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Webflow (YC S13) Lets You Design Responsive Websites Visually, Publish Instantly

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Re: Webflow (YC S13) Lets You Design Responsive Websites Visually, Publish Instantly

#31

Post by callmevlad »

Dystopian wrote: post #20

I'm a designer and developer - love the idea of both WebFlow and Macaw are up to. I can see how this can be a huge time saver for me on the front-end - even if just another level of high-fidelity mockups (vs. production). I find it really hard to justify dropping the money and then my time if I'm working through a web-based cloud service though (vs. a desktop app - even like the ones that call home like Creative Clou…

Completely understand your concern. However, a couple of points to clarify:

- Webflow is meant for production site implementation, so your actual "source" files would be on your computer (in Photoshop, etc). You'd still need to use PS to slice images, optimize them, etc - we're not trying to replace Photoshop wholesale, just improve the workflow around the actual creation of the live site (something for which Photoshop was never intended).

- All your work completed in Webflow (to implement the initial design, and make it responsive), can be easily exported to a full HTML/CSS/JS bundle that can be run hosted anywhere you wish. A good practice could be to download completed sites and archive them in source control as a contingency.

Re: Webflow (YC S13) Lets You Design Responsive Websites Visually, Publish Instantly

#34

Post by thesergie »

coherentpony wrote: post #7
outericky wrote: post #5

I hear their home page was built using their own product. So that says something right there. Looking forward to trying it.

> ©2013 Webflow, Inc. This page was built in Webflow (duh). Yep.

Sure was! Click on the "Play with Demo" button at the top of the page and you'll be able to edit the Webflow homepage in Webflow.

Re: Webflow (YC S13) Lets You Design Responsive Websites Visually, Publish Instantly

#35

Post by coherentpony »

thesergie wrote: post #34
coherentpony wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ©2013 Webflow, Inc. This page was built in Webflow (duh). Yep.

Sure was! Click on the "Play with Demo" button at the top of the page and you'll be able to edit the Webflow homepage in Webflow.

I know :) I've been part of their beta programme. I love this product. It's exactly what I need to design a quick website without needing to: a) learn html and css; and b) deal with another human being.

Re: Webflow (YC S13) Lets You Design Responsive Websites Visually, Publish Instantly

#37

Post by clarkevans »

callmevlad wrote: post #31
Dystopian wrote: post #20

I'm a designer and developer - love the idea of both WebFlow and Macaw are up to. I can see how this can be a huge time saver for me on the front-end - even if just another level of high-fidelity mockups (vs. production). I find it really hard to justify dropping the money and then my time if I'm working through a web-based cloud service though (vs. a desktop app - even like the ones that call home like Creative Clou…

Completely understand your concern. However, a couple of points to clarify: - Webflow is meant for production site implementation, so your actual "source" files would be on your computer (in Photoshop, etc). You'd still need to use PS to slice images, optimize them, etc - we're not trying to replace Photoshop wholesale, just improve the workflow around the actual creation of the live site (something for which Photosh…

I don't think your post addressed Dystopian's question: as I understand, your organization keeps not only your compiler proprietary but even the source code (preferred data structures for making changes) for your clients' websites (their flows, templates, etc.).

While use of the compiled output of your service may be a fallback, it's certainly not a good contingency. In particular, wouldn't consider the complied output "source code" any more than I'd consider assembler language output "source code".

Re: Webflow (YC S13) Lets You Design Responsive Websites Visually, Publish Instantly

#38

Post by elclanrs »

I see the potential of these kind of applications, it's a killer product for their target audience. But I can't see how this would fit in my WordPress workflow to be honest.

I tried the demo and the interface looks great but I feel restricted. My process usually begins in Inkscape. I build all the layouts in vector and once I have a good idea of how they should look like I grab my WordPress boilerplate folder and build the theme from scratch; no static first, just dynamic as I go. They're not complete themes though, just what's needed for the given project.

So yeah, great product, looks good, but I won't use it. I had the same thoughts about Adobe Reflow. Tried it, liked it, maybe for a static portfolio site but other than won't be useful.

Re: Webflow (YC S13) Lets You Design Responsive Websites Visually, Publish Instantly

#40

Post by uxabhishek »

Well designed and very powerful product for my use case. Had to throw a responsive landing page quickly and Webflow made the job so much easier. I kept iterating on my page design using your tool (I was going off a really rough mock) and kept losing my iterations :) but in the end it worked out quite well.
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