Coding has been the standard for website development for many years. It's a process that takes time, patience, and practice. It's not something that you can learn overnight.

Years ago, coding was the only way to build a website. If a web developer wanted to add something to your site, they had to code it themselves. Let's say you wanted to add a new page to your site. You would have to open up your text editor, create a new file, and start coding.

As you can imagine, coding a website from scratch can be very time-consuming. However, a new player has entered the scene: Webflow visual designer.

Webflow is a visual website builder that allows you to create websites without writing a single line of code. That's right, with Webflow, you can build a completely custom website without writing a single line of code.

The website builder's online visual editor allows users to design and launch responsive websites with drag-and-drop simplicity. And this is a game-changer for those who want to quickly build a website.

Still, many people are hesitant to try Webflow because they're used to coding websites the old-fashioned way. But let's take a look at the pros and cons of Webflow that makes it better than coding.

Instant Visual Feedback, No More Writing Code

As we've mentioned, coding takes time. Thus, it could take a while before you see the results of your work. The coding phase of a website usually takes at least three weeks, or 240 hours if the site is simple.

However, if you're building websites that are more complex, the coding phase could take months. And you'll never really know if what you coded is working until you launch the site.

On the other hand, with Webflow, you get instant visual feedback. As soon as you make a change, you can see it on your screen. There's no need to wait weeks or months to see if what you're doing is working. You can make changes and see them in real-time.

It's a huge advantage because it allows you to experiment and iterate quickly. With the Webflow Editor, you can create and edit content, style, and layout right on your page.

Plus, adding new content is as simple as drag-and-drop. So, if you want to add a new section or element to your page, you can do it in seconds. As you can see, the Webflow Editor is a powerful tool that can save you a lot of time and hassle.

No more waiting weeks or months to see your changes. With Webflow, you can get instant visual feedback and make changes in real-time.

Reusable Style and Classes

In coding, classes and styles are used to determine how HTML elements are displayed on a web page. Without them, every web page would look the same. And no one wants that!

However, what if you want to reuse a particular style or class on multiple web pages? How to do that when you're building your website with codes?

There are a few ways to go about this. The first is to create a separate CSS file that contains all of your website's styles and classes. Then, when you want to use a particular style or class on multiple web pages, you can simply link to that CSS file from each page.

Another way to reuse styles and classes is to put all of your website's HTML code into one file, and then use a CSS file to control the display of that code on different web pages. This approach is known as "inline styling."

Inline styling is a good option if you only want to use a particular style or class on one page of your website.

Webflow is also built with classes as a key component. That means you can design and style elements on one page of your site, and those styles will carry over to every other page where you've used the same class.

So, not only does Webflow make it easier to build sites, but it also makes it easier to maintain and update them. With Webflow, users are not burdened with changing CSS styling via code.

The visual interface of the site builder makes site-wide changes. That means, as you change and style each element, you will see your changes happen in real-time on the preview screen. These changes will be automatically applied to every page of your site that uses the same class.

And this saves users a lot of time, and it makes it easy to keep your Webflow site looking consistent and uniform — even as you make changes down the road.

Modern Web Design and Web Development Layout Tools

Modern layout tools like CSS grid and flexbox are another advantage of using Webflow. Just because you're working visually here does not mean you have narrow options for unique layouts.

In fact, Webflow treats new-fashioned layout systems as first-class citizens. That means users have full control to create their website however they would like.

More importantly, by making these layout systems accessible and visual, users are not forced to write lines of code or look up syntax and then check the result in another place.

Instead, users can directly view how their layout modifications or changes affect the website as they are building it. Unlike coding HTML and CSS in a traditional text editor, there is no need to constantly save, open another program, and refresh the page to check results.

This type of feedback loop makes for a much more efficient way of working and can help people who are not as confident with their own code feel like building sites can be fun and rewarding.

Publishing The Website Is Just A Click Away

Webflow is also a built-in hosting and publishing platform. That means you can go from nothing to a published site a fraction of the time. Also, unlike coding by hand, everything is click-based.

And once you have built your site, publishing is as easy as clicking a button. You can automatically see your website live on the web.

Powerful and Flexible CMS

Websites significantly rely on the CMS or content management system they use. This is why it’s crucial to have a powerful and flexible CMS. A good CMS can make all the difference in having a great website or not.

The good news is that Webflow has an extremely powerful and flexible CMS that combines visual design controls with the ability to manage your website’s content.

It means that you can easily add, edit, and delete content on your website without worrying about the design aspect of things. Plus, the Webflow CMS is very user-friendly and easy to use.

What's more, the Webflow CMS does not lock you into specific post types or formats. Instead, you have the freedom to create whatever type of content your website needs, then develop your design around it.

This flexibility is essential because it allows you to easily change your website’s content without having to redo the entire design. Unlike coding, which can be very time-consuming, Webflow’s visual design tools make it easy to make changes.

Easily Build Custom Animations and Interactions

Creating custom animations and interactions by coding by hand is difficult. It requires a lot of time and effort to get them just right. And even then, they're often not as smooth or polished as you'd like.

But what if there was a way to quickly build custom animations and interactions without having to code by hand? Well, there is! With the Webflow Interactions panel, you can create rich, complex animations and interactions without writing a single line of code.

Webflow's animations and interactions tool allow users to control animations based on triggers like:

• mouse position
• scroll position
• hover
• click
• page-load
• and many more

It's great news for people who want to create sophisticated animations and interactions but don't have the coding skills or knowledge. With Webflow, they can easily create what they want without learning how to code.

Webflow Creates Clean, Custom Code

One of the reasons why many people stay away from website builders is because the code they generate is often a mess. You end up with many extra, unnecessary codes that can make your site slower and more challenging to maintain.

Webflow is different. The code it generates is clean, well-organized, and easy to read. And this makes it much easier to work with, both for you and for any developers who might need to make changes to your site in the future.

Clean code is imperative for many reasons. First, it makes your site faster and more efficient. Second, it's easier to maintain and make changes. And third, it can help you avoid problems with search engines indexing your site correctly.

In short, clean code is essential for any website, and Webflow is one of the best ways to generate it.

Conclusion

So is Webflow much better than coding? In short, yes. But it’s not a magic bullet. If you want to create a complex website with unique functionality, or if you need to make frequent changes, then coding may still be the best option for you. However, for most people building a simple website or blog, Webflow is more than adequate and easier to use. Moreover, with its growing popularity and ever-expanding feature set, it’s likely only to become more prevalent in the years to come. Plus, it requires a basic understanding of coding that non-developers can quickly learn.

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