Webflow

Webflow
Headquarters San Francisco, California
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Vlad Magdalin, Sergie Magdalin, Bryant Chou
Industry Website Development
Website webflow.com
Type of site Website builder
Launched August 5, 2013 (2013-08-05)
Current status Active

Webflow is a professional drag and drop tool built for designing websites using responsive web design best practices. The service allows businesses and freelance professionals to design and publish websites without any coding.[1] Functionality such as social plug-ins, contact forms, and animated interactions can be created through the platform.

In contrast to most website builders, which aim to allow non-technical individuals to publish websites as easily as possible, Webflow caters to professional and aspiring designers wanting to reduce the cost and time associated with relying on developers for technical assistance.[2]

Overview

Webflow is a cloud-based software as a service that allows designers to build production-ready, responsive websites without any coding knowledge required.[3] It allows designers to accomplish most aspects of web development and website distribution through a visual editor that provides the pixel-for-pixel design precision found in desktop graphic design applications such as Adobe Photoshop.

While designers use the tool, Webflow automatically generates W3C standards-compliant HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.[4][5] Based on Twitter's Bootstrap web development framework, Webflow's code is cross-device and cross-browser compatible.

Webflow provides designers the ability to either publish and host their websites on the Webflow platform or to export their design work for self-hosting elsewhere. In addition, Webflow maintains a template marketplace for its users to buy and sell websites made within Webflow.[6] Plans are provided for private individuals making websites for themselves, 2-10 person agency teams making websites on behalf of clients, and enterprises looking for multi-seat collaboration and priority support.[7]

Company

Webflow was founded in 2013 by Vlad Magdalin (creator of Intuit Brainstorm), Sergie Magdalin, and Bryant Chou (former CTO of Vungle).[8][9] The company graduated from Y Combinator's startup accelerator in 2013.[10] Webflow raised venture funding from Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Tim Draper, and other tech industry investors.[11]

There are over 250,000 users on the platform, including enterprise clients such as Groupon, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Mastercard, Pinterest, MTV, and Hitachi.[12][13][14]

Features

Templates

Webflow maintains a template marketplace for its users to buy and sell websites made within Webflow. The optional use of a template allows a designer to reduce their development time by starting from a fully functional and responsive website that only requires minor customization.

Interactions

Webflow provides a suite of tools for the insertion of CSS- and JavaScript-triggered animations. Animation behavior such as scaling, rotation, and fading can be associated with triggers including page load, page scroll, and element hovering. This functionality allows designers to avoid having to manually write code to finalize their user interface before publishing.

Widgets

Webflow offers a variety of drag and drop widgets that work out-of-the-box. Widgets include website navigation elements, dropdown menus, lightboxes, Google Maps, social media buttons, and others. The look of widgets can be customized to suit the aesthetic of the site they are being added to.

Fonts

Webflow allows for the use of custom web fonts. Fonts can either be sourced from third-party providers, such as Google Fonts and Typekit, or they can be uploaded directly from the user’s computer.

Responsiveness

Since it is based on Twitter's Bootstrap web development framework, Webflow's code is cross-device and cross-browser compatible. Webflow further allows for the visual customization of all elements at varying mobile device screen sizes.

Publishing

Websites designed in Webflow can either be fully hosted on the Webflow platform or exported for self-hosting elsewhere. Webflow’s in-platform hosting is backed by Amazon’s AWS content delivery network.

Industry competitors

Other companies in the site building marketplace include Squarespace, Weebly, Wix.com, Workweek, and Webydo.

References

  1. ↑ "Check out this awesome new tool for doing responsive design visually | VentureBeat | Dev | by J. O'Dell". VentureBeat. 2013-03-20. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  2. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/alextaub/2014/05/08/webflow-lets-designers-create-websites-without-learning-to-code/
  3. ↑ "Design Responsive Websites In The Browser With Webflow". Smashing Magazine. 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  4. ↑ "Next-Generation Responsive Web Design Tools: Webflow, Edge Reflow, Macaw". Smashing Magazine. 2014-05-23. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  5. ↑ "4 tools native devs should be using to transition to the mobile web | VentureBeat | Dev | by J. O'Dell". VentureBeat. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  6. ↑ http://webflow.com/templates
  7. ↑ https://webflow.com/pricing
  8. ↑ http://www.pcworld.com/article/237112/intuit_s_new_brainstorm_software_looks_helpful_but_pricey.html
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YaA9ogH4qw
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/11/responsive-website-builder-webflow-raises-1-5-million-from-khosla-tim-draper-others/
  12. ↑ http://blog.webflow.com/the-story-of-how-webflow-and-y-combinator
  13. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yp7V-Uh2Q0
  14. ↑ https://webflow.com/

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, December 03, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.