Features of Webflow

Hello-

I came across Webflow and I’m interested in using it as a
replacement for Wordpress. I just have some questions that I was hoping
you could provide information on before I decide on making a purchase.

Does Webflow own the code and content?

Can I remove all Webflow branding from my website?

Can I export the site if I decide I need a separate platform/developer to take the site over?

I already own my domain and pay for hosting through Bluehost. Can I
use my domain with Webflow and can I use my hosting plan with
Webflow or does Webflow already provide it’s own hosting plan? If
so, what is this hosting plan like?

What does Webflow provide that Bubble.is does not provide? Can I build a web app with Webflow like you can with Bubble.is?

Thanks.

Hello,

You own the code and content.

You can remove all the webflow branding on the professional plans.

You can export on personal plans and above. You cannot export CMS based content, your site will be blank wherever CMS content was visible if you export a site. If you are building a static site, this will not be a problem.

Webflow provides hosting for both basic sites and CMS sites. Basic sites can be exported and hosted elsewhere, CMS sites must be hosted on webflow. Domains can be used with either option.

Webflow is not a web app designer, it is a website designer. So I am not sure what comparisons it would have with bubble.is.

Please reference https://webflow.com/pricing for pricing information.

@Kayak_Authority - welcome to the last web design tool you’ll ever use. It seriously is that great of a web tool.

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Hello-

Thanks for the information. It is much appreciated.

I’m somewhat new to web design so some of my questions might be very basic. I’m just trying to do some research before I make any purchases for designing a website.

I’m confused still on what “CMS Hosting” and “CMS Content” is. What is CMS Content? Is CMS Hosting and CMS Content the same exact thing as building a website on Wordpress.org? Could you give an example of why someone would choose Basic Hosting rather than CMS Hosting?

Why can’t you export a CMS site from Webflow? What’s the reason and are there any options?

Can you explain the difference between a web app designer platform and a website designer? For example, are you saying that a user could not build an Airbnb-type website using Webflow but they could built it using Bubble.is? Could you build an Airbnb site with Webflow if you also purchased other services to use in conjunction with it?

In the Webflow CMS system, we have groups of CMS items (content) called Collections. These collections have their own fields, so each of the items in the same collection have the same fields.

For example, a Blog Post collection has fields like Title/Summary/BodyText/Category/Tags, while an Author collection has fields like Name/Photo/Biography. Each of these collections hold many items.

CMS content is simply “all items” in all collections.

No. Wordpress.org is a company that develops and distributes the software Wordpress. You have to download, install, and set up the Wordpress on your own server. Wordpress by default only supports Blog Posts and Pages and Authors, and you need to install 3rd-party plugins or hire a developer to support custom Collections like Galleries, Projects, and whatever else you can think of.

In Webflow, you can directly create different types of collections, and customize the collections with different types of fields, like colour picker, numbers, text fields, map, image uploads, etc. If you are using Wordpress you have to resort to using 3rd-party plugins or hire a developer.

Simple. Choose Basic Hosting if:

  • You are not going to be using any CMS features (items & collections, and editing of text directly from the published site), and
  • You are the only person who will be updating the site.

This is because the mechanism for exporting the CMS collections and items have not been implemented. I can neither confirm nor deny as to whether this will be possible in the future.

The option is simple. If you need exporting of CMS items in the future, you can design the front-end of the website using Webflow, then export the code and integrate with a third-party CMS like Wordpress.

I have not heard of bubble.is before, but it seems promising.

Website designer - Focuses on frontend UI

Web app maker - Complete application that has deep integration with backend functionality like CRM (user registration/login/profiles/usergroups), e-commerce, API hooks, database storage, etc.

Both have their own pros and cons, you should choose depending on what features you need.

Yes, but it won’t be the best option.

Firstly, Webflow currently does not support user/guest submissions to the CMS collections (submit your own house/room as a listing). Therefore you will need to subscribe to and implement third party that does that, then you have to display their website/API in your website, which most likely uses an iframe, which is inserted into Webflow using an embed code component. To customize the style/layout of the elements inserted with a custom code component, you will need knowledge of HTML and CSS (and even possibly JavaScript/jQuery). If not, you will have to hire a web developer to perform customization. But wait! You can style the iframe, but you will NOT be able to style the external webpage! (cross-site limitation imposed by web browsers).

As you can see just for this simple example, one thing will lead to another gotcha pretty easily.

The above example is only for ONE limitation/constraint. If your site requires other stuff like user registrations, e-commerce functionality, member-only area like wishlist/shortlist, user profiles, voting, etc,etc… How many third-party script hacks are you going to implement? And once you are done with all the hacks implemented, you are better off hiring the developer to create your web app outside of Webflow.

Where Webflow does well, is only the frontend/UI part. There are thousands of other things required if you need a fully functional app like a real-estate portal. This is the front-end of the site I created in Webflow. As you can see, it’s just the front-end. To make everything work like the search/filter functionality, custom maps, etc., you need to move elsewhere to continue development.


I am not a staff of Webflow, and the opinions expressed above are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Webflow team. I disclaim all and any responsibility or liability in respect of information detailed or omitted (or the consequences thereof) from this post.

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