Blog & digital insights

Webflow Insights
James
By
James
4 min read
Frequently asked questions about Webflow in 2023
Frequently asked questions about Webflow in 2023

Webflow debuted as a no-code tool to develop web applications in 2012. Clearly, Webflow was a step ahead of WYSIWYG editors in the market. Webflow enabled the creation of immersive, high-performing, and interactive web applications that were dynamic. 

Webflow has stood the test of time, with its annual user base on the rise. But it's still a relatively new player in the field compared to more traditional website-building platforms. 

So, let's clear the air and answer the most frequently asked questions about Webflow. 

FAQs 

  1. What is Webflow used for?

Webflow can be used to create any web applications, including websites, e-commerce stores, portfolios, CMS, etc. 

  1. How does Webflow work?

You don't need to write tedious lines of code. Only drag-and-drop elements on the canvas, and you have the code ready by the no-code builder. Additionally, you can host your web apps within Webflow as well. 

  1. Why use Webflow?

It empowers designers, developers, marketers, and entrepreneurs to ship ideas easily and quickly. It reduces development time and costs. It offers robust hosting and intuitive CMS. These are one of the many reasons to use Webflow. Head over to our blog on Why use Webflow to learn more. 

  1. Is Webflow easy to learn?

If you are familiar with HTML and CSS, Webflow will be very easy to learn. However, if you have no exposure to scripting languages and how the internet works, you can have a learning curve. With that being said, you have a thriving community to help you in your learning and coding journey. 

  1. Does Webflow require coding?

Webflow doesn't require coding for most parts, like creating navigation, forms, and animations. But, if you want to build complex software, you will need to code at least some aspects of it. With Webflow Logic, the native automation offered by Webflow, you might need less coding going further.

  1. Why is Webflow better than WordPress?

We favor Webflow over WordPress. Webflow saves time and effort. The CMS and e-commerce of Webflow were designed with modern trends in mind. The CMS has in-built SEO capabilities, unlike WordPress. Additionally, even the e-commerce solution from Webflow is fairly scalable, something that's difficult with WordPress. Webflow offers a potent way for businesses and designers to manage their websites without the aid of developers. 

  1. Is Webflow better than Wix?

Yes, in many ways. Webflow helps create immersive and interactive websites without writing complex code. Webflow offers a straightforward way to create front-end and back-end without expensive hosting plans, long dev time, and limited template options. Webflow offers greater control over the look and feels of your website than Wix. 

  1. Where to add CSS in Webflow?

The good news is you don't have to add CSS in Webflow, unlike traditional development methods of adding CSS inline or externally. This is because the code is auto-generated in response to your drag-and-drop on the visual interface, Canvas. You neither need to write nor add a CSS sheet manually. 

  1. Can Webflow integrate with Shopify?

Yes, Shopify can integrate with Webflow through a Shopify integration. This way, you get the best of both platforms. The design freedom of Webflow, married to the shipping and sourcing capabilities of Shopify, can put your e-commerce store on steroids. 

  1. Can Webflow connect to the database?

Yes, Webflow can connect to an external database like MySQL or Airtable. You will need to use Zapier to do so. You can use the custom code as well, but that route requires some hands-on experience with coding. Additionally, Webflow’s visual builder also creates an internal database as you build your web application. 

  1. Is Webflow free?

Webflow is free until you're ready to launch your website and e-commerce store. You can use your existing domain and point your Webflow website to it. Or you could host your website within Webflow. 

  1. What is the Webflow hosting plan?

The plans range from $14 to $35 per month on general sites. The plans vary on form submission, bandwidth, and traffic. More so, for an enterprise plan, you need to contact the company. 

  1. Can Webflow websites be self-hosted?

Yes, very much. Webflow uses AWS hosting and Fastly CDN for fast-loading and high-performance websites. It's also HTTP2 ready, so you're ready for future evolution. 

  1. What is Webflow e-commerce pricing?

The e-commerce stores start at $29 to $212 per month. The plans offer varying sales volumes and limits on e-commerce and CMS items. You can choose the plan that best suits your needs. 

  1. What is a Webflow workspace?

 Workspace supports multiple team members to contribute to the project. By default, every website has a workspace. The agency and freelancer plans differ from the in-house plan. You get different permissions and unhosted sites with each plan. Additionally, you get the ability to add custom code and export code built in Webflow to external applications. 

  1. Are there templates for Webflow?

Yes, there are templates for Webflow that you can easily edit as per your branding guidelines. Additionally, you also get cloneables. These are assets and resources you can clone and use in your projects to speed up development. 

  1. Does Webflow support third-party integrations?

Yes, Webflow supports plenty of integrations. You can either connect them natively using Webflow Logic. Or you can use automation tools like Zapier to integrate third-party apps if your project calls for a third-party stack. 

  1. Can I use Webflow offline?

No, you can't use Webflow offline. Webflow was designed with WYSIWYG in mind. So, it's essential to use Webflow online. Also, it was a conscious decision by makers to ship updates easily and eliminate any development environment constraints. 

  1. Will Webflow replace web developers?

Webflow was built for web developers and web designers. They speed up development in an agile environment. Though, Webflow allows people to build websites without a coding background. There are always cases where developers are needed for their expertise and experience. 

Conclusion

So, Webflow is a preferred no-code development tool that offers plenty of benefits over traditional alternatives. It’s easy to learn and use. Webflow’s thriving community offer templates, apps, and cloneable resources for speedy development. 

We hope this blog answers all of your pressing questions and doubts. If you're still looking for some answers, feel free to get in touch with us here.

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Frequently asked questions about Webflow in 2023
Webflow Insights
James
By
James
4 min read
Frequently asked questions about Webflow in 2023

Webflow debuted as a no-code tool to develop web applications in 2012. Clearly, Webflow was a step ahead of WYSIWYG editors in the market. Webflow enabled the creation of immersive, high-performing, and interactive web applications that were dynamic. 

Webflow has stood the test of time, with its annual user base on the rise. But it's still a relatively new player in the field compared to more traditional website-building platforms. 

So, let's clear the air and answer the most frequently asked questions about Webflow. 

FAQs 

  1. What is Webflow used for?

Webflow can be used to create any web applications, including websites, e-commerce stores, portfolios, CMS, etc. 

  1. How does Webflow work?

You don't need to write tedious lines of code. Only drag-and-drop elements on the canvas, and you have the code ready by the no-code builder. Additionally, you can host your web apps within Webflow as well. 

  1. Why use Webflow?

It empowers designers, developers, marketers, and entrepreneurs to ship ideas easily and quickly. It reduces development time and costs. It offers robust hosting and intuitive CMS. These are one of the many reasons to use Webflow. Head over to our blog on Why use Webflow to learn more. 

  1. Is Webflow easy to learn?

If you are familiar with HTML and CSS, Webflow will be very easy to learn. However, if you have no exposure to scripting languages and how the internet works, you can have a learning curve. With that being said, you have a thriving community to help you in your learning and coding journey. 

  1. Does Webflow require coding?

Webflow doesn't require coding for most parts, like creating navigation, forms, and animations. But, if you want to build complex software, you will need to code at least some aspects of it. With Webflow Logic, the native automation offered by Webflow, you might need less coding going further.

  1. Why is Webflow better than WordPress?

We favor Webflow over WordPress. Webflow saves time and effort. The CMS and e-commerce of Webflow were designed with modern trends in mind. The CMS has in-built SEO capabilities, unlike WordPress. Additionally, even the e-commerce solution from Webflow is fairly scalable, something that's difficult with WordPress. Webflow offers a potent way for businesses and designers to manage their websites without the aid of developers. 

  1. Is Webflow better than Wix?

Yes, in many ways. Webflow helps create immersive and interactive websites without writing complex code. Webflow offers a straightforward way to create front-end and back-end without expensive hosting plans, long dev time, and limited template options. Webflow offers greater control over the look and feels of your website than Wix. 

  1. Where to add CSS in Webflow?

The good news is you don't have to add CSS in Webflow, unlike traditional development methods of adding CSS inline or externally. This is because the code is auto-generated in response to your drag-and-drop on the visual interface, Canvas. You neither need to write nor add a CSS sheet manually. 

  1. Can Webflow integrate with Shopify?

Yes, Shopify can integrate with Webflow through a Shopify integration. This way, you get the best of both platforms. The design freedom of Webflow, married to the shipping and sourcing capabilities of Shopify, can put your e-commerce store on steroids. 

  1. Can Webflow connect to the database?

Yes, Webflow can connect to an external database like MySQL or Airtable. You will need to use Zapier to do so. You can use the custom code as well, but that route requires some hands-on experience with coding. Additionally, Webflow’s visual builder also creates an internal database as you build your web application. 

  1. Is Webflow free?

Webflow is free until you're ready to launch your website and e-commerce store. You can use your existing domain and point your Webflow website to it. Or you could host your website within Webflow. 

  1. What is the Webflow hosting plan?

The plans range from $14 to $35 per month on general sites. The plans vary on form submission, bandwidth, and traffic. More so, for an enterprise plan, you need to contact the company. 

  1. Can Webflow websites be self-hosted?

Yes, very much. Webflow uses AWS hosting and Fastly CDN for fast-loading and high-performance websites. It's also HTTP2 ready, so you're ready for future evolution. 

  1. What is Webflow e-commerce pricing?

The e-commerce stores start at $29 to $212 per month. The plans offer varying sales volumes and limits on e-commerce and CMS items. You can choose the plan that best suits your needs. 

  1. What is a Webflow workspace?

 Workspace supports multiple team members to contribute to the project. By default, every website has a workspace. The agency and freelancer plans differ from the in-house plan. You get different permissions and unhosted sites with each plan. Additionally, you get the ability to add custom code and export code built in Webflow to external applications. 

  1. Are there templates for Webflow?

Yes, there are templates for Webflow that you can easily edit as per your branding guidelines. Additionally, you also get cloneables. These are assets and resources you can clone and use in your projects to speed up development. 

  1. Does Webflow support third-party integrations?

Yes, Webflow supports plenty of integrations. You can either connect them natively using Webflow Logic. Or you can use automation tools like Zapier to integrate third-party apps if your project calls for a third-party stack. 

  1. Can I use Webflow offline?

No, you can't use Webflow offline. Webflow was designed with WYSIWYG in mind. So, it's essential to use Webflow online. Also, it was a conscious decision by makers to ship updates easily and eliminate any development environment constraints. 

  1. Will Webflow replace web developers?

Webflow was built for web developers and web designers. They speed up development in an agile environment. Though, Webflow allows people to build websites without a coding background. There are always cases where developers are needed for their expertise and experience. 

Conclusion

So, Webflow is a preferred no-code development tool that offers plenty of benefits over traditional alternatives. It’s easy to learn and use. Webflow’s thriving community offer templates, apps, and cloneable resources for speedy development. 

We hope this blog answers all of your pressing questions and doubts. If you're still looking for some answers, feel free to get in touch with us here.

Here's How To Use Webflow Editor | Workshore
Webflow Tutorial
Geetika
By
Geetika
4 min read
Here's How To Use Webflow Editor | Workshore

It often happens that a slight tweak on the content of the website may throw off-site settings or break the site. Fortunately, this is not true for CMS built in Webflow. 

Webflow offers a clean interface for easy content updates without any help from your development team. It has separate modules for design/technical updates in the form of Designer and content updates in the form of an Editor. If you want to know more about Designer, check out the Webflow Designer tutorial. 

Webflow’s Editor provides the necessary tools to manage published content. You can invite your clients to update content with Content Editor access. 

  • Supported Browsers

Webflow officially supports the latest version of Chrome and Safari. However, it supports all modern browsers unofficially.

If you’re working on experimental browsers and facing issues, you can report the same in the Webflow forum under the Experimental Browsers category. 

Accessing the Editor

After publishing your website to either the custom domain or the staging domain, you can access the Editor.

  • From Webflow’s interface

1. While you’re working in the Designer, you can directly go to the menu icon of the Designer. 

2. The next option is to access the Editor in the Site Settings in the top toolbar. You’ll find the Editor button next to Share, Publish, and so on. 

3. Finally, you can also access the Editor in Project Menu in the dashboard. Click on the three disclosure dots, and you’ll see Editor in the expanded menu.

  • From live site

You can also access the Editorfrom the live site by adding “?edit” at the end of your website URL. Go to the browser’s address bar and type www.mywebsite.com/?edit, then log in, and you can edit the website in Editor. 

You can switch between The Editor and Live site mode. The live site mode presents a preview. If you want to switch to Editor mode, you can do so by clicking the Edit Site button on the bottom right of your page.

Similarly, for the preview mode, select Back to the live site button. 

  • Troubleshooting errors
  • Your collaborators and editors may face issues while logging in to the Editor. You can try one of these tips to troubleshoot. 
  • Enable your browser to accept cookies
  • Log out of the Editor. Clear your browser’s cache and try logging in again. 
  • Use incognito mode to log in to the Editor.
  • Send a new invite to Content Editor and ask them to create a new account in incognito mode. 
  • Remove/disable custom code, if any.
  • Finally, contact support if none of the above works.

  • Collaboration in Editor

Webflow allows simultaneous edits to the static and dynamic content of the website. However, the last revision is saved and reflected on publishing. Hence, it’s a good idea to coordinate editing with your team. 

Additionally, you can also find an activity log to verify which team members made specific edits to the website. 

Anatomy of the Editor toolbar

The editor toolbar can be found collapsed along with the live website as the grey strip at the bottom of your screen. You can view and publish changes and also modify Editor settings.

Explore the settings available with the following tabs -

  • Menu: 

The Webflow logo. This button lets you skip to the Designer, Site Settings, or Dashboard.

  • Pages:

You can browse static and dynamic pages, view them live, and edit the page settings.

  • Collections

You can view and manage the items of Collections via this tab. The collections tab in the Editor is similar to the CMS panel in the Designer. Selecting the Collections panel will display all Collections. Selecting one of the Collections will open a new tab wherein you can add new items or edit existing ones. 

  • Forms

You can view and edit the forms submitted on the website.

  • Account Settings

Edit your account info and upload a profile picture in this panel

  • Help and Support

This panel opens with answers to common questions to the Editor. 

  • Log Out

This button/icon will prompt a confirmation to log out and allow you to log out of the Editor account. 

  • Back to the live site

You can switch from editor mode to live mode to have a preview of how your visitors will see your site. 

  • Saving/Saved

All changes are automatically saved by the Editor. The button will show Saving while saving and Saved after changes have been saved. 

  • Changelog

You will find this button next to the Publish button. You can see the list of unpublished changes, i.e., lists and pages, along with the Workspace member who made these changes. 

  • Publish

You can publish all changes you made in the Editor.

On-page editing

You can edit the editable items right within the Editor. Whenever you hover over any of the editable items, you will see a pencil or picture icon indicating you can edit these. 

  • Editing Text

When you hover over a text box, a grey box will highlight the text element. Then you can click the pencil icon and edit the text. Select the text to alter the formatting using the floating toolbar for inline editing like Bold, Italic, Superscript, etc.

Webflow has inbuilt support for rich text. You can easily add gifs, Google maps, videos, ordered or unordered lists, etc. 

  • Editing images

Hovering over the images will make a picture icon pop out. You can click on that icon and upload new images. The styling you have set in the Designer will automatically apply to the images you edit in the Editor.

  • Editing buttons

When you move your cursor around the buttons, you will see a cog icon. Select the icon to either edit the link settings or text.

Managing page settings

You can edit all vital page settings like 

  • SEO: You can set the default SEO settings like SEO title tag and meta description for all pages for better search engine rankings. 
  • Open Graph:

Open Graph settings allow you to configure the look of your webpage when shared on social media platforms. You can set the Open Graph title, description, and image for display. 

  • Page Password Protection

You can create gated content with password-protected pages with Page Password Protection. You can enable passwords for pages in a folder or even Collection. 

  • RSS feed settings

This setting allows you to create a feed for easy sharing of your content across the web. You can enable RSS 2.0, generate a preview, and copy the URL to external integrations like Mailchimp or Zapier. 

You can manage the settings of the page in 3 steps

1. Access the Pages tab in the Editor panel

2. Bring your cursor over a page you want to manage

3. Click the Settings button

Alternatively, you can search a particular page in the search bar.

Creating and managing dynamic content

  • Adding/Editing Content

You can go to the Collections tab within the Editor itself. Clicking on a Collection will open a new tab in the toolbar for that Collection. 

Now you can add or edit the items in that Collection. For instance, you want to add a new blog post to your Collection - blogs. You will see a New button on the top-right corner; you can select the option and add a new item by adding all required fields. For a new blog, you’ll need a Name, Slug, Blog post text, etc.

After you’re done adding or editing the input fields, you can take one of these actions -

  1. Create a new item or save an existing item for staging. The changes will be published when you opt for a site-wide publish. 
  2. Publish it right away instead of staging.
  3. Save as a draft to defer the publishing.
  4. Cancel recent changes. 
  • Managing content

In the Collections panel, you can see all Collections and the status of their respective items. You can select multiple items and modify their status to Delete, Archive, or Draft. Simply click the Select button, select the item(s) and perform the action.

Viewing and publishing changes

You want to view and verify that your recent changes are proper and saved before publishing them. 

  • Viewing changes on the live site

You will need to collapse the Editor panel to view the live site by clicking on the button that says View Site at the top. You can view and make changes to this view. 

  • Publishing

You can hit Publish to make all your changes go live. The button will confirm before applying site-wide changes staged earlier.

The editor will publish your site to both the custom domain and the staging domain. However, if you only want to publish to the custom domain, you can use the Designer for the same.

Accessing form submissions

  • You will have a Forms tab in the Editor if you have forms on your website. You can access this tab to download the information collected by forms in a CSV file format. Alternatively, you can view all essential information in the tab itself. 

Editor settings for elements

  • By default, all CMS elements are editable in the Editor. This implies that admins, workspace users, and content editors all can make changes to the live site. But you can override this by the following settings - 
  1. Use Designer to access the site.
  2. Select the element on the Designer 
  3. Press D or go to element settings.
  4. Uncheck “Collaborators can edit this element.”

If you want a shortcut, you can press CMD+Shift+L on MAC and CTRL+Shift+L on Windows to achieve the same. 

Conclusion

Webflow Editor is an easy-to-use interface for all updates on content and all CMS items. You can grant access to only content without disrupting the code. Additionally, you can seamlessly switch from the Editor to the Designer or the live site. 

If you’re looking for a full-fledged Webflow agency to take care of your Webflow development and management, you can book a call here.

A Simple Guide To Create A Slider In Webflow
Webflow Tutorial
Geetika
By
Geetika
4 min read
A Simple Guide To Create A Slider In Webflow

Sliders are an excellent way to demonstrate testimonials, product features, product variants, and such. In addition, they offer captivating visuals for retail, tourism, portfolio, news website, etc. But, the question is how to create sliders? 

Webflow offers a straightforward way to include sliders in your web designs. Additionally, thanks to Webflow's visual builder, you can customize the Sliders up to pixel precision. Adding interactions and animations is easier than doing so in traditional web technologies. 

This blog covers a simple Webflow slider tutorial on what and how of Sliders in Webflow. Read on to find more. 

Anatomy of a Slider

The slider has four components or children - 

  1. The Mask contains two slides by default.
  2. The Left Arrow 
  3. The Right Arrow
  4.  Slide Nav or the slider navigation represents our position in the carousel. 

Create a Slider 

You can drag and drop a slider from the Elements panel into the page. The slider will occupy the entire width of the parent elements it's dropped in. 

Besides the two slides that we already have, you can add more slides. Then, you can either duplicate the existing slide by right-clicking the slide. Or, select the slide in the Navigator panel and perform copy-paste on the slide. 

A third way to add a slide is via the Element Settings panel in the right sidebar. You can select the button - Add more slides in the Slide settings tab.

You can access all the slides on the page by clicking the slide nav and via the left and right arrows. Or you can also use the arrows in the Slider settings. 

Edit a Slider 

After adding as many slides as required, it's time to edit them. Sliders like Sections can contain other Components like paragraphs, buttons, or containers. Therefore, sliders make an excellent option for holding images, videos, and content. 

Here's how to do it. 

Adding Background Image

You can add an image element to the slides. However, that doesn't offer us proper control, like adding content on top of the image. 

So, we will begin by making a class for the slider and then adding a background image. Now, you can start editing the image. First off, turn off the tile settings. The size of the image can be set in pixels. Or, there are two other smarter solutions -

Contain: The image will fit entirely into the slider without being cropped so that we may have a space around the image. 

Cover: The image will cover the entire slide width, and it might get cropped from the corners to fit the aspect ratio.

You can change the hierarchy of a slider by moving it upwards/downwards on the Navigator Panel. In addition, you can edit the slider to behave like a section and occupy 100% of the viewport if you want it. 

Adding Content to Slider

You can start off by adding a container to hold all the content correctly in the slide. Then, you can add headings, paragraphs, buttons, and images. You can add combo classes to each slide to modify the styling properties and content. You can copy and paste the container from the first slide to another slide, to build upon existing designs. 

You can copy and paste an element from another project to your current page using CTRL+C and CTRL+V for Windows or CMD+C and CMD+V for MAC users.

Apply Settings

You can edit the settings in Slider settings to control how your slides behave. 

  • Animations: Configure the animation type to set how slides will appear when in motion. 
  • Easing Method: Set how slides transition by changing the easing method
  • Duration: Set the time the slider takes to jump to another slide. 
  • Swipe Gesture: Control your slider's behavior on touch devices by turning on/off the swipe gestures. 
  • Autoplay: Set the time lag after which the first slide should change into the next without the user's input. Control when the slider stops displaying the next slide on the loop. 
  • Hide at each end: Hide the left arrow on the first slide and the right arrow on the last slide for a more intuitive user experience. 
  • Slide Nav: Change the size, shape, and color of the Nav buttons. 

Customize Slider 

You can customize the slider for enhanced customer experience and visually appealing interface. These are the customizations available. 

Resize the slider

You can resize the slider by editing the viewport height. In addition, if the background image is set to Cover, it will resize accordingly. 

Alternatively, you can change the parent element so that slider resizes to fit the parent element. 

Customizing arrow icons

You can customize the arrow icons by turning them into class. Then apply settings to the class and edit the font color and font size to best suit your needs. Now, apply the class to other arrow icon elements as well. 

Replacing arrow icons

Within the left or right arrow elements, delete the icon element. Now, you can drag and drop your chosen image into either of the arrow elements to get a custom arrow icon. 

You can also set a hover image for your left and right arrow icons by using Filters or changing the opacity. 

Styling the Slide Nav dots

You can alter the size of the dots or number labels by changing the font size. To change the color of the dots, you have to embed custom CSS into your code - 

Consider,

.w-slider-dot is the class of dots, and

.w-slider-dot.w-active is the class of active dots. 

 

<style>

.w-slider-dot {

background: blue !important;

}

.w-slider-dot.w-active {

background: navy !important;

}

</style>

Similarly, to edit the shape of the custom Nav dots, you need the following CSS code

<style>

.w-slider-dot {

background: blue !important;

}

.w-slider-dot.w-active {

background: navy !important;

}

</style> 

Change the color of the dots using the following embedded CSS code

<style>

.w-slider-dot {

background: #4353FF !important;

border: 3px solid #4353FF !important;

}

.w-slider-dot.w-active {

color: #4353FF !important;

background: none !important;

border: 3px solid #4353FF !important;

}

</style>

Here’s how the output will look like:

Hiding slide elements

You can also hide slide elements. Select the element like arrows and change the display settings to None. 

If you want to turn the dots into squares, you can go to slider settings, then to the slide nav section and toggle the rounded settings to off. 

Show multiple slides at once

You can also display multiple slides to make it a carousel slider. You can do so in the following steps - 

  • Add a slider
  • Create the same class for all slides
  • Set the width of the slide to 33.33% to show three slides on the desktop. 
  • Set the width to 100% to show three slides on a mobile screen. 
  • Customize each slider by adding a unique combo class

 

Using Collection Items

Sliders can't use dynamic data. However, you can use Collection lists to populate sliders. 

  • Connect the first slide to the Collection list. 
  • Limit the items displayed on the Collection list to one. 
  • Duplicate the slide and change each corresponding slide's "Start at" number. 
  • Now, your slide 1 corresponds to 1st item, 2nd slide corresponds to 2nd item in the Collection list, and so on. 

Conclusion

We have covered everything you need to know about creating interactive sliders for your web projects. 

However, designers must note that sliders must be usable and accessible. The users operating through the keyboard or voice input software must be able to interact with the slider. Plus, users must be able to pause sliders to read text, if any. 

The space they occupy must not disrupt the user experience, which often happens if the sliders are inserted for the sake of it instead of evaluating their need objectively. 

Are you unsure of how to create usable and accessible web projects? 

We have created several such exciting web solutions in the past and will be happy to help you too. You can always talk to us

Start An Ecommerce Store With This Webflow Ecommerce Tutorial
Webflow Tutorial
Geetika
By
Geetika
4 min read
Start An Ecommerce Store With This Webflow Ecommerce Tutorial

Ecommerce is set to rise exponentially in the coming years, as per research by Morgan Stanley. The eCommerce market will grow up to $5.4 trillion in 2026. Of course, this could mean more competition and more profits too. 

So, the question is, how do you stand out from the competition and remain profitable?

You need a highly intuitive and scalable store that you can build fast and start selling. In addition, the store must cater to your industry requirements and serve exceptional customer experience. Webflow is one platform that perfectly fits the bill. 

Webflow offers the full power of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Vibranium to build spectacular, scalable, and immersive eCommerce solutions. Webflow has recently unveiled new eCommerce features as well to serve eCommerce store owners.

Initial Steps:  

But, building an eCommerce store can be overwhelming for anyone. So, you first need to figure out the needs of the market. Then, you research suitable products and figure out your positioning in the market as opposed to your competitors.

You can either manufacture the product yourself or be a reseller. The last steps are managing logistics and packaging for your products. 

If you offer digital services instead, you can do away with packaging and logistics. 

After you've done your homework, now is the time to start building your store.

Step-by-Step Guide 

Here’s a breakdown on how to build an eCommerce store using Webflow. 

1.Build a Collection

Your eCommerce store needs products to sell, and you can showcase those products by building a collection. 

You can go to Products and add products from the eCommerce panel manually. You can name the product, add a description and price for each product in your store, and press Create. You can also bulk import your products using a CSV file.

You may also need to organize these products into categories. You can add Categories from the products page. Alternatively, you can go to the Categories panel in the eCommerce store and create new categories first and later add products. Finally, you can import and export products. 

It's also possible to add custom fields to each of your products. These fields can range from rich text to references to links. This makes it easier for you to describe your product aptly. Plus, it's easier for your customers to get a complete picture of your product at a glance. You finally save the Collection.

2. Customize cart button

After adding products, it's time to enable shopping by adding a cart button. Webflow allows you to customize the icon, text, and cart quantity. You can start by changing the icon color per your brand guidelines. Make sure you select the icon in Navigator or Canvas. You can pick any color and change it. 

You can also edit the text block to read differently instead of just saying Cart. One way to do so is by checking the "Get text from Cart" which lends you two options:

  1. To display the quantity 
  2. To display the subtotal

You can also style the cart quantity field and control its visibility on the cart button if the cart is empty. However, you can't delete the cart quantity element. 

You can also add elements to the cart button. For example, suppose you want to display the cart's subtotal on the button. You can do so by adding a text block.

3. Add to Cart 

Select the Add to Cart button from the lower navigation bar. Then, you can access the settings in the right Element settings panel. 

There are three states of add to cart Button - 

  • Default - This is the button's default state once you add it from the Add (+) button on the left sidebar. You will see that a product variant dropdown is automatically added on the screen.
  • Out-of-stock - Out-of-stock state represents when the product is unavailable. You can customize the text and the styling too. 
  • Error State - There will be times when an error would hamper the buying process. For instance, a product not being available for a variant. You can edit the error message and also restore the default message. 

You can access the states of the cart with keyboard shortcuts of the left and right keys. The shortcut works because the states of the cart are siblings, and Webflow allows access to siblings with left and right arrow keys. 

4. Create product variants

Webflow allows you to create custom fields for products that better describe and represent the product to your customers. This is quite a useful feature, not available in many other eCommerce builders. You can add options when you add a new product, together with a Name and Description. Options are equivalent to different product features. 

Suppose, for instance; a clothing item will have Options like color, size, gender, occasion, etc. Once you add these Options, Webflow will automatically add variants based on these features along with a drop-down on the products page. 

5. Customize eCommerce emails

Email marketing generates an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. That number is higher than any other marketing channel. More so, personalized emails have a 5.7% higher open rate than non-personalized ones. In addition, you can send customized emails to your customers within your Ecommerce store without the need to integrate another ESP. 

You can create branded emails by adding brand colors to background colors and accent colors. You can also add your brand's logo and hide the Webflow branding in the footer. Finally, you can add fine print text for your emails to share other details like contact. 

You can add static text and dynamic fields in the email. For instance, you can add dynamic fields like customer names to personalize emails. This will help save you time even when you're mass scheduling and give you the benefits of customization. 

Additionally, you can also send the Test email. However, you can also see the preview of emails while you're working on them.

6. Launch your online store

Once you have created product categories, you can launch your store. But there are a few more steps:

  • Choose site plan: Go to your Project Settings and choose the Hosting option for your store.   
  • Enable SSL: Under the Hosting tab, you will see a toggle button to enable SSL. You must enable this to offer secure payment processing to your customers. 
  • Add payment provider: Form your Ecommerce panel, access Settings, and select the Payments option. You can add Stripe payment methods to your store. Other options available via integrations are Google pay, Apple Pay, and Paypal. 
  • Enable checkout: From the Ecommerce settings, select the Checkout tab and toggle the button to enable checkout. 
  • Publish on webflow.io In case you need to test your store in an online environment. You can publish on Webflow.io to verify if your store is functioning optimally. 

7. Design Your Store

The above-listed steps cover the underlying framework of the eCommerce store. But, one important piece of the puzzle is the user interface that can make a huge difference to your eCommerce store.

After adding products, you will notice that a Product template has already been created. Therefore, you can begin by selecting the add symbols (Component) from the pages panel. Then, you can build layouts from Section, Container, and Grid elements as per your requirements.

From here on, you can use structural elements like div blocks, text blocks, buttons, etc., to contain different parts of products. And design all CSS elements like padding, margin, typography, etc., from the right sidebar in Element Settings. You can edit the Dynamic Style settings to set background images, color, etc., by pulling the same from the fields in the product collection.

The easiest way to build all your product pages is to create classes for each piece of the product page and pull data from different fields like description, price, quantity, etc. 

So, in a nutshell, you only design once and bind content to class so that all your product pages are built automatically consistently. 

Conclusion

Webflow offers a tonne of options to build an on-brand eCommerce store. It's an easy, fast, and efficient way to launch an eCommerce store that understands the inherent needs of modern and scalable eCommerce stores. 

You can benefit from unique features like custom product variants, personalized emails, tax calculations, and so on to create an eCommerce store that's easy to manage and scale. 

If you need assistance in building your eCommerce store, you can get in touch with us here.

How To Use Webflow Designer Mode | A Basic Guide 2023
Webflow Tutorial
Geetika
By
Geetika
4 min read
How To Use Webflow Designer Mode | A Basic Guide 2023

Webflow is a visual builder, and the interface that allows users to do so is Designer. Webflow Designer is both for developers and designers alike. In fact, the power of no-code is one of the top reasons why we use Webflow, and you should too. 

If you're looking for a Webflow Designer tutorial, keep reading as we give a brief overview of how to use Webflow and all controls available to you in Designer. 

What Designer Does

Designer helps you build your web pages, landing pages, and eCommerce stores with drag-and-drop capabilities. You can substitute writing full-blown HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code with the Designer's functionalities because the Designer generates error-free and production-ready code in the background corresponding to your actions in the Canvas, your work area. 

Supported browsers 

Webflow unofficially supports Designer on all modern browsers, But the official support is limited to the latest, evergreen versions of Chrome and Safari. Webflow Designer isn't compatible to be used on IE, Edge, iOS Safari, and Chrome for Android. 

However, certain browsers may offer limited support based on certain design features. For instance, CSS transitions will render properly on android mobiles only if they run Chrome version 108, released in December 2022. 

Supported screen resolutions

Designer supports a minimum screen width of 1268px, which is the sum total of the left sidebar, Canvas, and right sidebar. 

How to Access Designer Mode 

There are three straightforward ways to access Designer- 

  1. Click on your project thumbnail within the Dashboard.
  2. Click on Designer from Project Settings in the upper toolbar of the project.
  3. Choose Designer from the Menu button of the Editor.

Overview of Designer Anatomy 

Designer consists of Canvas, where you can manipulate all CSS, HTML, and JavaScript components of your project. Besides, it consists of toolbars and panels that allow additional functionality and access. Here's a detailed breakdown of the Designer's anatomy. 

The left toolbar and panels 

  • Main menu

When you click the logo, you can navigate to the Dashboard, Editor, or Project Settings of your current project. 

  • Add elements panel

You can add all elements that you need to build your project, like typography, components, CMS, Media, and so on, from the panel. 

For example, if you want to include a Form, you can access all possible form elements in the Elements Panel itself. You can use Form blocks, Labels, Input fields, Text areas, Checkboxes, Radio buttons, Form (Submit) buttons, etc., to create a form of your choice. 

The element will be added relative to the selected element and default settings. But you can change the position by dragging it on the position you want to add your element.

  • Symbols panel: 

The symbols in Webflow have now evolved into Components. Components help reuse the predefined elements and their children for scalable and more efficient code. 

Webflow users can create a component or make any element to be a component. Any recurring elements like nav bars, cards, or buttons can be created as components to be reused across the site. You simply need to drag the component and drop it onto the desired web page. 

It's also possible to alter all the instances of a component if you edit any instances of the given component. However, if you need to override a certain component specifically, you can do it through Properties.

Webflow allows you to modify a component in 2 ways with the help of the categories - Visibility and Content Properties. Visibility controls whether the component instance is visible or hidden. While the Content Properties support -

  • Text
  • Image 
  • Video
  • Link
  • Rich Text

Finally, you can also unlink an instance from the component if you want to so that changes in linked instances don't reflect in the unlinked one. 

  • Navigator panel

For easy access, you can pin and resize the Navigator Panel on screen sizes beyond 1440px. You can use Navigator to select visible and hidden elements on Canvas. Plus, you can also see the nested elements or hierarchy of a given page in the Navigation panel itself. It's also possible to move the elements and alter their hierarchy right from the Navigator

  • Pages panel

Pages Panel allows the creation of new pages and folders on your website. You can create around 100 pages depending on your membership level. You can edit all Page Settings from the panel, like SEO settings, Open Graph settings, and Search settings, or add custom codes. You can duplicate, delete and even organize pages from this panel. However, organizing pages will likely change their URL paths, so be sure to set a 301 redirect as well.

  • CMS panel

Webflow's modern CMS allows dynamic content using containers called Collections. Collections contain items that are represented by fields. This field can be custom-created to contain any data you need. 

You can build connections in 2 ways - Collection Pages and Collection Lists. You can add data one by one or import CSV for a bulk update. Your team can collaborate by editing content right from the Designer or even the Editor. 

  • Ecommerce panel

The eCommerce panel allows the creation of an eCommerce store by selecting a template or starting from scratch and enabling eCommerce. You can automatically access two dynamic collections, Product and Categories.

Now, you can either manually add the products or do it through integrations with Zapier or similar tools. Webflow offers great control over eCommerce stores by allowing users to create custom product fields and customized check-out pages etc.

The panel also facilitates the entire management of the online store, like creating ads, managing orders, setting primary currency, and so on. 

  • Assets panel 

The assets Panel allows you to upload assets in the project and delete them. You can also sort assets and alter the view of the Asset panel. The assets can be any video, image, or Lottie files that you need on the page.

Webflow offers support for various image formats like JPG, PNG, WebP, etc. It also supports several documents like PDF, ODT, CSV, and so on. However, only JSON files are supported for Lottie integrations. 

  • Settings panel

Access various settings like Backup settings or Search settings. 

  • Audit panel

The Audit panel shows how your site can be more accessible before you hit Publish. It shows the missing Alt texts, non- Descriptive links, duplicate element IDs, or missing headings so that people using screen readers can interact with websites easily. 

  • Quick Find search tool

An inbuilt search tool in Webflow that allows you to search for anything to speed up your development. 

  • Video tutorials panel

If you're stuck and want to have a look at the video tutorial, they are available in the Video tutorials panel right away. 

  • Help settings

Again, all the help is available to you at all times. Help settings facilitate easy access to -

  1. Help and feedback: You can resolve your queries by looking in Webflow forums, Webflow University guides, and the video library. You can also send feedback to the Webflow team and ask for feedback. 
  2. Keyboard shortcuts

You can speed up your work with keyboard shortcuts in Webflow. You can see all the shortcuts available to you by pressing Shift + /

  1. CSS preview

You can preview the CSS file generated by Webflow in this mode. You can also copy the code to use it elsewhere.

The canvas 

Canvas is the center stage where all elements are accessed in the Designer. You can manipulate these elements on a granular level using Canvas. 

  • Selection

You can select any element on Canvas by selecting it by mouse. On the left of the element highlighted boundary, you will find the element label. On the top right, you will find the settings of the selected element by clicking on the gear icon. 

  • Hierarchy

You can see the hierarchy of the selected elements in multiple ways. One way to do so is by selecting the label on the top left to reveal the parents and grandparents of an element. Similarly, one can access the hierarchy by right-clicking on the element and seeing the hierarchy from the context menu. Another means to see hierarchy is through the Navigation breadcrumbs bar or by pressing the arrow Up on the keyboard. 

  • Movement

You can also move and reposition your elements around within the Canvas. Once you select it and move around, the blue indicator will show the siblings, and the orange one will show the parents. The position will depend on the display settings of the project. 

  • Preview

Preview mode allows you to see your web page as it was published on the web. If you enable preview mode, the rest of the Designer will be hidden. The only exception is the top Bar, but if you select the up arrow, it will go away too. However, you cannot modify anything on your page while in preview mode. You can press escape or click back the Preview icon.

The Top Bar 

Top Bar provides multiple helpful tools for your use. They are listed below, starting from left to right. 

  • Page indicator

The page indicator shows which page you are in, for example, About us or Contact Us.

  • Preview

A toggle button that helps you visualize exactly how your web page will look post-publishing.

  • Breakpoint button

Webflow designs are responsive to all screen sizes because you can see how your designs adapt to each viewport. Breakpoint buttons allow you to switch screen sizes and see how designs respond and edit accordingly. The default view is the desktop view, and six other screen sizes are accessible as well.

  • Undo and Redo

You can undo or redo your last action in the Designer.

  • Save

Clicking on the Save button will NOT save your work, as it's automatically being saved. When in progress, the saving is shown with ellipses, and when done is shown by a green check mark. You can use Ctrl+S or CMD+S to manually save your work.

  • Export code

You can export the code and save it as a zip file. 

  • Share

Share allows you to share a preview link with other team members and clients. But it allows your original work to remain intact in read-only mode. While if you want others to contribute, you need to invite them to collaborate. 

  • Publish

You can choose to publish your work to your domain or subdomain.

The bottom navigation breadcrumb bar 

The bottom navigation bar follows the Breadcrumb principle, and it shows the hierarchy of your current/selected element path. It helps in SEO and easy navigation. 

The right panels 

The right panel facilitates fine-tuning of each element on the page so you can have greater control over how a single element on the page behaves.

  • Style panel

It gives you the ability to stylize your elements by modifying CSS properties in the panel while the instant changes are reflected in Canvas. 

  • Element settings panel

Handy access to modifying the settings of the selected element. 

  • Style Manager

It shows the list of all classes and combo classes that you have created in the project. It also allows you to delete the ones, not in use. 

  • Interactions Panel

You can create and apply interactions to the selected element in this panel.

Multiple User Collaboration

Webflow allows multiple contributors to work in the Editor simultaneously. But the last edit can overwrite the preceding ones. 

However, with recent developments announced at Webflow Conf 2022, even multiple designers can work simultaneously using Page Branching. This facilitates accelerated development and coordination. 

Why Online Mode

The Webflow team chose Designer to be a hosted platform for streamlined and fast development. They believe this way, they can build and ship fast, and the same is true for users too. Online mode allows for active collaboration from all stakeholders. 

The biggest advantage is WYSIWYG, or What You See is What You Get. So, whatever is visible on the Designer mimics what you will see after you publish on the browser.

Conclusion 

The designer is at the core of the drag-and-drop feature of Webflow. Everything you need to build impeccable web solutions and eCommerce stores is available within the interface. 

However, Webflow has unveiled new features lately. If you are looking for a credible resource on all things Webflow, stay tuned with us for recent updates.

Webflow Conference 2022: Developer Superpowers Explained
Webflow Insights
James
By
James
4 min read
Webflow Conference 2022: Developer Superpowers Explained

Webflow Conference was held during 9-10th of November, 2022 in Midway SF, San Francisco. Several hundreds attended the event live while thousands others joined online. The event was successful in building momentum around new updates and rallying in all Webflow communities. 

From seasoned developers to newbies, all participated in several panels that celebrated the past year’s wins, recognized the active contributors, and learned about the latest upgrades. 

The Significance of Webflow Conference

Webflow has an amazing and thriving community. The conference intended to strengthen the bonds within the community. Moreover, it also created a buzz to bring attention to recent developments around Webflow. Finally, it also led to awareness about Webflow’s role as a no-code development tool. 

The Webflow Conf 2022 was an opportunity for tech junkies and no-code enthusiasts to gather to share their learnings, challenges, and more, in-person or otherwise. The Webflow team and clients showed up on stage to shared the latest developments across 4 directions - Grow, Build, Design, and Collaborate into Webflow’s universe.

The 4 Superpowers: What are they?

Webflow has unveiled new and exciting features aka Superpowers that can revolutionize the way you look at web development. These superpowers are aimed at different aspects of web development that serve different use cases. This blog covers Developer superpowers that have been already rolled out and the ones that are due. 

Developer Superpower Explained

Developers are at the core of the Webflow community. Therefore, Webflow has released several new features that allow developers to work effectively. These superpowers come under four categories pertaining to user interface, data, Ecommerce, and automation. Let's have a look at each one of the following:

UI:

Usability is a primary requirement of modern apps and websites. But, ensuring consistency across design systems or providing unique instances while scaling the site or app has been challenging. Hence, Webflow earlier announced Symbol overrides and nested Symbols, which tackled the challenge partially.

But, the latest upgrade of Symbols to Components has taken this to the next level. Components allow reuse of UI elements. You can edit layout components within the canvas itself. Additionally, it's also possible to define specific properties of each instance that are preserved or modified. For example, altering the headshot and content for each testimonial card of your website while maintaining the structure of the card itself. 

Another noteworthy release was variable fonts. Now, coders and designers can change the weight and style that was fixed as per preset parameters given by the type designer. It will be possible to alter these font properties on a more granular scale with a slider than putting in pre-determined numerical values in upcoming versions. More so, these Open Font variations will now load using a single file, instead of loading multiple font files. 

More so, it will be possible to add Support states, transitions, interactions, for fonts too, based on mouse hover, and so forth.

Data:

Webflow allows users to make bulk updates using CMS collections. Collections can refer to different content types, for instance, product categories in an Ecommerce store. Now, updating this kind of dynamic content is tedious. 

But, with Webflow you can import CSV files to update dynamic content on any collections, including ecommerce stores, blogs, portfolio websites, etc. Moreover, publishing bulk data will also be achievable with Webflow. You can also link components to dynamic data in Collections pages. Collection pages act as templates, so editing one will propagate changes in all other instances. 

Going forward, Webflow will also provide native support for localization aka multiple-language sites. This was made possible by expanding on the number of CMS Collections, which allows to host more data on a website. The next shipping of this feature will help localize both static and dynamic content.

You can localize items like images, page settings, SEO titles, etc. Developers can also code localization APIs using external translation services. Localization is highly useful for businesses looking to widen their reach and expand their revenue. 

Webflow is the top-rated no-code tool to build Membership sites. Now, with Webflow you can design customized user experience for Membership sites. ‘Users’ is accessible in the UI with Webflow Designer for easy access. You can allow or prohibit access to a certain content based on user status, say their login status or even their subscription tier into a membership portal.

This empowers creators to monetize their content within different strata of community. Furthermore, Membership sites can have up to 20,000 users instead of a previous bar of 300.

Ecommerce:

Ecommerce is one direction where Webflow is seeing significant growth. Around 5.4 million products have been sold using Webflow Ecommerce so far. Hence, Webflow Conf 2022 announced exciting features for Ecommerce businesses too. 

The number of products supported increased in both Ecommerce Plus (from 1000 to 5000) and Ecommerce Advanced (3000 to 15000). Additionally, the item limits for ecommerce items and CMS items will be calculated separately in contrast to the earlier coupled counting.

Logic:

Webflow Conf highlighted how brands are using Logic to power their web solutions. Logic allows for native automation in Webflow websites and apps. This provision is absent in several other website builders calling for complex coding routines. Logic has been under development for several months now and is in Beta mode and available to anyone who signs up. Logic comprises Trigger, Condition, and Action. 

Logic enables to set a resultant action in motion when a set of preset conditions are fulfilled. Logic empowers developers to build automations seamlessly using different Webflow capabilities like forms, CMS, Users, and so on.

Why must developers care?

No-code adoption is on the rise. Developers must leverage these existing building blocks to spearhead their development processes. No-code development is the neat and efficient way of coding modern apps, websites, and ecommerce stores. 

Technology is a landscape that changes each day, and it only makes sense to be an early-adopter of a technology on the rise, which also makes your job easier and faster.

Conclusion

Webflow will ship a lot of updates in the coming months. We want our readers to be the first to get the dips as soon as possible. So, you can continue to check this space for incoming updates. Till then, happy coding folks!!

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Webflow Conference 2022: Collaboration Superpowers Explained
Webflow Insights
James
By
James
4 min read
Webflow Conference 2022: Collaboration Superpowers Explained

Webflow Conference 2022 shared new releases that can make collaboration between an internal team and third-party service providers extremely easy. They have called these Collaboration Superpowers. But the question arises was such a superpower really needed? Let's answer this question by understanding a typical development case first.

What does Web development look like today?

Web development in a traditional environment keeps the information siloed, especially in cross-functional setups. Sometimes, even the internal teams of development agencies fail to collaborate on the same web development project effectively. 

For instance, let's take an example of an ABC agency that's developing a state-of-the-art web solution but with a tight deadline to produce the initial design mock-ups. The agency ends up employing two different teams to come up with parallel layout solutions to beat the deadline. Then it picks a more optimal one based on client approval. But, this proves to be a resource-intensive exercise with less than stellar results.

Continuing with the above example, after choosing the preferred design, the developer team takes the charge. Now, they have issues interpreting and translating the design elements seamlessly in the development environment, and certain design elements can present technical challenges. 

After resolving the designer-developer conflict, they finalized the website design and functionality. But now, the website is ready for another round of revision because it needs to cater to the branding and marketing needs of the organization.

Why is collaboration a challenge?

As stated in the previous example, several stages of traditional web development suffer from a lack of proper collaboration. The entire web development cycle can benefit from the collaboration and parallel functioning of all contributors to the project. 

Developing responsive web solutions to cater to different screen sizes that also deliver excellent user experience is tough. Throw in the technical feasibility and business requirements in the equation, and you'll quickly appreciate how web solutions suffer from siloed processes.

We need:

  • External stakeholders and team communication.
  • Internal team communication.
  • Cross-functional team communication, say with marketers.

The good news is Webflow takes care of all this because it's an inherently collaborative environment. It allows different designers, developers, and marketers to work coherently and integrate the changes to deliver faster work with minimal resources wasted. This is one of the top reasons you should use Webflow.

Collaboration Superpowers Explained

The Webflow Conf 2022 announced the following Collaboration Superpowers.

1. Guest Role

Collaboration superpower allows dedicated Webflow professionals to have a smooth journey with their clients. Clients can hire a freelancer or an agency to edit or create Webflow designs via Guest Role. But first, both the guest and client need to have a workspace account. A workspace is a shared working space for individuals or teams. The guests must have either a Freelancer or Agency workspace to take advantage of this provision. Alternatively, they could be a member or admin of either of these accounts. 

The guest role helps freelancers or development agencies to take care of changes without sharing confidential credentials or transferring sites back and forth. The guest can make changes to designs, site settings, etc., behind the scenes. At the same time, the ownership of the site is secure with the client. Another core benefit of the Guest role for businesses is that guests are not counted towards the seat count of their workspace plan.

The guest has the following abilities - Create the site, clone the site, accept a transfer of ownership, and buy templates from Marketplace. They have access to -

  • All Sites and Folder
  • Editor
  • Integration Workspace settings
  • Templates Workspace settings

However, The Guest role doesn't have access to any confidential workspace settings -

  • Members
  • Plans
  • Billing
  • Partner Settings

The permissions of the guests can vary with the Workspace plan of the client. Suppose, for example, Enterprise plan holders can modify the roles and permissions of the guests.

2. Access Control

Webflow workspaces allow setting roles and permissions at two levels

  1. Workspace level
  2. Site-level

The site-specific access has been recently rolled out by Webflow.

Workspace Level:

Users with all levels of paid plans become the default owner of their workspace. They can invite members to become a part of their workspace. Owners can assign different levels of access, depending on the assigned roles to the team members. These roles include admin and member.

The permissions for each role vary and can be summarized below:

Site-level

Webflow allows site-specific access to team members as site admins or members with varied permissions. However, site-level permissions are available to Growth, Agency, and Enterprise plans only. 

Owners of workspaces are the default site admins for all the sites within a workspace. However, they can make other users the admin for a given site. 

The other permission levels for Site-level access are 'Can design and publish,' 'Can design,' and 'Can design (limited). Again, the 'Can design' role is limited to Enterprise plans in the customer and partner category.

Additionally, Workspace owners can also invite content editors for Ecommerce, Business, or CMS plans. These editors can add/edit content and page settings in the CMS.

3. Page Branching

Page Branching is a recent update made available to Enterprise customers and Enterprise partners. It allows multiple designers to work simultaneously on different layouts or content and merge changes once done. 

Page Branching creates a temporary instance of a site page that has been branched like a snapshot. The modifications on the snapshot don't reflect on the main pages, giving designers a safe space to explore new designs without affecting the rest of the site. Designers can branch the following site pages -

  1. Static pages like Utility pages, Ecommerce pages, etc.
  2. Drafted Pages like internal style guides or archived content
  3. Dynamic Pages like Ecommerce Page

However, despite the fact Page Branching allows teams to work in tandem on several fronts. It has certain limitations as well -

  • Only one Page branch per site page
  • Only one designer can work on a particular page branch

For all page branches, the new workflow looks like this:

  • Branch
  • Build
  • Update
  • Merge
  • Publish

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Benefits of Collaboration Superpowers

Collaboration Superpower can provide benefits to all parties involved. 

For agencies:

  • Agencies can invite guests without adding a new seat to their plan.
  • Access control at the site level allows greater and more efficient control of how teams work.
  • Page Branching allows for faster shipping.

For freelancers:

  • Freelancers can work without tedious ownership transfers.
  • It's possible to have guest access to multiple workspaces, making client collaboration easy.

For site-owners:

  • Site-level access roles allow finer control of how team members work.
  • Site owners can use time and talent resources efficiently because of Page-Branching.
  • Site owners can outsource effectively and securely, thanks to Guest roles.

Conclusion

Webflow has created a more collaborative environment that will bring in improved and effective workflows across teams. The ability to grant site-specific access or page branching gives an edge to Webflow users unavailable to other users. Moreover, Collaboration Superpowers are beneficial for all entities of the Webflow environment, i.e., agencies, freelancers, and Enterprises as well. And it makes collaboration among each of these entities smooth and optimized. 

Hope this blog helped you understand the recent releases in Webflow.

Why Use Webflow | Here Are Top 10 Reasons For It
Webflow Insights
James
By
James
4 min read
Why Use Webflow | Here Are Top 10 Reasons For It

Webflow Intro: 

Webflow is a modern web development solution suited to building no-code web solutions without spending weeks on development or debugging. Instead, you can rely on the powerful tool to generate clean and efficient code that maps to your drag-and-drop actions.

Do you recall the difference you experience while using command mode instead of GUI mode? Well, that's the exact feeling that Webflow can provide. 

It's a potent interface to build web solutions minus any efforts to remember and type the syntax or maintain pesky indentations. Did we mention - bugs will never bug you? (pun intended)

Webflow empowers developers and designers to ship their ideas quickly yet efficiently. You might be wondering how you can attain that with Webflow.

Why use Webflow:

Read to know the top 10 reasons you must use Webflow and the direct benefit you derive when you use Webflow.

Drag-and-drop builder

The visual website builder allows you to create a super interactive customer experience. Instill life into your websites with Parallax animations. You need not recreate animation by hand with Webflow. 

Thanks to Lottie integration, your animations will render smoothly, irrespective of device resolution. But you don't need any external plugins to integrate Lottie, unlike those used in Figma or Adobe After Effects. Everything is at your fingertips without writing complex, long-winding code. 

Benefit: Suppose you're a beginner developer. Webflow is an excellent tool to lend a concrete structure to your ideas without any need to get into complicated details. On the other hand, if you're an experienced coder, you'll quickly graduate to a somewhat similar coding environment of seeing the visual editor beside the code. However, you will appreciate the increased speed and efficiency of auto-generated code. 

Robust CMS

Webflow CMS is straightforward to use. Content-first designs help include rich and dynamic content without cramming content into pre-defined structures. You or your content editors can directly edit from the page instead of logging into a dashboard, thanks to REST API. You can add content manually, import it with CSV, or use the API. 

Suppose you're handling a migration for your client. Webflow makes it easy to connect to an external CMS. Importing and exporting content is a breeze as well. You can also create webhooks to tackle routine trigger events like form submissions. 

Benefit: The content and design integrate seamlessly, resulting in an efficient and pleasant user experience for the end-user. Plus, you can check off time-consuming but unavoidable maintenance tasks like exporting content to third-party applications using Webflow.

Powerful Hosting

Webflow relies on AWS for hosting, which lends innovative features like elastic load balancing and auto-scaling so your application can dynamically scale in response to changing requirements. Hence, it's easy to scale with Webflow's powerful hosting. 

The self-hosted websites in Webflow can handle heavy traffic thanks to data centers across the globe. Webflow takes advantage of the capable CDN, Fastly, to reduce page load speed and response time of web applications. No matter how intensive the content you host on websites, they will load fast and seamlessly. 

Benefit: Building self-hosted web applications in Webflow relieves you of Server downtimes. Latency will not be an issue, regardless of traffic or load. 

Outstanding Membership sites

Membership sites are in vogue these days because of the rise of the creator economy. As a result, it's easy to create membership sites that allow customizable access to different use cases.

You don't need to worry about server-side rendering or connecting external stack for the same. 

This means you can help your clients build a subscription-based business or offer online courses within Webflow. In addition, Webflow allows you to create tailored experiences for different categories in case of a tiered subscription. 

Developers can also test certain under-development parts of the site discreetly before unveiling it to the world. 

Benefit: Create an exclusive experience for different use cases and get complete control of how website visitors access the website or consume web content. You can even build a member portal with Webflow for end-users to create an account and use it from a centralized dashboard.

Ecommerce-friendly

With Webflow, you can easily create scalable stores for your clients. Create unique store layouts that blend with brand ethos using a potent visual builder. You can easily alter the Home page or Gallery for your e-commerce store. Plus, you can customize the purchase flows and product fields to better serve your industry-specific needs. If you dislike the Liquid Templating system of Shopify, give Webflow a try. 

Power your online store with custom interactions and multi-step animations. These help you to deliver a memorable user experience to the end-user. In addition, dynamic CMS allows for better selling methods through content instead of the linked content in regular blogs. 

Benefit: The foremost benefit is spectacular and scalable eCommerce stores that will help your client stand out.

Exceptional Security Features

Webflow adheres to ISO 27001 for information security, confidentiality, and availability. Plus, it follows the guidelines laid down by CIS Critical Security Controls. Plus, Webflow complies with CCPA and GDPR guidelines, ensuring stringent data protection for website visitors. 

For payments, Webflow relies on Stripe, a level-1 service provider. 

Benefit: Protect your web solutions from potential cyber threats. Protect your clients from data leaks or data theft.

Easy Automation

Many websites rely on automation to handle routine website actions by website visitors, including automated logins or form submissions. But, this automation often calls for integrations from third-party solutions.

Webflow allows you to automate your website without third-party automation tools using Logic. Instead, it's possible to build blocks in Webflow's Flow Editor using drag-and-drop. You can define different workflows based on different triggers. You can link various aspects like databases, emails, or other external stacks with minimal code. 

Benefit: No need to use third-party integrations for automation when working with Webflow. Troubleshooting the visual workflows is a breeze, and you don't need extensive coding capabilities to build automation into your websites. 

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Excellent Support

The Webflow community grows by leaps and bounds and stands at 75000+ remote members. This number will rise as more people experience the power of no-code tools. In addition, Webflow offers Webflow University and Webflow TV to answer your common questions and help you get started with website development. 

Plus, phone support and live chat options are available, so you don't get stuck. You can also get extensive support from Webflow if you are on their enterprise plan.

Benefit: Get help whenever you need it with several options available. Most importantly, all information is presented lucidly, and interestingly so even novice users can quickly calibrate themselves.

Speedy Development and Launch

The development time cuts down significantly when you use Webflow, as the design and development take place simultaneously. Plus, as the code is auto-generated, the resultant code is free of errors or bugs. Therefore, debugging and testing time is also reduced to a great extent. This allows for the speedy launch of your business website. 

Benefit: Have greater control of your time and channel that time into developing innovative solutions or taking up new challenges. 

No Complicated Backend to Manage

Other competitors need users to login into the backend and edit content or web layout. Plus, you never have nasty backend issues like SQL injections, load balancing, or such. You will not have to carry out extensive tests at each level or worry about the risks of cyber threats on your website.

Benefit: You don't have to channel your efforts into building a robust backend. You have one less thing to worry about with Webflow. Plus, website maintenance is a breeze.

Concluding Remarks:

We have covered the reasons why you must use Webflow. Webflow can speed up your web development without sacrificing functionality or aesthetics. 

Our parting words - It's a leading no-code development tool, and now is the right time to try your hands on Webflow. Have a look at what we have been doing for our clients here. 

Webflow vs. WordPress | Must Read Differences
Webflow Insights
James
By
James
4 min read
Webflow vs. WordPress | Must Read Differences

WordPress is an open-source web builder platform that offers themes and plugins for advanced functionalities. WordPress made its debut in 2003, and it continues to beat its alternatives like Blogger and Medium to be a preferred alternative as a blogging platform.

Thanks to its rich library of plugins, it also offers other web solutions like eCommerce stores and business websites. The software is free to use. But, one has to pay for hosting and domain to use a WordPress site.

In contrast, Webflow is a complete SaaS application that provides hosting solutions and advanced web development capabilities. Webflow began its journey in 2013 when co-founders Bryant Chou, Vlad Magdalin, and Sergei Magdalin came up with the idea of no-code website building. 

Soon enough, Webflow emerged as an intelligent solution to create robust and responsive web solutions. Though other no-code solutions are available, that's a story for another day.

Today, let's dive into the must-read differences between Webflow and WordPress.

Comparison

At a Glance:

This is a quick comparison between Webflow and WordPress

Design Capabilities

WordPress

WordPress offers several paid or free themes for website layout. You have three design routes when using WordPress.

  1. DIY website: You will require intermediate coding knowledge to create a website using WordPress plugins and page builders.
  2. Template Website: Using a template is like plug-and-play. But, the limiting factor is that you can only edit the existing themes if you know the coding.
  3. Custom Website: Expert-level coding knowledge is required where you don't use existing templates but hand-code all design and functionality aspects.

Suppose you edit your chosen theme for colors and fonts. Even then, the templates will retain their structure, as seen in the images above. This is where Webflow shines.

Webflow

With Webflow, you can use more than just premade templates. But also customize them easily to cater to your unique needs. You only drag and drop your preferred design elements, and the code is automated.

Webflow offers to design and code at the same time. Developers will quickly gauge how their HTML elements map to corresponding CSS styling controls in Webflow. Plus, Webflow is built on classes, so reusability is never an issue. Finally, Webflow creates custom interactions and animations with its powerful visual builder. The result is immersive websites with little coding.

CMS

WordPress

Although highly popular for blogging, WordPress has its own limitations. For every other functionality, you need a plugin. Add too many plugins, and you risk slowing down your load speed. Plus, installing updates and patches of these plugins makes the efficient use of your time and resources difficult.

Some core content requirements, like interactive content and SEO optimization, call for plugins. The CMS is not designed to be flexible in accommodating today's rich content needs. For instance, you need plugins to add recipes, events, or other content. Otherwise, the result is a poor user experience.

Webflow

On the other hand, Webflow has been created as a content-driven CMS. Moreover, you can alter the layout based on your rich content needs.

Editing content on the platform is straightforward with Webflow Editor. Your team members and clients can edit the content on the go, and you can track changes. More so, the layout can alter based on content requirements. That means your creativity is never stifled with the content format or post types.

Webflow has built-in SEO functionalities. You can edit Meta Titles, Meta descriptions, and slugs without logging into a dashboard.

E-commerce

WordPress

You need to install and set up a dedicated plugin to leverage eCommerce functionalities with WordPress. For example, WooCommerce.

Yet, talk to any experienced store owner. They won't recommend WordPress for scaling your eCommerce business. Slow loading, cache issues, or server configuration issues are common problems when you use the most popular WooCommerce plugin. If you genuinely want to magnify your business prospects, you need a platform that was natively designed for eCommerce stores.

Webflow

However, WebFlow offers inbuilt powerful e-commerce features like payment integrations, customized emails, or tailored shipping rules. You can also keep track of order returns and refunds. More so, Webflow empowers you to create unique product fields and highlight noteworthy features in your digital/physical product.

In a nutshell, you can deliver a cohesive customer experience that completely caters to your brand instead of being limited by your coding prowess.

Plugins

WordPress

WordPress has been in the market for a long time and has a rich library of plugins. But, all plugins are not created equal. Even those offering the same functionality will differ in their services and delivery. Hence, choosing the right plugin, free or premium, will largely determine your success with WordPress.

Generally, technical know-how is needed to choose and install these plugins. This can be a major roadblock for non-technical folks. Add to it the timely updates and security patches these plugins release. And you can end up with an extensive ongoing maintenance schedule.

Webflow

Webflow developers experienced these issues first-hand while setting up WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla for their clients, before the birth of Webflow. Therefore, they ensured Webflow was as streamlined and optimized as possible. As most functionalities are provided out-of-box, Webflow is a powerful, comprehensive solution for your (client's) online business needs.

For instance, the plugin in WordPress isn’t needed in Webflow because it’s an inbuilt functionality here.

Integrations

WordPress

WordPress allows for third-party integration by embedding relevant code snippets. For instance, you can integrate your favorite automation tool to collect leads, add them to your CMS, and send automated welcome emails. But guess what? These integrations, for example, OptinMonster, begin at a bare minimum of $348/year. And what if you need to switch one of the integrations? You will have to consider compatibility issues with multiple integrations. Plugin conflict is yet another challenge for WordPress users.

Webflow

Webflow offers third-party integrations as well with the help of Zapier.

But, it caters to core functionalities with native solutions. For instance, a native solution called Logic allows powerful automation based on custom flows. You can rely on Flow Editor to construct, test, and reuse your automation flows. Set your custom condition-based triggers and the corresponding actions to experience easy yet potent automation. You can also add external tech stacks like databases to your automation routines to leverage Logic to its most.

Hosting

WordPress

Did you know the cost of downtime for small and medium businesses was estimated to be $137 to $427 per minute? An online business with a server outage means zero traffic leading to zero sales. The bottom line is you need reliable hosting with minimal downtime.

You need to buy a domain name and hosting plan when using WordPress. Depending on your hosting, your scaling capabilities and uptime will vary. Therefore, you will have to make a judicious choice based on your storage requirements, budget, and features available for a given plan.

Webflow

Webflow offers an excellent self-hosting feature that minimizes downtime and allows easy scaling. You will need a custom domain and choose a site plan that fulfills your requirements.

You don't have to deal with extensive backend coding only to realize your website can't handle traffic spikes or face DNS issues. With Webflow, the enterprise servers are distributed globally with AWS Infrastructure, and your website visitors will get the maximum speed possible. More so, Fastly offers CDN, Security, and Network features to accelerate your page load speed.

Ease-of-use

WordPress

WordPress still needs to be figured out for average folks with tons of plugins and integrations. Choosing these solutions, installing, and maintaining them can be challenging. At best, you can always redirect your resources to create more innovative solutions instead of handling these maintenance and upkeep issues.

Webflow

Webflow has its learning curve if you have yet to gain experience with web development or design. But, if you have the right help, Webflow can get pretty straightforward. 

The core difference is post-publishing maintenance that gets smooth with Webflow in contrast to WordPress, where backend maintenance is a headache.

Pricing

WordPress

The core WordPress software is free. But, as discussed earlier, you need to buy hosting and a custom domain. WordPress pricing will vary based on your hosting provider. Plus, your purchased plugins and integrations can be fairly costly as well. These costs can quickly add up to become expensive.

Webflow

On the other hand, Webflow offers a straightforward pricing model. Of course, you pay for your domain name, but you definitely eliminate the cost of dozens of plugins while using Webflow. 

You can choose plans per your requirements. For example, you can get a webflow.io domain with the free starter plan. The other plans start at $14/per month and go up to $39/per month. Each plan caters to a different user base and has requisite features. You can also request pricing for Enterprise requirements.

Community and Support

WordPress

WordPress has a thriving community of developers that ship plugins and themes. In addition, you can get phone support and live chat support from the platform. Being an open-source platform, the community game of WordPress is high. You can find helpful resources for the DIY route or hire a WordPress developer.

Webflow

Webflow, on the other hand, is a growing base of web developers, designers, and business owners who want to leverage the cutting-edge technology of Webflow. In addition, phone support and live chat options are available on the official site. Finally, Webflow offers Webflow University and Webflow TV, designed for novice developers to learn everything about Webflow. 

If you buy the enterprise plan, you will also get customer success manager to help start with Webflow.

Conclusion

Webflow is a modern alternative to WordPress. Irrespective of your technical knowledge, Webflow has exceptional features to use on the go. You can have seamless and immersive web solutions for your needs without spending weeks on development or testing with Webflow. 

If you get stuck, you can always rely on experts to move ahead. Plus, you can stay tuned with us as we're committed to demystifying Webflow for developers, designers, and marketers alike. So whether you're a CTO or an upcoming developer, we're confident you'll enjoy hanging out here. 

So, this was all about Webflow versus WordPress. What's your pick and why?

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Social Media Post:

Webflow has been growing at unprecedented rates. Your question on how it compares to WordPress is valid. Read on our blog to know all pros and cons of both platforms and decide for yourself.

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