Hey folks! Hope everyone is staying busy and doing great!
I wanted to open a discussion about the benefits of Webflow vs other platforms such as Word Press.
The reason I open this discussion is due to my cousin’s messages attempting to convert me over to the ‘dark side’ on several occasions now. He runs a very successful media company (https://www.reddishpinkmedia.com/) and only deals with WordPress for his clients.
His argument is that everything that can be done on Webflow can be done in 1/10 of the time in Word Press. Now I’m still finding my feet in this industry, and I absolutely love designing on Webflow. But, I thought the main benefits for Webflow were the flexibility of design? Certainly over all it’s competitors.
Through Reddishpink he has offered me work if I learn Word Press, which I’m struggling to find at the moment. However, I’m determined to stick with Webflow and get to the very top level (like designers on here) so that I can attract that certain client who is willing to pay more for truly unique designs and browsing experiences for their clients. That’s my plan anyway. I feel going over to Word Press will hamper this although would help me short-term.
I would love anyone’s thoughts on this. How they manage their design space? Do they dabble in both? Why people are staunch Webflow advocates etc? I do think for Ecommerce sadly Word Press seems to have us beat. Hopefully, that will change soon as I’ve lost a number of clients because of this.
The thing is IMO… Webflow is scalable, mainly no-code, if you love Webflow, keep doing it, the learning curve is kinda slow, but at some point, you’ll swim like a fish.
I started with WordPress but then switch to Webflow. You can make things very fast in here using Client-first… or Cloning… so Stick to your love and passion.
I’m currently do not use any of these two (used both in past) but on the end of the day they are just tools. You can’t compare apple to oranges as both are different and both have their cons and pros. One thing they have in common is knowledge you have to have use one or other, just use tool(s) (tech stack) you will be most productive with to finish the project.
@garymichael1313 - I just knocked down 6 WordPress builds with dynamic content, conditionals, and animations. I never had to touch a line of PHP. There are radical new builders that are pretty much no-code unless you really need to do things that are extreme and quite frankly not even possible with Webflow. Now I am totally capable coding in PHP and other languages so I don’t shy away from code when needed. Just illustrating the point that great tools exist. WordPress used to be code required. It’s optional these days. Besides I can’t think of a Webflow build where I did not need to write some JS.
What?? @webdev … heehee. No way if you have to adjust something, you can’t do it unless you’re using plugins, builders or add-ons. Natively, there’s no way without PHP
That’s what everyone is doing. Just putting a bunch of add-ons, builders, templates or plugins. Then they say it’s easy to use. But that’s not Wordpress, that’s a developer’s application on top of it.
But I’m just poking a little fun. I hear you. It really is like comparing two different things. As far as builder, learning, designing, developing. There’s no comparison. Wordpress is a joke if you’re trying to grow as a designer, front end developer or UI/UX professional. You’d be hard-pressed to learn any of these skills using that platform. And if you’re trying to learn the DOM and page structure - forget about it.
You just can’t learn the full spectrum of development and design.
Hi Folks! Never sure how to get notified of replies on here??? I always end up replying too late.
Thanks so much for all the interesting points of view. I guess there is no right or wrong. He runs a successful business and seemed adamant I jump ship to make any sort of decent money. It’s a real tricky one. On the one hand I want to get to the level of the top designers in Webflow and be able to attract a higher market, on the other hand I know time is money and if you can build faster on WordPress then it should be something I look at.
As a newbie I’m struggling to get traction and the huge project I’m doing for £600 will take me close to 2 months! Although I’m putting my best foot forward to try to impress and build a reputation I’m hoping that eventually the higher business will come and start making some money. I love designing on Webflow. You can get super creative. I wonder if you can do the same on WordPress? To me his designs seem so…‘ordinary’.
Yes you can. You can do anything in WP as WF in general is only GUI for CSS. It all depend on your knowledge but these days are thing in WP bit easier than before. I presume that your cousin agency will use some general template or builder like AVADA, DIVI, Elementor etc. and feed them with bunch of plugins. WP or WF aren’t only platform you can build websites. Either way you need to have some knowledge how things works.
@Stan Hey Stan! Thanks for your message. He does indeed use general templates and then ad ons. He seems to charge triple the price and build in a few days if that. In comparison a few months for very little. I love webflow and will keep going. It’s gave me an amazing foundation for layout and building responsively. I’m sure I will fine tune my process to build faster. I think it may be best to reach a very high standard in WF before possibly learning WP. I think what puts me off is his rather ordinary and boring looking sites. Not sure if I can leave the link here, but the company is ReddishPink Media. They are nice enough and do the job. But when I know what is possible with some of the designs showcased here it inspires me to keep mastering WF. But that doesn’t pay the bills!
