What is Webflow? A comprehensive overview

What is Webflow — briefly explained

Webflow is software as a service - i.e. an online tool that can be reached at any time - with which you can build responsive websites directly in the browser. It is aimed at web designers who want to independently translate their visual ideas into impressive websites without having to write code themselves. The tool does this in the background. While the user visually builds the website click by click on the computer, Webflow generates the HTML, CSS and Javascript code fully automatically.

Who is Webflow for?

Basically, Webflow is suitable for anyone who wants to build an impressive responsive website on their own without having to write a line of code. In contrast to other website builders, Webflow gives you every freedom in designing your online presence. You can really customize everything here. Rigid templates and predefined styling guidelines cannot be found here. The design world of the WWW is completely open to you. That is also the reason why Webflow is primarily used by many designers. Web designers usually depend on a programmer to implement their visual website ideas. With Webflow, design professionals are able to independently translate their visual ideas into a website — without having to make any compromises. However, all of these benefits come at a price: Webflow is a bit more complicated to use than other website builders such as Wix or Squarespace. However, the learning curve is very steep. So if you take the time to dig into Webflow, you can earn more yourself in the long run and will be pleased with wonderful results.

Is Webflow easy to use?

Anyone who is at home in the world of Adobe, Figma or Sketch will quickly feel very comfortable using Webflow. Web designers can therefore start working in Webflow quite intuitively. Because: The Webflow designer works in a similar way to standard image editing programs. For all other users, getting started with Webflow is a bit unusual at first. However, there are numerous Online Tutorials And the Webflow Universityto learn the first basics. This allows you to get started quickly. After that, learning by doing applies.
Tip: If you want to learn Webflow from scratch, feel free to take a look at my chronologically structured Webflow online courses on. Learn how to use Webflow securely here.

Designer, CMS, Editor, and Hosting

Webflow divides its features for editing templates and creating websites into four basic categories: The Designer, the CMS, and the Editor.

What is Webflow Designer?

The Webflow Designer can be described as the heart of the website builder. Here you get the full power of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript in a visual interface.
Within the designer, you virtually click together your website. Arrange blocks, add exciting animations to your website and adjust everything to your liking. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the designer creates clean, semantic code for an optimized website.
If you want to optimize the code on your own, you should know that Webflow includes all features included in CSS3 and HTML5. This includes the box model, 3D CSS transforms, custom transitions, and flex boxes. It is also possible to implement animations — which are triggered by scrolling, clicking or the loading behavior of web pages. And that without any JavaScript knowledge.

How does the Webflow CMS work?

Webflow is a complete content management system (CMS) à la Drupal, Magento or WordPress and at the same time a powerful site designer and builder.
The trick: All content you create is not limited by templates, blog-centric content structures, or complex programming languages. Instead, Webflow offers you schemes that you can easily integrate into your website. When it comes to content creation, you are absolutely free.
In summary: The Webflow CMS offers you all the features you could ever want from such a system. With Webflow, you can certainly build websites without the CMS - but if you regularly publish new content on your online presence, the integrated content management system is a real blessing.

What is the Webflow Editor?

Webflow claims that adding new content is as easy as filling out a form. Whenever you're ready to make changes to your site, you can do so with just a few clicks. With the live preview, you won't have any unpleasant surprises after the release of your new content.
Since Webflow separates content from the underlying website settings, you can make changes to your website at any time without worrying about damaging parts of your website. You can also work together with other users on a website. The detailed version history shows you exactly who changed what and when.

How do my customers edit their website?

Webflow is built so that your customers can edit their website at any time without destroying the basic layout or making involuntary changes. The customer interface is accessible via your customers' own login (they only need an email address and a password of their own).
After logging in, your customers will see their website as it is shown to their visitors. With one difference: All text fields, buttons, links, headlines, and images can be edited. The changes made are immediately visible on the page without being published directly.
If your customer is logged in, a bar also appears at the bottom of the website. About the rider Pages Can the individual pages be called up and under Settings make individual SEO changes.
It is also possible for the customer to add blog posts. To do this, he selects in the bottom bar Collections. There you can add blog posts, edit FAQs and much more.

Do I have to worry about hosting with Webflow?

Webflow offers you the right hosting package for your website. The cool thing about it: No matter how much traffic your website receives — it runs and runs and runs. This is because Webflow uses hosting technology that involves more than 100 global data centers. The data centers are powered by Fastly and Amazon CloudFront — two established cloud computing services.
The well-thought-out hosting strategy ensures that your website loads in milliseconds and is reachable 99.99 percent of the time. In summary, this means for you: You have a website that is easy to reach regardless of traffic, has the prerequisites for good SEO due to its fast loading times and that is also convincing when it comes to security. SSL certificates are also included.

Can I create responsive websites with Webflow?

Responsive websites are a must these days. After all, most traffic now comes from mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. Web pages should be optimized in view for such devices. Webflow has all the features to make the hard work involved in responsive design as easy as possible.
In Webflow Designer, you'll find a bar at the top of the screen that allows you to view your website from desktop, smartphone, and tablet views. Webflow has already made many elements responsive. However, individual elements may still have to be moved or adjusted so that the final result looks even more beautiful on mobile devices. Adjust images, change font sizes, and more. Everything individually for the selected breakpoint.

How clean is the code written in the background by Webflow?

Webflow writes clean, semantic code that is understood and liked by all browsers. Anyone who works with Webflow works very close to the web and many programmers say that it is really impressive how clean the code is in the background.

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What advanced web designers love: With Webflow, you can add custom code to them at any time. This makes it easy to add external extensions or JavaScript plugins to make the website even more powerful. Your own CSS code is also possible at any time.

The Webflow API allows you to to edit and manage the Webflow CMS via Notion or to connect Webflow with Integromat, Zapier or Airtable.

How fast is a Webflow website?

Compared to other content management systems, a Webflow website is very powerful. A site built in Webflow already delivers very good Google Page Speed results (over 80 on mobile and desktop). With a few tips on what to look out for, you can quickly get the score above 90. Watch it for yourself in the following video:

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Is Webflow SEO friendly?

Webflow is inherently very SEO-friendly. The fast loading times and the cleanly written code are also liked by all search engines. There are also a few ways to further optimize your website for search engines. I have you here 11 SEO tips summarized. This allows you to change Meta Title and Meta Description, create a logical navigation structure, minify code, link the website to the Google Search Console, assign logical alt texts, create 301 redirects, etc.

Is Webflow widely used?

No question about it: WordPress is and remains the undisputed market leader among CMS. With more than 65 percent market share WordPress is by far the most used solution among content management systems. But Webflow is catching up. Since its inception, the company has steeply increasing user numbers. At the NoCode conference 2021, Webflow also announced that the Webflow community has published over a million websites since the last conference in 2020. In addition, around 1 million users joined the Webflow community in 2021. In total, Webflow can now look back on more than 3.5 million users (as of 2021).

What does Webflow cost?

You can start working with Webflow at any time for free. That's how long your Webflow account remains in test status. Yet you have full control over your designs and can get to know Webflow and the designer to your heart's content. You can even publish your Webflow website — but then on a Webflow subdomain.

On the other hand, if you want to publish the website under your own domain and really use ALL the features that Webflow offers (such as the option to export the website as HTML code), you need a paid plan. You can pay for this plan monthly or in advance for a full year. If you choose the latter option, you'll get a discount.

You can cancel your hosting plan at any time. Webflow doesn't offer refunds though — your plan will remain active until the end of your current billing period. If you have a Webflow website and cancel your plan, you will of course still have access to the website - but as part of the free trial plan.
When choosing a paid subscription, you have several options. There are offers for individuals or even teams. If you're an individual who only needs a website, you'll have to pay for hosting alone. There are three different plans that you can then choose from. They vary in the number of visitors allowed per month and the number of form submissions you can receive. Important: The Basic Plan does not include any CMS features.
If you're a designer or freelancer, you can use all Webflow tools to create websites with the Lite or Pro account plan. You also have the option to export the website code for use in other environments. With the Pro version, you can also implement an unlimited number of projects in Webflow.

Since the topic of webflow and pricing seems a bit complicated for many, I've written a complete article especially for this: Webflow prices simply explained.

Does Webflow have templates that are easy to get started with?

As with most website builders, you can start with a template in Webflow. You have the choice between hundreds of professionally designed templates.

You can customize any of these templates to perfectly match your brand and goals (you can customize the entire design!). Webflow itself offers more than 25 free templates. Whether it's an e-commerce site, blog, or portfolio website, there are plenty of templates available.

Is it easy to integrate animations into my website with Webflow?

If you look at some Webflow websites (here I have you Some of my favorites presented as inspiration), you'll quickly notice that Webflow websites often have really cool and appealing animations. That's also obvious, because Webflow makes it super easy to integrate animations and interactions into websites. Watch the video for an overview of common Webflow animations:

I myself am convinced that the future of web design is storytelling. And that is only possible with chic animations. Webflow provides all features so you can visually create animations — without any code. This is very often scrolly-telling - i.e. animations that are based on scrolling behavior on a website. Examples include images that grow, shrink, or open as you scroll. But also fonts that slowly thread in and out. Hover effects are just as easy to implement.
By the way: You can simply clone some cool website projects with impressive animations and use them for your own Webflow projects.

How does Webflow compare to WordPress or Squarespace?

Webflow builds a bridge between easy-to-use but functionally limited website builders and complex CMS, which sometimes require coding.

It must be particularly common Comparing Webflow with WordPress Set. WordPress is the most frequently used CMS worldwide, which is partly due to its free nature. In contrast to Webflow, you are a bit more limited in terms of design freedom in WordPress. In addition, the Webflow code, which is written in the background when building the website, is significantly cleaner than that of WordPress. This is often bloated due to the numerous plugins available, which is at the expense of website load times and SEO. Another big difference between Webflow and WordPress: Webflow websites can be visually built on the screen click by click. With WordPress, this is only possible if you use a modular tool. About the prices: WordPress is generally free of charge. Webflow, on the other hand, is charged as soon as you want to start publishing your website.

A key difference between WordPress and Webflow is security. A contribution from me: Webflow or Wordpress — Which system is more secure? As open source software, WordPress is a popular target for hackers. You must urgently make an effort to set the appropriate security settings here. Webflow, on the other hand, comes standard with numerous security features, such as a free SSL certificate and an internal team that fixes rapidly occurring security gaps.

Webflow and Squarespace are both website builders that help you get great results without coding. Both allow you to visually assemble your website. However, there are also significant Differences between Squarespace and Webflow. Webflow offers significantly more customization options for your website, but is also more complex to use. Squarespace is therefore the first choice for beginners and people who don't want to spend a long time designing their website and don't want to do so in the future. For professional web designers and agencies, on the other hand, Webflow is the first tool of choice.

Inspiration: Which websites have already been implemented with Webflow?

If you take the time and rummage a bit through the websites that have already been implemented with Webflow, you'll find some great results. The website animations, which are possible with Webflow, are particularly impressive. Here I have you creative agency sites put together. Small and medium-sized companies are involved.

There are also really chic Webflow portfolio websites by photographers, website designers, and a few other creatives. But not only lone wolves, but also agencies rely on the power of Webflow to build really cool websites.

Does Webflow provide quick help and support?

Since Webflow is a paid solution, the website experts offer professional support from the permanent Webflow team. You can send inquiries directly via the Webflow website. You will usually get an answer within a few hours.
At the same time, Webflow users benefit from the constantly growing community, which likes to support and inspire each other. Also take a look at the Webflow Forum. It is huge and provides answers to almost all questions that may arise in conjunction with Webflow.

Where can I learn Webflow?

If you're really excited to get started with Webflow, you'll quickly find numerous tutorials on YouTube and on the Webflow website. I too have quite a few free Webflow tutorials published. They help you get started with the website tool and also provide you with specific instructions for special features of the website builder.

Otherwise I can give you one of my Webflow online courses recommend. Here you will learn how to use Webflow step by step. Starting with a blank white page to impressive results with really nice animations.

Alternatively, you can find in the Webflow University There is also extensive online training on Webflow - but in English.