Webflow has secured $76m in funding, are we going to see any improvements in your dev team?

So why can’t webflow be a hybrid? I mean I use some costume java script every once in a while, or integrate MemberStack, that is a combination of both no code and code right? Now, if your project is about something more complex that what Webflow and all its resources offer, then Webflow is not the tool for that project. But that doesn’t mean that webflow is a recipe for disaster. At least on my opinion.

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I see what you are saying @uzzer. I agree with you that Webflow could be confusing some users with the no code tagline. But I think that ultimately it is the user’s responsibility to learn the possibilities and the limitations that Webflow has to offer.

I think it is a misconception, that Webflow wants to please each and everyone of their “paying customers”.

I’m sure that when they consider new features, they compare them by market value, not by the wish list. And I think exactly this should be communicated a little bit more direct to avoid discussions like this one.

Obviously e-commerce offers a bigger financial opportunity to Webflow than multi language support or user login. Once more: democratizing the web speaks to the masses not to the people pushing the boundaries. In my opinion this claim says everything.

My conclusion is that this whole situation won’t really change. On purpose I’m not using the term improve, because that is always a matter of perspective.

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So you think that leaving customers in the dark for 3 years is good business? I think it is you who is delusional.

Look at all the replies in this thread, it is clear the community agrees with the underlying message of the OP.

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Webflow bases their entire marketing around getting rid of developers. So yes, these features do need to be native.

Unless of course they’re pivoting to instead focus on developers.

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“My competitors don’t do it so I shouldn’t have to either” is the weakest, most lazy attitude ever. That is all the more reason you SHOULD do it

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Yep, for a “no-code” platform I end up writing a lot of custom code. I guess it technically could be a no-code platform if you accept building websites with strictly the functionality that Webflow provides out of the box. However in the real world people want websites with features that make sense to them, and these don’t necessarily line up with what Webflow offers out of the box. Hence the custom code.

And for every website, if you want to target large desktops and iPad Pro breakpoints then custom CSS is basically a non negotiable. I agree with the sentiment in this thread that “no-code” isn’t an entirely accurate term for Webflow, but of course this is just my perspective and I recognise that people are able to build Webflow sites without any custom code.

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That is where you are wrong, webflow’s marketing is around breaking the code barrier. Meaning that if you don’t know how to code you can still build a decent website using webflow. Now if you do know how to code it is even better. But again maybe not the best for each project, it is a matter of knowing its limitations.

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The parting line is “welcome to the age of no-code”… OK it’s not “welcome to the age of getting rid of developers”, but this is how a lot of people interpret it IMO.

For anybody who doesn’t know Webflow you would watch this video and think that you could build any software you like. Great video, great no-code vision (which I am personally totally on board with, I’m sick of writing code) but Webflow in its current state doesn’t really live up to this. If this video is just selling a vision then fair play, but they are of course trying to sell Webflow.

[Edited typo]

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this is their tagline on their site

“Build better business websites, faster. Without coding.”

key words being “without coding”.

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The tagline on their website is breaking the code barrier. But fine lets go with yours, “Build better business websites, faster. Without coding” is true is it not? Webflow definitely accomplishes that but it could also do much more, right? all without you knowing how to code, you can just copy and paste the source code from other projects or from github. So I don’t see where is Webflow failing its premise of without coding.

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their headline is breaking the code barrier, their tagline reinforces that you don’t need coding. I’m not sure what’s difficult to understand about that. You’re welcome to go to their website and look for yourself.

If they’re saying you need coding, that’s totally fine, fix your messaging.

Debate as you wish, but this is a convo for another thread. This thread is about the slow moving dev team/unresponsive support team, not whether or not you should need to know how to code to use Webflow.

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I suggest that we create another topic on the forum about Webflow’s “no code” message, so that we do not hijack the OP’s topic. Someone with moderation rights to move messages there, please, do it.

Update: I created a new post here: Is the "no code" branding, misleading?

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Im not arguing against it, you can built on webflow without knowing how to code, right? If you know how to code that is supplementary to what the platform does.
Like I mentioned earlier, the OP should not say the dev team is slow or unresponsive only because they don’t develop items on a wishlist. The wishlist is not a feature request, and never will be. Each user should be responsible of knowing what can and can’t be made with webflow.

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Unfortunately I’d wager we are most likely the minority in that we’ve pushed Webflow to it’s limits in order to encounter a specific limitation. That’s ok.

Regardless, let’s all agree that this doesn’t need to be an us vs them with each side presenting evidence and we can all be cordial.

Sure, next time a client asks me why something isn’t possible I will simply tell them it was their responsibility to research all my limitations before doing business. Realize that when working with clients we become the point of contact / firewall and need to ask Webflow tough questions from time to time.

Different projects present entirely different challenges, which is why in my opinion there are those in this thread that understand this and then there are those that don’t and feel the urge to counter point everything.

Yes, Webflow is great. Yes, Webflow can be even better- and I remain optimistic of the platforms future

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Webflow shouldn’t be a no code solution, that would make it a worse Wix or Squarespace. The biggest strenght of Webflow is that you can build whatever you want and actually use code in a very effective fashion and make websites FAST.

We just need Webflow to have strong fundamentals and the rest should be up to user. It would be a waste of developers time to make the advanced stuff a native function - if you want to make amazing websites, learn at least the basics of coding. It’s like wanting to be a formula one driver, while not being able to drive with a stick shift.

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Not really. Their “Webflow vs. Wordpress” site says it’s really easy to import 1000s of blog posts for example, but if you do it - the entire system breaks (did for me). I don’t think moving over a blog is pushing Webflow to its limits. Webflow isn’t for beginners, it’s a pretty robust service that’s way more customizable than pretty much any other site builder.

I’m doing stuff that’s within their sales pitch to me and I’m hitting strange walls I didn’t foresee, and when I try to fix it I see others have had the same issues for 3+ years. But I guess reading some of the reply it’s double-dumbass on me for not doing research beforehand for not knowing the editor becomes unusable when having 5k CMS items while paying for their 10k plan?

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This is what I think about Webflow and other tools or CMS.

0 =🙈, 10=👾

0         5         10
| - - - - | - - - - |
       |▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩|>>>  Webflow
|▨▨▨▨|  WIX
    |▨▨▨▨▨|  Squarespace
   |▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨|  Wordpress
              |▨▨▨▨▨|  Drupal

Webflow does not like any site-builders. It has a rather deep learning curve for most people. To me, it is like a hybrid between Dreamweaver (still remember it?) and a CMS.

I think it is important for Webflow to stay differentiate itself correctly as it is now, and avoid becoming another WIX-alike-rubbish — and the direction should be:

  • More native features or functions, roll-out faster as well
  • Improve existing features and tools
  • More agency & developer friendly
  • Less attention to make Webflow even easier

Btw, I always think “no code” is just for marketing. In fact, one of Webflow’s beauty is that it has flexibility for us to code quite easily for additional customizations.

And… I really believe Webflow can win a lot of e-commerce customers easily just by adding customer login, discount, coupon features.

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Dude… Webflow would be AMAZING for ecommerce with these very, very basic features. Imo, shouldn’t have even been released without these.

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And better category / site tree control. If you will try to create this “basic” data structure on webflow it’s going to be ‘nightmare’ (for you and for your client):

Man > shoes > sport

On openCart/Magento and so on this idea is “build-in” (Also critical for SEO).

In my opinion this is the most problematic issue on webflow ecommerce.

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