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The editor is pretty slick for a beta, but I wonder what the benefit is of releasing an app before, or instead of, a browser version. It seems to be written in

The editor is pretty slick for a beta, but I wonder what the benefit is of releasing an app before, or instead of, a browser version. It seems to be written in react native (?), so I assume it's not a technical reason. (edit: I notice it actually is possible to use the builder in the browser, but that doesn't seem to be advertised anywhere!) One of the problems I've seen with no-code editors is that a small to medium sized site might be contracted out to a developer or agency that builds it with WebFlow. Since the layout and style ends up complex enough that the client can't do much with it themselves, they need to go back to the original contractor, or find someone else who specializes in WebFlow, just to make small changes and bug fixes. Maybe that's fundamentally unsolvable due to the difficulty of producing a complicated site, but it feels like it should be possible to do better. The main criticism I have specifically of this editor is that it feels too similar to WebFlow, but with fewer features, and I can't use it from a browser. The design tokens/local styles might be interesting, but I don't think it's fleshed out enough yet to say whether it's a significant improvement on WebFlow's style selector. I think there's plenty of room to iterate and improve on WYSIWYG builder UX in general though, so I look forward to how the project evolves!

oleg009 3y ago
I am confused, we only have a download button at the bottom of the page, but "Get early access" button everywhere else. It is much harder to find download than to open the browser version ... Similarity to Webflow is not a bug, its a feature. It's designed to feel familiar for Webflow developers. This product is built for them. Check out this video to learn how Design Tokens work in Webstudio. It's built with full knowledge of Webflow Style selector. You are talking to an ex style system engineer from Webflow lol. https://twitter.com/webstudiois/status/1669441600831868944 https://twitter.com/webstudiois/status/1669441600831868944
- sampullman 3y ago
  Oh! I probably shouldn't write comments before coffee. What happened was that I saw the sign-up page and assumed it was just for creating an account, rather than accessing the web builder. I should have realized what was going on when the same login screen appeared in the downloaded app. I'm familiar with Webflow and the design tokens make sense to me, but I don't think it's a natural abstraction for non-web developers. I saw that you're ex-Webflow, I just meant to express a general frustration with how existing builders deal with reusable styles - it totally makes sense in the context of targeting devs who already know the Webflow UX. For what it's worth, I've been working on a site builder for the past few months and ended up with a similar solution, so this criticism is partly a projection of my own struggles. Anyway, thanks for replying! The project looks great, I look forward to see what you end up with wrt versioning and animations.

oleg009 3y ago

I am confused, we only have a download button at the bottom of the page, but "Get early access" button everywhere else. It is much harder to find download than to open the browser version ... Similarity to Webflow is not a bug, its a feature. It's designed to feel familiar for Webflow developers. This product is built for them. Check out this video to learn how Design Tokens work in Webstudio. It's built with full knowledge of Webflow Style selector. You are talking to an ex style system engineer from Webflow lol. https://twitter.com/webstudiois/status/1669441600831868944 https://twitter.com/webstudiois/status/1669441600831868944

sampullman 3y ago
Oh! I probably shouldn't write comments before coffee. What happened was that I saw the sign-up page and assumed it was just for creating an account, rather than accessing the web builder. I should have realized what was going on when the same login screen appeared in the downloaded app. I'm familiar with Webflow and the design tokens make sense to me, but I don't think it's a natural abstraction for non-web developers. I saw that you're ex-Webflow, I just meant to express a general frustration with how existing builders deal with reusable styles - it totally makes sense in the context of targeting devs who already know the Webflow UX. For what it's worth, I've been working on a site builder for the past few months and ended up with a similar solution, so this criticism is partly a projection of my own struggles. Anyway, thanks for replying! The project looks great, I look forward to see what you end up with wrt versioning and animations.