What is webflow used for?

Website Builder

Webflow stands out as one of the most popular website builders in today's market, driving the creation of countless websites, particularly simple corporate ones. Its strength lies in its comprehensive toolkit designed to facilitate the building and management of straightforward websites:

1. Drag-and-Drop Website Designer: Webflow offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface for designing websites. Users can easily add containers, divs, text, and images to create pages, manage styling, and incorporate simple animations. It also provides a simple way to build responsive websites with several break-points.

2. Reusable Components: The platform features a system of reusable components called symbols, which users can instantiate across multiple pages. This streamlines the design process and ensures consistency throughout the site.

3. Templates Engine and Simple CMS: Webflow provides a template engine and a user-friendly content management system (CMS). This combination simplifies the creation and management of website content, allowing users to easily update and publish new pages.

4. E-commerce Capabilities: While relatively basic, Webflow offers some e-commerce capabilities, enabling users to set up simple online stores and manage product listings.

5. SEO and Domains Management: The platform includes tools for managing redirects, optimizing for search engines (SEO), configuring meta-data, and handling domain settings. This ensures that websites built on Webflow are easily discoverable and effectively marketed online.

Webflow editor

Once a website is built on Webflow, it can be easily managed by Webflow editors, akin to traditional webmasters. With sufficient training, even marketing or sales personnel can handle website building and editing tasks using Webflow. If your design system is established and you don't need to create new components, adding or editing pages using existing symbols is a straightforward process. This user-friendly approach empowers teams to efficiently maintain and update Webflow sites without extensive technical expertise.

Webflow CMS

In Webflow CMS, you can create content types (collections) and define their structure (fields), allowing for tailored templates with specific field usage (e.g., title, sub-title, photo, body, tags, author, publication date, etc.). Content from the CMS can also be integrated into blocks or reusable symbols.

However, Webflow CMS faces limitations when it comes to complex or large-scale content websites. It's not very user-friendly and lacks robust features for managing content at scale.

To address these shortcomings, we recommend using Webflow primarily as a frontend engine, while leveraging a more robust CMS (such as Hygraph, Strapi, Storyblok, Directus, etc.) for content management. This allows for more flexibility and scalability, with content edited in the preferred CMS and synchronized with Webflow via its API.

Webflow forms

Adding and Configuring Forms: Forms can be easily added through the Add panel. Drag the Form block onto the canvas to begin. The Form block contains three main components: the Form itself, the Success message, and the Error message. These elements can be customized as needed.

Customize your form by adding or removing various form elements like Field labels, Inputs, File uploads, Text areas, Checkboxes, Radio buttons, Select inputs, reCAPTCHA, and Submit buttons.

You can easily configure form elements: adjust settings for each form element such as Name, Required fields, Placeholder text, Text type, and Autofocus to enhance user experience.

You can then define personalized messages for different submission states: Normal, Success, and Error, to provide clear feedback to users.

Submitted form data can be routed to designated email addresses or third-party locations for efficient data management.

Webflow templates

Webflow templates provide a convenient way to kickstart your website design process, especially if you're pressed for time or seeking design inspiration. After selecting a template, it's added to your Dashboard as a new site with all its pages included, ready for customization. Unlike Wordpress themes, Webflow templates won't automatically replace the design of an existing site; they come as-is and may require adjustments. You can test templates before purchase and choose between free and premium options. Premium templates come with a single-use license, requiring repurchase for additional sites or clients. You can customize all templates to suit your needs, and if you're proficient in template creation, you can even sell your designs on Webflow's marketplace. Transferring, enabling, and disabling templates in your Workspace are additional features to manage template usage effectively.

Is Webflow better than WordPress?

WordPress and Webflow are two leading platforms for building websites, offering accessibility without requiring extensive coding knowledge. WordPress, with its vast user base and open-source nature, provides unparalleled customization options but demands additional setup steps like finding hosting and installing themes and plugins. On the other hand, Webflow is an all-in-one SaaS platform that simplifies the process with built-in features, making it ideal for users seeking a streamlined, visually-driven approach to website creation. However, Webflow's ease of use comes with limitations in customization compared to WordPress. Pricing-wise, while WordPress can be cost-effective depending on your choices, Webflow tends to be pricier, especially for larger websites. Security-wise, WordPress requires additional security measures, such as plugins, while Webflow offers built-in cybersecurity features. Ultimately, the choice between WordPress and Webflow hinges on your specific needs and preferences: WordPress for extensive customization and flexibility, and Webflow for user-friendly design tools and convenience.

Our recommendation goes always to the simplicity and limitation of run problems: Webflow is your preferred choice.

Figma to Webflow

The Figma to Webflow plugin, developed by Webflow Labs, facilitates the conversion of static designs into production-ready Webflow HTML and CSS. With this tool, users can seamlessly integrate their design workflows between Figma and Webflow.

The plugin offers two primary methods:

1. Design System Sync: Enables the synchronization of components and variables across projects, ensuring consistency, particularly for large-scale or team projects.

2. Copy + Paste: Allows for the selective copying of specific design elements, providing flexibility and speed for quick updates or smaller projects.

Key Features:

- Component and Variable Syncing: Facilitates the transfer of components and variables between Figma and Webflow.
- Prebuilt Layouts and Responsive Structures: Includes 20+ prebuilt layouts and responsive structures for smooth conversion and adaptability across devices.
- Automatic Style Guide Creation: Generates a style guide page in Webflow based on text and color styles created in Figma, enhancing consistency and organization.
- Support for Over 50 CSS Declarations: Ensures comprehensive compatibility and customization options.
- Exporting Vector Nodes as SVGs: Provides versatility and compatibility for vector-based graphics.

Our Workflow Tips:

- Syncing: Ensure proper selection within the plugin before syncing, and keep both Figma and Webflow interfaces open for efficient transfer.
- Copy and Pasting: Utilize prefixes and prepending text layers with HTML tags for quicker application of styles during paste.

While the plugin offers robust functionality, there are certain limitations and areas for future enhancement, including support for non-auto layout frames and improved handling of custom fonts.

What are the disadvantages of webflow?

Webflow is undoubtedly a powerful platform for designing and managing websites, but like any tool, it has its drawbacks. Let's dive into the cons and disadvantages of using Webflow:

Lack of Code Customizations:
Webflow offers robust customization options, but if you're looking to tweak your website at the code level, you might find yourself limited. While you can make basic code customizations, altering the functionality of code is not possible within the platform.

Desktop Edits:
Unlike some other content management systems (CMS), Webflow lacks a mobile app for making edits to your site's content and design. All changes must be made through a desktop or laptop, which can be inconvenient for users who prefer to work on the go.

Extensive Pricing Plans:
Webflow's pricing plans can be complex and extensive, making it challenging to choose the right plan for your business. With numerous options available, selecting the plan that best suits your needs and budget can be a daunting task.

Restriction on eCommerce:
While Webflow offers eCommerce functionality, it's still in beta, and users may encounter roadblocks when trying to create an eCommerce store. Additionally, Webflow's eCommerce system relies on Stripe as its payment gateway, which is only available in 26 countries. If Stripe isn't available in your country, using Webflow for eCommerce may not be feasible.

Complicated Pricing Structure:
Webflow's pricing structure aims to cater to a wide range of users, from individuals to large enterprises. However, the multitude of plans and pricing tiers can be confusing and difficult to navigate, especially for those new to the platform.

Learning Curve:
Despite being a no-code design platform, Webflow has a learning curve, particularly for users with limited technical knowledge of HTML and CSS. While Webflow University offers comprehensive training resources, users may still find it challenging to grasp advanced features without prior coding experience.

Email-Only Support:
Webflow's customer support is limited to email, with no phone or live chat support available, even for enterprise plans. This lack of immediate assistance can be frustrating for users experiencing urgent issues or downtime with their websites.

Limited Functionality in Designer Interface:
Webflow's designer interface may pose challenges for users unfamiliar with HTML and CSS. Creating non-standard grid layouts or adding complex elements within the visual interface can be difficult, requiring knowledge of code to overcome.

Lack of Native Multi-Language Support:
Webflow lacks native multi-language support, making it more complex to create websites in multiple languages. Users may need to resort to manual interlinking or third-party services, adding complexity and cost to the process.

Custom Code Handling:
While Webflow allows users to add custom code, the workflow for integration may not be as smooth as desired. The platform's interface for adding custom code lacks features found in dedicated code editors, potentially hindering productivity and code quality.

Despite these drawbacks, Webflow remains a powerful tool for web design and development, offering a range of features and capabilities for creating stunning websites.

Webflow VS WeWeb

Both platforms empower users to create designs and follow web development best practices, but WeWeb focuses on dynamic web applications, while Webflow excels in static websites. WeWeb's native no-code workflows allow for real-time user interactions, dynamic data handling, and integration with third-party backends, suitable for SaaS, CRMs, and marketplaces. Unlike Webflow's limited CMS, WeWeb can scale with millions of records and offers authentication options for secure data management. Both tools adhere to web standards and offer export options, with Webflow exporting HTML and CSS and WeWeb exporting Vue.js apps. Ultimately, while Webflow targets static websites, WeWeb focuses on dynamic web applications, complementing each other rather than competing directly.

Where is Webflow hosted?

Webflow hosting offers reliable, scalable, fast, and secure hosting for websites, managed seamlessly. Hosted sites boast world-class performance, reliability, and fast loading speeds, supported by a 99.99% uptime SLA. Utilizing a Global CDN, Webflow ensures fast and performant site delivery worldwide, meeting HTTP/2 standards and supporting HTTP/3. Powered by Amazon Web Services and Fastly, Webflow hosting securely handles high traffic volumes, offering image optimization, SSL/TLS, DDoS protection, automatic form filtering, and SSO for enterprise customers. Additionally, Webflow provides seamless site management with features like backups, staging domains, password protection, branching, localization, and custom security headers, making site management efficient and secure.