on websites I create. I build (or have built) all of my websites in Wordpress. (You can see my work here)
I am giving Webflow a try to see if I can do some of the initial CSS/HTML work for the developer by building the site in Webflow and then exporting that code to a developer who can bring that directly into a Wordpress theme.
I’m looking for someone who is very familiar with both Webflow’s exported code and building custom themes in Wordpress.
Some of the specific functionality the new site will feature includes:
Fully responsive
Main menu using built in WP menu system
Image sliders in the header
A styled dropdown of all Categories in the blog (seen in the header on the homepage)
Twitter feed
A blog loop
Default Page with sidebar (full of easily-editable widgets)
Single blog pages with styled commenting
Styling for HTML elements
It’s a fairly basic Wordpress theme, but I’d like to try using the code from Webflow as much as possible.
If you have any questions, would like to submit a bid or let me know about your interest in working on this project, please email me at brad @ aptdesignonline.com
Great job. That site looks great. However I can only see the home page because preview mode disables viewing the other pages. If you “publish” the site using webflows generated subdomain link we will be able to see the other page layouts so we can envision how to convert them to the WP framework.
Also, the “see my other work link” appears to currently be offline.
Another thought. You appear to have a good grasp on the html/css part of the design, have you ever looked at modx?
It’s much more designer friendly CMS than WordPress and theming is much easier using a webflow export…you basically go into your finished html and highlight the sections you want to be dynamic. Most of the PHP snippets are already built for common blogging and cms needs.
p.s. Your mobile menu links are transparent was that intentional? Maybe add a darker background with some blended opacity over the lush forest background?
Going from Webflow to WordPress is fairly easy using Underscores and a having a little understanding of how theming works. Not a huge MODX fan, mainly because it just feels cluttered. If I have my choice I push my clients towards Perch, but most seem to want WordPress without really knowing why.
I’d be interested to see how you found exporting the webflow generated code to Wordpress. As a designer trying to bridge the gap between design and development and working in a wordpress heavy environment i’m trying to speed up the process!
I’ve only brought over a few sites from Webflow. Only one did I build the whole thing and have someone rebuild it in Wordpress. I’m not sure that developer’s regular process, but it seemed to go quickly and smoothly.
Other than that I have a few times built some simple sites in Webflow and exported the code to a developer for Wordpress theme building. In that case they were just pulling in the CSS and I think it helped speed up their workflow a little bit, especially where I built out an entire styleguide page with all of the HTML elements already styled for him.
Saved a bit of time, but not a ton. However, it was nice on some small sites to get to try Webflow and have live pages for clients to review.
Hi aptdesign, I have just begun working with webflow. I noticed you said you have not brought a lot of sites from webflow. I am trying to figure out the advantage of going with webflow vs. wordpress or if the time/cost is worth the integration of them. Because like it or not, Wordpress has the lions share of the market and people seem to want that. Or have you convinced people to go onto the webflow platform? I am figuring how much webflow fits into a working business model for design. Is it a tool you have access to among other tools or is it a regular goto?
I just met with a friend who owned a web hosting/design company and he was telling me to go wordpress all the way. He is not familiar with webflow so I couldn’t really discuss it. I like the design elements in webflow and probably if I worry less about interactions my site building will take way less time. I get hung up right now on making things work perfectly with fancy interactions. BUt i’m also learning less is more with them. I am going to start by building actor/performer/photography websites in my local area. So a simple cms interface would be good for those who want to edit their site or maybe also leave the option to not have it. The standard business model with creating a passive income from hosting and then make money on top with the design is what I am looking at. I was looking at flywheel but their reseller plan starts at 100 and only allows 10 WP installs. so that works out to be the same $ / cms site. I guess it really becomes about wordpress or webflow. I could always host non CMS sites on another server if need be but the cms sites would have to be hosted on webflow. I guess my question was really why go through all the trouble of exporting to wordpress seems like a major pain, And as you said plugins in WP always get outdated and run into problems. Just spit balling. You have given me lots more to think about.
My 2 cents, I’ll provide (in my opinion) one major pro and con when it comes to hosting and CMS, not the designer tool or workflow specifically, Webflow hands down beats WordPress in that arena (for now).
PRO WordPress vs Webflow: Custom Programming
The ability to write your own programs. Period. If you can think of it, you can pretty much do it with WordPress. With Webflow, while they offer a huge amount of features, you’re still limited to what they’ve built into the platform.
CON Webflow vs WordPress: Security
The biggest drawback (again this is my personal opinion) to WordPress is when it comes to security and hacking, many are not aware of the fact that you really can’t hide that a site is using WordPress (without really, and I mean really, hacking it up) and there is such a widespread and ongoing effort to hack WordPress websites the bots never stop, literally thousands upon thousands of compromised websites hacked that in turn are scripted to find more WordPress websites to hack and add to the swarm. Blocking these IP’s seems a futile effort as the growing number of compromised IP’s is so exorbitant this method doesn’t address the real problem. Server load and bandwidth. There are tools to fairly easily monitor and secure your site but you’ll need to keep a watchful eye as new vulnerabilities are discovered often which are indeed patched as soon as they are found, so keeping up with updates is crucial, however the constant knocking at your website’s door puts so much strain on your host/server that leads to slow unresponsive page loads and the additional traffic can also end up costing you if bandwidth is also measured rate such as AWS, RackSpace etc. However a good firewalled DNS service like CloudFlare helps to reduce this by stopping the compromised IP before it gets to your website, but again, at a subscription cost. This is what I believe is tearing down hosts such as HostGator and GoDaddy where the shared servers are already overloaded with upwards of 6k websites, imagine the large majority of those running WordPress and being brute-forced each with hundreds, sometimes thousands of hits per minute. So, unless you absolutely need the freedom, I think the choice is clear =)
There are definitely many aspects to take into consideration. From the sound of it, the vast majority of the site builds can be built and hosted within Webflow, and you’re able to charge the hosting fee to your client, by the sound of your model that should work very well for you.
Please let me know if you have any other questions or need any further clarification.
@pingram3541 and @Waldo Thank you for your responses. I’m definitely leaning to a mostly webflow model. Currently I am going through a bootstrap to wordpress course in Udemy which seems to probably be applicable in parts to turning a static webflow site into a dynamic wordpress one. And although it seems logical thusfar, I’m about 65% through with a very basic understanding of php it seems like a major pain and time suck. That being said I guess if I can build the skill set up and charge more for it then no harm in doing both. But the points about security and updating seem to be the biggest detractor. I hadn’t used my static site on wordpress in a long time and when looking through the backend I realized i was hacked and didn’t know it. Pile on that possible update issues and plugin issues looks like webflow is the way to go for me. And that list you’ve come up with Waldo that is growing is a great thing to bring up with possible clients wanting wordpress. I also realize webflow is young and more features are being built in but there is an amazing group here that in my short time I have found incredibly helpful and inclusive. As I learn I plan to pay it forward to ohers as so many have done for me already. Thanks again.
Very happy to hear that @jbleroux we’re so excited that you’re here! This community is incredible, and you’ll find that it’s a great place to come to when you’re seeking advice, or trying to figure out how to build certain elements, or even just to Show & Tell your Webflow creations.
About a year & a half ago I decided I was done with Wordpress sites (just too many issues time & time again).
I was introduced to Webflow via a link from my manager telling me to “check this out,” around that time. I was working as a Digital Producer, not getting to do much design/dev work apart from very small edits & side projects. From personal experience, I can tell you that Webflow changed my life, I’m incredibly thankful for the tool, the team that created it, and the ever growing community I’ve come to know and cherish. I’ve learned exponentially more in the past year or so than I ever thought I would; about web design, development, and the web as a whole, simply because of Webflow and the incredible community in & around it.
Webflow has given me a means to go & create/bring ideas to life in this “Supermedium” (Vlad’s term) that we call the Web, which I NEVER thought I’d ever touch/fall in love with like I have today. There’s something new to learn each day. The possibilities are endless and Webflow is ever evolving to become a better and better tool each day to empower us each to do more & more.
Please let me know if you ever have any questions or need any assistance with your future Webflow projects.
I’ve learned exponentially more in the past year or so than I ever thought I would; about web design, development, and the web as a whole, simply because of Webflow and the incredible community in & around it.