I write about learning to code, indie hacking, writing & tech for good. ✍️golifelog.com 🔌plugins.carrd.co 🥑ketolistsingapore.com 🍯sweetjamsites.com 🏛outsprint.io 🇸🇬safedistancing.sg 🤖gogranthunt.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.
Originally went to school for painting and printmaking, played in bands, and have now been designing and developing since 2010. I write the curriculum and teach at Perpetual Education.
I write about learning to code, indie hacking, writing & tech for good. ✍️golifelog.com 🔌plugins.carrd.co 🥑ketolistsingapore.com 🍯sweetjamsites.com 🏛outsprint.io 🇸🇬safedistancing.sg 🤖gogranthunt.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.
Originally went to school for painting and printmaking, played in bands, and have now been designing and developing since 2010. I write the curriculum and teach at Perpetual Education.
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.
I write about learning to code, indie hacking, writing & tech for good. ✍️golifelog.com 🔌plugins.carrd.co 🥑ketolistsingapore.com 🍯sweetjamsites.com 🏛outsprint.io 🇸🇬safedistancing.sg 🤖gogranthunt.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.
Incorporating images, infographics, and videos enhances the learning experience. The visual elements make complex topics easier to grasp and more engaging. nsfas application tracker
I write about learning to code, indie hacking, writing & tech for good. ✍️golifelog.com 🔌plugins.carrd.co 🥑ketolistsingapore.com 🍯sweetjamsites.com 🏛outsprint.io 🇸🇬safedistancing.sg 🤖gogranthunt.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.
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.
I write about learning to code, indie hacking, writing & tech for good. ✍️golifelog.com 🔌plugins.carrd.co 🥑ketolistsingapore.com 🍯sweetjamsites.com 🏛outsprint.io 🇸🇬safedistancing.sg 🤖gogranthunt.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.
Ain't that the truth.
I'm excited to see what you come up with! :)
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.
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.
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.
Incorporating images, infographics, and videos enhances the learning experience. The visual elements make complex topics easier to grasp and more engaging.
nsfas application tracker
“… 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.
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.
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.
Yes, it's only logical to switch if it no longer fulfils its purpose.