What's up with the Wishlist?

Community resources Product feedback
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When the Wishlist was first developed at the start of this year, it appeared to be a great, positive move by Webflow staff. After all, we finally got a place where we could propose our ideas, get feedback from admin and have some kind of indication whether certain features were on the roadmap and a vague timeline for them.

Unfortunately, as we approach June, in a relatively short space of time the Wishlist appears to have turned into a bit of an unhelpful idea dump. I say this because:

  1. Whilst, at first, admin were relatively proactive in updating us on the progress of certain features, their comments and updates have now largely become non existent.
  2. The original blog post that launched the Wishlist (https://webflow.com/blog/building-a-community-powered-product-roadmap) highlighted how each feature would be labelled. However, the labels have changed several times since and as such, it is unclear what each specifically means.
  3. In line with the previous point, the vague timelines given for each label at launch appear to now be less relevant (perhaps this was intentional!?).
  4. Multiple features are now not tagged with a label at all, even extremely popular ones. What does this mean?
  5. There are loads of posts that should be merged with others, but aren’t.
  6. There are loads of posts that simply shouldn’t have made it onto the list in the first place!

At least the Wishlist in the forum encouraged conversation (which cannot be adequately achieved in the new Wishlist), which often included comments from admin.

Could we please have an update from Webflow staff as to what is happening with the Wishlist, what the changes as described above imply or mean and what the intentions are going forward. Any views @thesergie @callmevlad @jasonz ?

The Wishlist was a great idea to begin with, but it has now gone backwards and could be SO much better.

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It’s certainly not the “Grant Wishlist” or the “I care about this Wishlist”. I loved it too because for a second I thought it was going to be a way for the umpteen how many developers trying to use Webflow to keep track of progress on things. To my dismay I have come to the same conclusion you have… :expressionless:

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Amen brothers, this is certainly the most frustrating feature of webflow…

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I don’t really understand the point of voting now, as 7th (soon probably 6th) most desired feature is not even planned.
If our votes had any meaning for the developing team of webflow, the first most deisred page of ideas would be already in development, second would be planned, and the next would be in backlog - whatever that means.
And there should be clearly said, that in development = max 3 months to build, first most desired planned idea = next to be in development when a slot is released by shipped feature.
Then we would know what is really going on.
Now, the feature with 2 votes goes to development. Is it really SOOOOO Good. while other have to grow up to 1000 votes and are not even developed yet ??
I don’t see any consequent policy for votes, it is now playground for fools.

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For me it really comes down to this Question:

Why, Webflow Staff, do you not tell us Users what you’re working on and when we it can be expected?

Classic example: Interactions 2.0
You promise a ton of awesomelooking Features but give no clue about when we can expect it. That’s simply frustrating.

I’m not saying ship Updates faster! I’d rather wait longer then have a buggy Product.

But if you’d simply say that we can expect ‘Feature X’ between September and November 2017, one would have an Idea when to expect it and if its worth investing in 3rd Party Alternatives in the Meantime.

I’m sure a simple Roadmap would be hugely appreciated by everyone and you woudn’t have to deal with all the Questions regarding new Features/Updates :slight_smile:

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Yes, I agree! A big reason I joined webflow is because I saw all these awesome features on the horizon (granted, it’s an awesome tool already) … lately it feels like the horizon isn’t getting any closer! :wink:

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Talking about Interaction 2.0, I may have some info.

According to the CTO and co-founder Bryant Chou, they will open the beta access “at some point this summer”. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Webflow hosted a meet-up earlier this month in London and although this question came up multiple times throughout the evening, this has been the most specific ETA they gave us.

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Whoo! Interaction 2.0!!

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Dear Webflow,

The new wishlist system is bad.

None of the ‘planned’ updates have been touched in 3 months. We are completely in the dark. The bulk majority of all requests are listed as ‘needs review’ with a few ‘likely to build’ (side-note - it is super hard to believe that you are going to deliver 132 features when 9 have sat there for 3 months in the wishlist, and many for over a year before the wishlist). No one ever sees any new ideas, and it doesn’t matter if they did because it isn’t updated beyond ‘needs review’.

At least when we had the wishlist category on the forum, if someone had an idea or it was possible with a reasonable integration someone would help out. Now we are just told to wait indefinitely.

Will we ever be given information about upcoming features? Or is the plan to just have us pretend they aren’t upcoming, try and sell without mentioning the platform, and pretend the problems don’t exist? It is a classic bait and switch move to let people vote on something that is never going to happen in a reasonable time frame under the facade of figuring out which features people want the most so you can develop them. If you have spent anytime on the forum, you know what people want and we’ve wanted it for a looooong time.

TL;DR I like Webflow. I like the forum too. I don’t like the Wishlist.

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I think they are rebuilding the platform to be able to deliver stuff more fast, but it will be nice to have a more transparent webflow because now the wishlist feels like a limbo.

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Yes, I think so too. Hope for a nice change. Let’s wait!

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Yeah, I also feel that wishlist lives just for itself. No reviews since months, 387 unrveviewed new ideas clearly show how Webflow Administration treets the community. The wishlist is an ideas supermarket…for Webflow’s competition as long as Webflow does not use it. I wrote an email to Webflow about wishlist but got no response.
I had even an idea to provide new status “under construction” so we know which ideas are in the queue to build and which are built at the time and which to expect first. Also this new status could release votes for ideas in less advanced status. I don’t know however, if it has any sense if the wishlist is just an ilusion of Webflow’s development :frowning:
Really hope I am wrong, because when wishlist was published, I found out that ideas that I need for my project have “a chance” to be build, I check everyday, but now I rather check for Webflow alternatives.

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I think this post deserves more attention. Some fair points here.

The wishlist is indeed lacking. Honestly, it’s a list of chaos. What the hell is going on there? So many duplicate requests, so many useless requests.

I added 1 wishlist item 2 or 3 months ago and it was never even read (at least I think) by a staff member of Webflow.

Another item I added 3 months ago (CMS Gallery) and it one of the most popular items (almost 600 votes) and it’s been in the “Likely to build” category ever since. No update from Webflow staff ever…

Webflow; Help!

Edit: Sorry, it seems that @thesergie of Webflow in fact dit leave some comments in the CMS gallery wishlist. But still… Does “likely to build” actually mean it’s going to be built? Or…?

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Thank you all so much for your feedback and input. To centralize the conversation around the Webflow Wishlist, I have consolidated these posts.

We acknowledge that there is some overdue housekeeping on the Wishlist and are actively working on consolidating wishlist items, tags, and providing status updates for each item. We’re also working on more clearly defining the meaning of each tag and will update Building a community-powered product roadmap accordingly.

Software development is inherently difficult to provide accurate timelines for. The last thing we want to do is set you up for disappointment, so we provide status updates on Wishlist items as we enter different stages of development.

Regarding current efforts, we have been working on a large overhaul of Webflow (a lot of behind the scenes work) which will enable us to deliver many more features and to grow as a platform, service and community. :bow: :webflow_heart:

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Software development is never as simple as the ABC it seems it should be. Touch this, break that, fix that, break something else. I feel you @Waldo but I also feel that when a company starts up and buzzes as hard as Webflow has over the years, (to the point where you could be a replacement for things like Wordpress, Bubble, etc.) you need to grab hold of that love you are getting and say to yourself “this is bigger than we thought it would be” and HIRE MORE DEVELOPERS. Work around the clock on something big enough to change the face of development and design efforts globally. You guys invented a wheel here, but hurry up with the spokes man you are killing me.

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Thanks for the update @waldo This whole conversation strikes a chord with a blog post I read recently by GrooveHQ:

In brief, their customers loved the product, and behind the scenes they were making big changes and improvements, but their customers didn’t know it. Over time the hyped customers turned to frustrated customers, presuming the product was stagnating and not being given attention, perhaps even questioning it’s future.

So what could Webflow do?
It could be as simple as a fortnightly general update, via blog or even @PixelGeek workshop. We don’t need every technical or business sensitive detail, but as simple as:

  • We’ve made some great progress on ‘Search’ these last two weeks
  • We tried tweaking this small feature but hit some problems with X, so back to the drawing board for now
  • We’ve devoted two of our Dev team to work on the e-commerce project now, they will be reviewing any forum comments and discussions on the subject, so keep on posting.

And, boom, you’ve allayed the fears, eased the frustrations, and re-engaged that loyal customer base, who want to cheer your development on from the sidelines.

What do you say @brryant @callmevlad @thesergie ?

That’s enough staff tagged for one message! :webflow_heart:

Stu

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this is on Point! Thanks.

Especially the cheering on the Development :grin:
And I’d guess that ultimately we all want Webflow to succeed and grow even more awesome than it is already! :webflow_heart:

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Hi @Waldo ,

Thanks for the update and responding to the post.

I totally understand where you and the rest of the team are coming from. You want to tell us what you’re up to and inform us when you expect features to be implemented, but at the same time you don’t want to disappoint the community if those features end up taking longer than expected. You don’t, understandably, want to be beholden to your prior promises and set yourselves up for a potential backlash when you don’t/can’t (for whatever reason) deliver. I get that.

However, there must be some sort of happy medium here somewhere and I guess that is what the Wishlist intended to be.

You mention that you provide status updates as you enter different stages of development. However, just as an example, taking the top 10 most popular items on the Wishlist:

The last status update/admin response for one feature was in December.
The last status updates/admin responses for two features were in January.
The last status updates for one feature/admin response was in February (1st).
The remaining SIX features have no status updates or admin responses at all!

Does that mean that no progress has occurred on any of the 10 most popular items over the last 4-6 months? I doubt it.

All we would like as a community is for the Webflow team to give us an indication of where you are on, at the very least, certain popular features, with updates for progress.

In line with what @StuM said in his post, I think the overwhelming majority of users will appreciate a simple roadmap with regular updates for the upcoming 12 months.

If you have a feature that has a time frame of 3-6 months and at month 4, for instance you come to the community and say:

“We are working hard on implementing feature X, but we’ve come up against a few snags in the development process, so it is likely to be implemented at the back end of the 3-6m period”

or even

“'We are working hard on implementing feature X, but we’ve come up against a few snags in the development process, so it is likely to take another 4 months before we hope release the feature”

That would be far superior to not saying anything at all. This is because in this simple sentence:

  1. We know you are working hard on implementing the feature and it simply hasn’t been put on the back-burner.
  2. We know that the feature hasn’t been abandoned.
  3. We know now that you are actively working towards a specific timeframe.
  4. We can then adapt our own workflow and so communicate more effectively with our own clients.
  5. We are appreciative that you have communicated with us.

Having worked for many years in various industries, dealing with many tough and often aggressive clients who expect you to hit deadlines and deliver, implementing the above simple communication process is a far superior way of making your customers happier, engaged and understanding to your efforts. Letting them sit in limbo with very little or zero communication or updates often leads to disaster.

Just some friendly advice and I hope to get a better understanding of how the Webflow team will be turning a really great Webflow product into the amazing one it could be.

Dan

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@DanUK1 thank you very much for your feedback!

I’m not sure if you saw this but we actually posted a more detailed “What we’ve been working on” blog post this past week with much more information: https://webflow.com/blog/what-weve-been-working-on

Thanks so much @StuM for sharing that article with us and everyone for requesting an additional level of transparency and communication, we genuinely appreciate it and will do our utmost to keep everyone updated as often as possible as well as do some house keeping on the Webflow Wishlist. :bow:

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Hi @Waldo

Thanks for following up on this, it was great to see @brryant 's ‘what we’ve been working on’ post appear just a few days after @DanUK1 started the thread, and for me personally it certainly had the desired effect of allaying my fears, doubts, and re-engaging me at a crucial point!

If we can have similar updates, at least monthly, it’s a massive step in the right direction.

One omission though…bulk hosting discounts, especially with the 50% discount ending at the end of June, some of us will need to make crucial decisions for our own businesses on this. For Webflow it is surely a business decision rather than a development one…is it imminent, or shelved for now?

Big thanks guys! :webflow_heart:

Stu