10 ms·

WebFlow

120 points by squiggy22 13y ago

jamesfranco 13y ago
What's new? This is old. Hasn't this startup been featured on HN a couple of times?
- rschmitty 13y ago
  I don't think much is new, guessing someone just hasnt managed to see it before. I did get an email from them last week about their new for pay templates https://webflow.com/templates https://webflow.com/templates
danoprey 13y ago
I am making audible noises over how beautiful this website is, great job.
swanify 13y ago
It looks like a modern day dreamweaver, or front page, no doubt a hell of a lot better! Will definitely need to give this a try.
cabalamat 13y ago
So was the webflow website generated in webflow?
- waxin 13y ago
  i think not - you can only go/do basic stuff with sites like this, at the end of the day some level of coding will be required
  - callmevlad 13y ago
    (Co-founder of Webflow here...) Would you say these are basic? (All created with Webflow.) http://artemis.com/ http://artemis.com/ http://cmplain.com/ http://cmplain.com/ http://www.zombi.nl/ http://www.zombi.nl/ http://zombidemos.webflow.com/ http://zombidemos.webflow.com/ https://webflow.com/gallery https://webflow.com/gallery
    - waxin 13y ago
      did you notice i italicized "basic" on my comment, it depends on your view of "basic" on HN level, i say they're all basic
axefrog 13y ago
"beautiful" and "responsive" have become two of the biggest "buzzword bingo" words of the web these last few years. So many people telling you that their stuff is beautiful that the word starts to lose value.
- jgroome 13y ago
  "Responsive" is pretty factual - something either is or it isn't responsive. "Beautiful" and "awesome", however, I could do without seeing everywhere for a few months. Especially "awesome".
  - rplnt 13y ago
    But it's not always a necessity to be responsive.
    - wmeredith 13y ago
      Nor does it imply quality in and of itself. >>"Responsive" is pretty factual - something either is or it isn't responsive. "Car" is pretty factual. There's all kinds of cars...
      - derefr 13y ago
        Sure, but if you want to drive on the road, it's still at least a bit helpful to know that the framework is not, in fact, a boat. (I wonder if someone could give a Devil's Advocate position on the advantages of a non-responsive framework...)
        wmeredith 13y ago
        Advantages of a non-responsive framework: Less complexity. This leads to more speed and reliability in terms of development, deployment, and maintenance. If I was building something that saw no significant advantages from being responsive (e.g. an ATM GUI) I'd definitely skip it.
  - 13y ago
digitalengineer 13y ago
I'm a designer and know about them for some time, but I really dislike the pay-every-month plan. That's not how it works for me with design jobs. I might need several projects at once and have no (webdesign)projects after that. I'd rahter see a pay-as-you-go plan. Also: bugfixing. I think I still need someone to do that for me with a service like this.
- computerbob 13y ago
  I have never used webflow, but it seems to me that you could create a project and then when you are happy with it, you could "export" the site. This gives you the css/html/js necessary. Then you could put the site on your own hosting and then cancel your plan. That way you would only pay the months that you are actually using it.
josephpmay 13y ago
I love Webflow, and have used it for multiple projects, but I personally feel like it's way too expensive. As a student, I could literarily get the entire adobe creative suite for cheaper than the Webflow plan I would need would cost. And, as I only create a few static web pages a year, there's no way I can justify paying for Webflow.
- lalwanivikas 13y ago
  Prices are way too high for me as well. I hope they are noticing these comments and can come up with better pricing plans.
  - lukeholder 13y ago
    I agree also.
- triangleman 13y ago
  While limited in features, Weebly has a "designer platform" where you can make unlimited websites for preview, and then publish websites for $8/month. Form submissions don't cost anything.
  - stevenleeg 13y ago
    +1 for weebly! Their tools have been awesome for when I need something good looking up quickly.
- kkilat 13y ago
  Hey, this is Kyle from the Webflow team. We actually offer a great discount for students now. Shoot us an email at support@webflow.com and we can hook you up!
- kpapke 13y ago
  I also use webflow but it definitely seems geared toward small agencies. The individual pricing plan is too much. Again I love the tool and would gladly pay for if the individual plan's cost went down.
danbruc 13y ago
1000 form submissions per site and month in the top plan ($840 per year) and $0.01 for each after reaching the limit? They don't mean clicking on the submit button of a HTML form, do they? That would mean that a bot submitting a form every second for 24 hours would add $864 to the bill.
- fatbat 13y ago
  This was my understanding as well. And is by far the most restricting feature on Webflow. Makes even less sense considering the largest "cost" is simply db space.
silasb 13y ago
That UI Kit is nice. Anyone know if it is open source or if there is something similar to it out there?
- ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
  I believe it's using React.
Fiaxhs 13y ago
Funny how the featured website doesn't look like this at all. http://www.cometskateboards.com/ http://www.cometskateboards.com/
camus2 13y ago
Is it a web only tool?
- kkilat 13y ago
  For now, yes, it's a web-only tool. Though we may create a standalone app sometime in the future!
  - toddwahnish 13y ago
    +1 As someone who has used webflow, I would love this.
allsystemsgo 13y ago
I've always wondered how to make the "scrolling" type responsive websites. Does bootstrap or weebly make that easy? I'm an iOS dev and I've literally never touched web development.
- woah 13y ago
  For images that just stay fixed, background-attachment: fixed does the job nicely. For things like parallax, stuff popping into view, etc, you basically write a function that gets called on scroll events and does what you need. It usually ends up being kind of hacky, with magical equations that take the value from .scrollTop() (jquery) as an input. It's best not to overthink these things. Bootstrap has an affix function which will help you make nav bars that stick to the top of the page. There are many other 'scrolling frameworks' out there, but I've found them to be a waste of time, myself.
ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
If the Webflow website was built and designed using only Webflow, then I would be impressed.
- callmevlad 13y ago
  (Co-founder here...) The Webflow.com website was mostly designed in Webflow, but we had some limitations at the time that required us to hand-code things. A new version is in the works that is completely created in Webflow, so it's only a matter of time :) Pretty much all of our other sites (e.g. [1][2]) are already built/hosted/managed on Webflow. [1] http://tutorials.webflow.com/ http://tutorials.webflow.com/ [2] http://jobs.webflow.com http://jobs.webflow.com
  - derefr 13y ago
    What were/are the limitations? Are they things that have since been fixed in the publically-available version of Webflow, or will users run into them?
  - danellis 13y ago
    Your web site is actually pretty terrible. Why do you need those fancy effects? The result is that text starts to fade out if I'm scrolling while I'm reading it, and images don't appear until I've scrolled past where the top of the image would be, so I have to scroll back up to see the top of the image that just appeared. Please, designers, stop trying to be clever for the sake of it. You're guaranteed to make the browsing experience worse for some people.
  - sehr 13y ago
    "Change the World." Really?
- jonfarjo 13y ago
  This is what we did with contentactivator.com. We wanted to promote our app through the sites we built. We even used it for our support site at help.contentactivator.com.
emilioolivares 13y ago
It's too expensive for personal use, I would like to see a pay as you go plan such a flat fee by website. Maybe Pre pay 3, 6, 12 months or any other options to make it a no brainer. The product itself is very very cool. I'm amazed by what is technically possible in modern web browsers.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
finnh 13y ago
I read the pricing FAQ but I'm still a bit confused. Here's my use case: I host my own web apps & sites. I would like to use WebFlow to redesign one of them. Should take me about a month. Do I only pay for a month, and then export, and then quit paying? What happens when, 1 year from now, I want to tweak the site? Can WebFlow import old webflow projects? Or do I need to pay for every intervening month to preserve the ability to use WebFlow on that site in the future?
- alonso12 13y ago
  yep, also disappointed/confused by their pricing model.
  - subpixel 13y ago
    Yes it's small beer, but I'm baffled that something they give you for free on the cheapest plan (custom domain), they want to charge you for on more expensive plans.
- jobnobber 13y ago
  I don't find the pricing confusing at all. Why would they allow users to build a complete website for $14? They make the money on the hosting.
- brryant 13y ago
  Hi there, Webflow founder here! We actually have a free trial, which lets you design and export as many sites as you'd like in a 2 week period. If you're still working on your site after your trial is over you have the option of upgrading to the Personal plan which gives you the ability to export your sites. You can cancel at any time and we never delete your work, so you can come back a year later and redesign your site again.
spoiler 13y ago
I feel like this will bring forth a plague similar to the Dreamwaver one. And people fought so hard to purge that.
nivertech 13y ago
I'm mostly a backend dev, who knows basic frontend stuff. If I need to build a marketing website should I choose WebFlow or Startup Design Framework? Does WebFlow uses Bootstrap 3?

WebFlow

120 points by squiggy22 13y ago

jamesfranco 13y ago

What's new? This is old. Hasn't this startup been featured on HN a couple of times?

rschmitty 13y ago
I don't think much is new, guessing someone just hasnt managed to see it before. I did get an email from them last week about their new for pay templates https://webflow.com/templates https://webflow.com/templates

danoprey 13y ago

I am making audible noises over how beautiful this website is, great job.

swanify 13y ago

It looks like a modern day dreamweaver, or front page, no doubt a hell of a lot better! Will definitely need to give this a try.

cabalamat 13y ago

So was the webflow website generated in webflow?

waxin 13y ago
i think not - you can only go/do basic stuff with sites like this, at the end of the day some level of coding will be required
- callmevlad 13y ago
  (Co-founder of Webflow here...) Would you say these are basic? (All created with Webflow.) http://artemis.com/ http://artemis.com/ http://cmplain.com/ http://cmplain.com/ http://www.zombi.nl/ http://www.zombi.nl/ http://zombidemos.webflow.com/ http://zombidemos.webflow.com/ https://webflow.com/gallery https://webflow.com/gallery
  - waxin 13y ago
    did you notice i italicized "basic" on my comment, it depends on your view of "basic" on HN level, i say they're all basic

axefrog 13y ago

"beautiful" and "responsive" have become two of the biggest "buzzword bingo" words of the web these last few years. So many people telling you that their stuff is beautiful that the word starts to lose value.

jgroome 13y ago
"Responsive" is pretty factual - something either is or it isn't responsive. "Beautiful" and "awesome", however, I could do without seeing everywhere for a few months. Especially "awesome".
- rplnt 13y ago
  But it's not always a necessity to be responsive.
  - wmeredith 13y ago
    Nor does it imply quality in and of itself. >>"Responsive" is pretty factual - something either is or it isn't responsive. "Car" is pretty factual. There's all kinds of cars...
    - derefr 13y ago
      Sure, but if you want to drive on the road, it's still at least a bit helpful to know that the framework is not, in fact, a boat. (I wonder if someone could give a Devil's Advocate position on the advantages of a non-responsive framework...)
      - wmeredith 13y ago
        Advantages of a non-responsive framework: Less complexity. This leads to more speed and reliability in terms of development, deployment, and maintenance. If I was building something that saw no significant advantages from being responsive (e.g. an ATM GUI) I'd definitely skip it.
- 13y ago

digitalengineer 13y ago

I'm a designer and know about them for some time, but I really dislike the pay-every-month plan. That's not how it works for me with design jobs. I might need several projects at once and have no (webdesign)projects after that. I'd rahter see a pay-as-you-go plan. Also: bugfixing. I think I still need someone to do that for me with a service like this.

computerbob 13y ago
I have never used webflow, but it seems to me that you could create a project and then when you are happy with it, you could "export" the site. This gives you the css/html/js necessary. Then you could put the site on your own hosting and then cancel your plan. That way you would only pay the months that you are actually using it.

josephpmay 13y ago

I love Webflow, and have used it for multiple projects, but I personally feel like it's way too expensive. As a student, I could literarily get the entire adobe creative suite for cheaper than the Webflow plan I would need would cost. And, as I only create a few static web pages a year, there's no way I can justify paying for Webflow.

lalwanivikas 13y ago
Prices are way too high for me as well. I hope they are noticing these comments and can come up with better pricing plans.
- lukeholder 13y ago
  I agree also.
triangleman 13y ago
While limited in features, Weebly has a "designer platform" where you can make unlimited websites for preview, and then publish websites for $8/month. Form submissions don't cost anything.
- stevenleeg 13y ago
  +1 for weebly! Their tools have been awesome for when I need something good looking up quickly.
kkilat 13y ago
Hey, this is Kyle from the Webflow team. We actually offer a great discount for students now. Shoot us an email at support@webflow.com and we can hook you up!
kpapke 13y ago
I also use webflow but it definitely seems geared toward small agencies. The individual pricing plan is too much. Again I love the tool and would gladly pay for if the individual plan's cost went down.

danbruc 13y ago

1000 form submissions per site and month in the top plan ($840 per year) and $0.01 for each after reaching the limit? They don't mean clicking on the submit button of a HTML form, do they? That would mean that a bot submitting a form every second for 24 hours would add $864 to the bill.

fatbat 13y ago
This was my understanding as well. And is by far the most restricting feature on Webflow. Makes even less sense considering the largest "cost" is simply db space.

silasb 13y ago

That UI Kit is nice. Anyone know if it is open source or if there is something similar to it out there?

ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
I believe it's using React.

Fiaxhs 13y ago

Funny how the featured website doesn't look like this at all. http://www.cometskateboards.com/ http://www.cometskateboards.com/

camus2 13y ago

Is it a web only tool?

kkilat 13y ago
For now, yes, it's a web-only tool. Though we may create a standalone app sometime in the future!
- toddwahnish 13y ago
  +1 As someone who has used webflow, I would love this.

allsystemsgo 13y ago

I've always wondered how to make the "scrolling" type responsive websites. Does bootstrap or weebly make that easy? I'm an iOS dev and I've literally never touched web development.

woah 13y ago
For images that just stay fixed, background-attachment: fixed does the job nicely. For things like parallax, stuff popping into view, etc, you basically write a function that gets called on scroll events and does what you need. It usually ends up being kind of hacky, with magical equations that take the value from .scrollTop() (jquery) as an input. It's best not to overthink these things. Bootstrap has an affix function which will help you make nav bars that stick to the top of the page. There are many other 'scrolling frameworks' out there, but I've found them to be a waste of time, myself.

ChikkaChiChi 13y ago

If the Webflow website was built and designed using only Webflow, then I would be impressed.

callmevlad 13y ago
(Co-founder here...) The Webflow.com website was mostly designed in Webflow, but we had some limitations at the time that required us to hand-code things. A new version is in the works that is completely created in Webflow, so it's only a matter of time :) Pretty much all of our other sites (e.g. [1][2]) are already built/hosted/managed on Webflow. [1] http://tutorials.webflow.com/ http://tutorials.webflow.com/ [2] http://jobs.webflow.com http://jobs.webflow.com
- derefr 13y ago
  What were/are the limitations? Are they things that have since been fixed in the publically-available version of Webflow, or will users run into them?
- danellis 13y ago
  Your web site is actually pretty terrible. Why do you need those fancy effects? The result is that text starts to fade out if I'm scrolling while I'm reading it, and images don't appear until I've scrolled past where the top of the image would be, so I have to scroll back up to see the top of the image that just appeared. Please, designers, stop trying to be clever for the sake of it. You're guaranteed to make the browsing experience worse for some people.
- sehr 13y ago
  "Change the World." Really?
jonfarjo 13y ago
This is what we did with contentactivator.com. We wanted to promote our app through the sites we built. We even used it for our support site at help.contentactivator.com.

emilioolivares 13y ago

It's too expensive for personal use, I would like to see a pay as you go plan such a flat fee by website. Maybe Pre pay 3, 6, 12 months or any other options to make it a no brainer. The product itself is very very cool. I'm amazed by what is technically possible in modern web browsers.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

finnh 13y ago

I read the pricing FAQ but I'm still a bit confused. Here's my use case: I host my own web apps & sites. I would like to use WebFlow to redesign one of them. Should take me about a month. Do I only pay for a month, and then export, and then quit paying? What happens when, 1 year from now, I want to tweak the site? Can WebFlow import old webflow projects? Or do I need to pay for every intervening month to preserve the ability to use WebFlow on that site in the future?

alonso12 13y ago
yep, also disappointed/confused by their pricing model.
- subpixel 13y ago
  Yes it's small beer, but I'm baffled that something they give you for free on the cheapest plan (custom domain), they want to charge you for on more expensive plans.
jobnobber 13y ago
I don't find the pricing confusing at all. Why would they allow users to build a complete website for $14? They make the money on the hosting.
brryant 13y ago
Hi there, Webflow founder here! We actually have a free trial, which lets you design and export as many sites as you'd like in a 2 week period. If you're still working on your site after your trial is over you have the option of upgrading to the Personal plan which gives you the ability to export your sites. You can cancel at any time and we never delete your work, so you can come back a year later and redesign your site again.

spoiler 13y ago

I feel like this will bring forth a plague similar to the Dreamwaver one. And people fought so hard to purge that.

nivertech 13y ago

I'm mostly a backend dev, who knows basic frontend stuff. If I need to build a marketing website should I choose WebFlow or Startup Design Framework? Does WebFlow uses Bootstrap 3?