What the flip is Webflow?

What is Webflow?

This word Webflow keeps popping up around here! What the flip is it? The first time I heard of Webflow I thought it was some kind of psychological state where you're absorbed in the internet… It's not that. That’s called IAD.

To answer simply, Webflow is a cloud-based software. To be more specific, Webflow is a visual website building platform and content management system used to create:

• Custom websites
• E-commerce stores
• Blogs  
• Webapps      

But that is an oversimplification of what you can create on Webflow—the real possibilities are practically endless.

Since we’ve directly answered the question so quickly and simply, let's consider a few deeper points to gain a better understanding of what Webflow is and how it differs from other website builders out there.

Code-free visual design

Webflow uses a visual design interface to create webpages. The benefits of this are:

• WYISWYG (What you see is what you get). During the development process you are seeing how the webpage looks as the code is written, meaning you are able to reference your design concepts in real time. This results in our next point:
• Speed and efficiency You are able to see very quickly when something isn't working. This reduces wasted time as mistakes and errors are evident right away. Webflow makes building responsive websites extremely efficient by allowing quick toggling through a variety of breakpoints.
• Design consistency The visual nature of the development highlights any design inconsistencies. Rather than relying on many different numbers and codes, you can see all your font sizes, margins, colours etc.

Now before we go too far, let's just address a common misconception about code-free development. Some people think that unless a website’s code is painstakingly typed one line at a time by a computer scientist then it must be crap.

That’s not the case. Let's illustrate it like this:

You want a cheeseburger. Would you argue that unless the maker of said cheeseburger had hand raised the beef for the patty, milked the cow to make the cheese, harvested the wheat for the bun, then it's going to be a crap cheeseburger? Not at all. It’s not the ingredients alone that make for a good cheeseburger.

Webflow is the equivalent of going to the best burger joint in town—they’ve sourced the best ground beef, that extra melty cheese we all love and a freshly baked brioche—and skillfully put it all together to create a perfectly presentable cheeseburger.

When something is developed in Webflow, the program takes the visual inputs that have been provided and produces the code for the web page. It works off a set of universally recognized rules so the code is written cleanly and efficiently, ruling out a lot of human error.

More than drag and drop

We see many other code-free visual design programs that are drag and drop. They seem super easy to use–just click, drag and voila! …you now have a clunky, squashed, barely responsive website. Why?

Limitation. These platforms are like the frozen cheeseburger you get from the premade meal section at the supermarket.

Webflow’s design platform has practically unlimited customization. Rather than just dragging and dropping, the website is built visually from the ground up the same way a developer would write code in a specific sequence to structure the website properly.

For example, a heading is not just an element that gets dragged to the top of the page like a Microsoft PowerPoint clipart and sits there. The heading has to be nested in something, what we call a <div>, and that <div> also has to be nested somewhere. There is a solid unseen framework behind every webpage.

How Webflow benefits you!

We know you probably don't give two hoots about the technical side of development. Code, no code… who flippin’ cares, I just want a good website!

You want a website that's going to be effective at

• Drawing customers, engaging them and converting them
• You want a reasonable cost effective solution
• You want it to be easy and simple to manage going forward  

If this is what you want, Webflow is the perfect solution for you.

It's universally understood that initial visual impressions are very important. Webflow lends itself to being able to produce the most visually appealing websites. Now that you’ve grabbed the visitors attention, Webflow’s ability to produce a smooth user experience will keep those visitors on your website.

Because of the reduction in development time and removing the need for multiple disciplines (designer, frontend developer, etc.) Webflow development is very cost effective. This really comes into play when updating and maintaining your website.

Webflow’s built in CMS (content management system) is very user friendly for anyone with even a little bit of computing skills. With some basic training, you can update and maintain your website by yourself.

We love Webflow... and we're not being paid to say that!

We work exclusively with Webflow, as we personally believe it is the best platform to produce beautiful and functional websites. Code-free development is the future. As Webflow continues to add greater features and integrations, it is at the forefront of the code-free web development space. It is by far the most powerful platform out there.