CodeNewbie Community 🌱

Discussion on: The UX of coding is broken

Collapse
 
jasonleowsg profile image
Jason Leow ~ golifelog.com

Nah I disagree. Webflow is here to stay. Not everyone wants to learn frontend development done the professional way, and tools like Webflow is a great 'prosumer' kind of tool for these people. I had since learned frontend dev and got used to toggling windows, refreshing browsers, writing CSS etc, but to me the UX still sucks. There's still is much room for a better designed development experience.

Btw, fiddling with a bunch of panels that disappear might not be ideal, but that's still a much more visual way and a way better experience than making changes in your code editor.

Collapse
 
sheriffderek profile image
sheriffderek

Not everyone wants to learn frontend development done the professional way

Ain't that the truth.

I'm excited to see what you come up with! :)

Thread Thread
 
jasonleowsg profile image
Jason Leow ~ golifelog.com

I think the future is already here, just not evenly distributed yet. Beginning to see drag and drop, templates website builders for specific frontend framework, like React. Drag drop, design in an entirely visual way without code, then export in React. Perfect.

Thread Thread
 
sheriffderek profile image
sheriffderek

If you see drag and drop as the future, then we've already been in the future since 1997. I built things with Dreamweaver in Highschool / and Flash in college - and thought "HTML is over" - and well, I was super wrong. And that's OK.

I see the surface level of that type of stuff as only 1/10th of the design process. If your goal is to learn web development the not professional way - or to become a data entry specialist, then this will be great for those people. If it's just dragging a few boxes around to make the same 7 layout compoents that 99% of sites use, then they wont even need that type of designer anymore. Hubspot and 30 other companies already have that system. Just pick a few out, change the words - and you have another innefective langing page to throw on the pile.

It's OK to dissagree.

But, you're right. Most websites - aren't large long-lived design systems. They can just get dragged around and it's not really going to matter if they are good or bad. Most of them are just there. I'm more interested in serious projects / with big ideas. Funny story: I once made a website for a pretty big animation studio. They were terrible clients. Months and months went by and they couldn't really figure out how to sign off on what we where showing them. They cound't figure out how to sign in. The boss was just having their assistant deal with it - so, instead of asking for the password - she just build them a website in Tumblr. Free! Even though they sill paid us 20k for our time. It was 1/10th as "cool" and robust... but - it seems to work just fine for them.

Thread Thread
 
jasonleowsg profile image
Jason Leow ~ golifelog.com

Yep. I think the sooner we devs realise that not everyone wants or cares about whether it's done in a professional way according to best practices that only devs care about, the sooner we can add value to businesses.

Collapse
 
towers1209 profile image
Loreto E. Torres

“… Not everyone wants to learn frontend development done the professional way …”

The “professional way” is a highly subjective precept. It all depends on the prevailing convention and how many are actively using the design tools.

The tools are good starting points for learning and for designing “simple” projects for which the design tools are intended.

As the project grows in complexity, the tools are inevitably discarded.

Thread Thread
 
jasonleowsg profile image
Jason Leow ~ golifelog.com

Agree that conventions are subjective and do change.

But I don't think tools like Webflow are just starting points and to be eventually discarded. I seen many makers stick with using these tools even when they can code. In the end it's a preference and subjective, like you mentioned earlier.

Many devs think visual tools are just for beginners, like training wheels for kids' bicycles. I think there's a group who continue to enjoy using it and want to keep using it out of intention and choice.

Thread Thread
 
towers1209 profile image
Loreto E. Torres • Edited

I agree with your last paragraph — which was the intent of my last two paragraphs, which I think you misunderstood.

… The tools are good starting points for learning and for designing “simple” projects for which the design tools are intended.

As the project grows in complexity, the tools are inevitably discarded.…

The “discarding” is inevitably caused to the tool’s inability to meet the complexity of a project. Not because the tool is viewed as a “toy”.

Those tools are always useful for creating initial designs. And as design tools or any IDEs, they have their own limitations that one has to be mindful of.

Thread Thread
 
jasonleowsg profile image
Jason Leow ~ golifelog.com

Yes, it's only logical to switch if it no longer fulfils its purpose.