Hello,
New user here. I’ve been considering subscribing to Webflow as I’m making my way through the training with a free account. My background is not in web design. Are there any other users on the forum that have successfully designed, built and exported sites without web design specific background? Before committing to a subscription I’d like to get a feel if Webflows learning curve gets steeper as one gets past the operational basics of the interface. Thanks.
Hi @OSTexo Welcome to the community! 
How did you find Webflow?
As for your question, there are a some people that buy a Webflow template, customize it in Webflow then export it to host it elsewhere. But since you’re new to web design, you may want to consider using Webflow’s hosting.
This will allow you to instantly publish your site design/changes with 2 clicks. Plus your site will be backed on on secure Amazon Web Servers and served through the Fastly.com CDN.
Basically, Webflow hosting does all the technical stuff for you so you can focus on making a beautiful site.
Hope this helps. 
let me know if you have any other questions.
Hello,
@PixelGeek, I was searching for standalone design tools, came across Macaw and Webflow was mentioned in a thread as an alternative since Macaw got bought out.
I already have hosting for the sites paid for at Siteground and Stable and would prefer to keep them there for the moment. Hopefully Webflow will export tidy optimized code that can be transferred to the host. If I run into trouble I’m confident I can find an individual to assist. I’m not sure Webflow hosting would be a great fit for my sites, one business low volume, two email only and one new higher volume site with ecommerce requirements.
It’s a shame you don’t have ecommerce integrated into your hosting platform, from what I’m learning so far you have the other popular website builders beat on design flexibility but they best you on interoperability and price.
Is Webflow able to import a site that has been exported or is it just an export only tool? I don’t think there is going to be much change to the sites but when there is would I be locked into paying in perpetuity so I could make changes to the sites?
Thanks.
Thanks for your honesty. Yes, Webflow’s code is very clean.
As for your second question, yes. You can only export. You cannot import fully designed sites into Webflow.
If you want to continually make changes to your sites and have access to the exporting tool, you’ll need to have a Lite, Pro or Team account plan.
Hello,
@PixelGeek, sounds good. If I pay for a plan and the plan lapses what happens to the website data contained in Webflow, is it deleted or is it just unmodifiable until I renew?
Does Webflow run any promotions or discounts for the Lite plan throughout the year? I’m not saying your platform is not worth the money at all, just want to see if springing for year over year purchasing with a recurring discount is better rather than “as needed” given my light usage of the toolset. Thanks.
Plans are on a subscription basis and auto-renews.
See
Manage your Workspace - Webflow University Documentation and
Manage your Workspace - Webflow University Documentation
If your payment is not successful (credit card expiring or insufficient funds for example), I’m not so sure. Even this person did not get a proper response: Is client billing automatic and reoccuring?
Hi @OSTexo,
I’m jumping in this thread and going back to your original post!
I know there are a lot of other people on the forum that didn’t really have previous web design experience prior to Webflow - one that come to my mind right now is @Brando. Brandon is a Customer Success Specialist at Webflow but has been a user of Webflow for much longer! And if my memory is correct, he wasn’t familiar with Web Design before 
I think he could share some nice insights with you when it comes to the learning curve - and @Brando I hope you don’t mind me tagging you here 
Hi @OSTexo
Thanks for posting these great questions.
When I first started using Webflow, I had veryyyyy little web design experience as Anais mentioned. My only experience was the CSS and HTML courses through Codecademy — but even that was a few years before I started using Webflow.
I studied audio and sociology in college — some parts like the collaboration and iteration aspects translated easily to web design, but for the most part I was learning web design through the Webflow platform. And it’s a great teacher; especially now with the comprehensive courses on Webflow University. You can instantly see what setting a div block to position: absolute does to it and the elements around it.
Getting a feel for the Designer basics for me consisted of tutorials, trial, and error. Clicking all the buttons and asking a lot of questions. I’d say once you get the basics down of the tool (understanding HTML & CSS through the Designer, how the breakpoints aka media queries work, and a working knowledge of the CMS) then the rest of the learning curve shifts a bit. For me it became more about learning design processes, trends, techniques, developing a freelance business, and putting it all together to nail down a workflow that works.
Web design takes time and energy to learn just like any other industry (I am learning more ever day), but Webflow made it easier and way more fun! Being able to see a website come to life in a few hours vs a few days was the selling point for me.
Anyway, I might be rambling now - but I hope this helps
Hello,
@samliew, thanks for the links. I really don’t like the idea of Webflow deleting the work if I don’t keep paying full price. It would be nice if they provided the option to store existing work for a couple of bucks.
Hello,
@anais and @Brando, thanks for your insight, it is very useful to me. I think my decision will come down to being able to justify the ongoing costs as a casual user not specifically involved in web design. I’ll have to evaluate this against the somewhat steeper learning curve for current standalone tools. I realize that I’m not your core user type and don’t expect the solution to address my specific use case, if Webflow turns out to be the best overall value for my objectives after analysis I’ll commit.
This is a huge issue for me as well, and one that has kept me on the periphery of WebFlow as an interested novice. The subscription model is everywhere now, forcing people into paying relentlessly (monthly rhythm) for every little thing. I would use WebFlow more, and be able to commit emotionally and developmentally if my work were able to stand the test of time, my undulating finances, and the multi-disciplined nature of my life as a creative individual. The threat of deletion of my work with a paid plan makes me uninterested in committing to WebFlow on that level. I know it costs you money to store data, yet you could come up with an intelligent way of limiting storage, or as mentioned above, charging a nominal (very nominal) fee to keep things intact for use when returning to a paid situation.
Hello,
@JasonG, something like 1 to 2 dollars a month to hold the sites. When changes need to be made Webflow would make a premium on the monthly service. It does seem like Webflow really is pushing their hosting and using the designer as a hook, but the lack of flexibility could end up hurting them relative to the competition.
This is totally understandable. If possible, can you please post this suggestion on http://wishlist.webflow.com/ ?
thanks in advance
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