It's time to say GOODBYE to Webflow - Meet my new favourite tech stack.

[@AlternatePro]

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[@_HMCB_]

@@AlternatePro I know Cloudways. They’ve been my fave hosting company for over 10 years.

[@AdoDzeko10]

Bricks is incredible, you won't regret it. Add ACF, Advanced themer, ACSS and Frames in the stack and you are good to go.

[@AlternatePro]

Yeah it’s fantastic.

[@elevateyoursoul8]

but in this way you will pay more than with only elementor pro, are that the right way?

[@bikinitony]

@@elevateyoursoul8 avoid elementor like the plague. bloated mess. if you're to pickup a builder in 2025, better learn bricks.

[@mimam-hebron]

I was about to say same.

[@mimam-hebron]

@@bikinitony For real, Bricks isn't playing

[@sevenelven]

Webflow's policy about overcharging traffic alone is enough of a reason not to use them.

[@AlternatePro]

Yep this is another fantastic decision that added fuel to the “I’m out fire”

[@taylor5761]

Welcome to Bricks! It's awesome and Thomas and the team are doing a great job.

[@AlternatePro]

Yeah it’s not a new addition for me but one that’s been growing in usage on my part. It’s great and keeps getting better and better.

[@davidgoult8694]

Would be cool to see some bricks builder or nux js content from you if you have time of course, Thanks for the video.

[@AlternatePro]

Yes definitely on the cards.. thanks for the comment

[@phpn99]

I've been using Webflow for ten years and I agree with you. Webflow is a trap because their pretension is to sell you a runtime platform wholesale. It's a fool's errand because they can't compete with the diversity and the useful complexity of the alternatives. They have a business case for a narrow type of end user; they've really become a CMS and the design aspects are only there in support of that business case. If you do relatively simple, standalone websites it's OK, but it is utterly impossible to use webflow in conjunction with anything else. On the design side their class system is idiotic and their components are useless. Their interactions are beyond inane ; you can't do simple toggles simply; you can't do conditionals and you can't insert or swap classes. Who designed this PoS? I have built very large mockups with this contraption: it becomes very slow to use and impossible to maintain. I ended up having 50% of throw away HTML structures just to circumvent the thing's limitations, just to simulate conditional behaviours. I'm beyond fed up with this thing and I found I can do things much faster in VS Code and SvelteKit. If Vlad and his sycophants have anything else on their minds than tbeir stock valuation,they should rethink the whole model. Make a front end builder for Svelte, Solid, React, Nuxt components; have some notion of dynamic web design, templates, theming, client or server side rendering. I'm not holding my breath however. Won't happen.

[@AlternatePro]

Yep yep and yep.

[@joshuamitchell6204]

I work for a Web design agency and we use cloudways and bricks and love both! Have to say the cloudways support has been very helpful many times

[@AlternatePro]

Yeah they are fantastic

[@Shc-w8i]

You are right. Webflow are no longer care about designers and users and only care about dollars

[@cjtay]

I like the combination of AstroJS and a TailwindCSS Library like Flowbite

[@AlternatePro]

Yeah I like Astro too.. I like its ability to mix and match frameworks as needed. And it’s SO fast.

[@ArtEntity]

Webflow going downhill so hard. been with them 4 years and all the updates that should be free are behind ridiculous paywalls like analytics.. Disgusting stuff

[@AlternatePro]

Yep.. exactly my frustration.

[@eugenesoch]

Not a trick question though, but just looking at what WordPress is going through at the minute, is it still wise even considering this platform?

[@AlternatePro]

No worries. I am certainly keeping and eye on things. Broadly this is a clash between two titans, however just like any platform / software or tool we are ultimately at the whim of the key decision makers and although Wordpress is open source the core issue remains. I don't think a precedent has been set yet that would completely upset the applecart, but its definitely a warning shot with regards to governance and will be interesting to see how the court case resolves. However that said I still feel confident that a platform with its long heritage and massive adoption isn't going to evaporate overnight and although there will be some ripples the wider community and platform will survive.

[@jasonhebert1656]

no

[@vaughanprint]

Watch out… there’s Etch on the horizon to consider as well!

[@AlternatePro]

Hmm will have to take a look.. thanks for the heads up .

[@GrantHawkey]

Yesssss! 😃

[@matthewescobedo5985]

This is at around 2yrs out from a full production more likely. However, could be a good contender!

[@jasoneugene7697]

@@AlternatePro agree EtchWP will be the best WordPress Builder/dev experience for professionals

[@user-nq4ow4vc6z]

I left Wordpress for years, and now i'm back and love it again. 100%

[@AlternatePro]

Yep.. crazy how the wheel turns.

[@visual_chris]

Have you tried Framer? If yes, why did you go for Nixt instead?

[@jzajzz]

Do you think framer is a good tool for custom coding solutions?... This is a genuine question..I don't know much about framer

[@AlternatePro]

Hi yes we do use Framer but only for very basic sites. Nice workflow and I like the design experience but for more complicated sites it will get in your way. Nuxt is a JavaScript framework so is on the opposite end of the workflow side of things where everything is code but you can build pretty much anything. The thing I love about web development and doing this channel is there are so many awesome tools and ways of working out there and for me I really enjoy testing and exploring them. They all bring something different and have common ground but at the end of the day if you like it and most importantly it works for your client then all good. As web developers we easily get stuck in “OUR” preferred tools but having context and a wider perspective on what’s out there will help you and your clients pick the best tool for the job and this is the primary focus of this channel. Thanks for your comment.

[@Dougster123]

If you like Bricks, then I'm sure you LOVE Automatic CSS? I DO - A definite game changer when it comes to CSS frameworks 👍

[@AlternatePro]

Yes, I do. ACSS is awesome.

[@AlternatePro]

What do you think? Too harsh, how are you feeling about Webflow at the end of 2024? And are you using something else that I might like. Let me know.

[@danielapro9755]

All the power to you brother! As a Webflow veteran myself, I've been more than patient. I'll be switching to better platforms that don't limit you. Not having native CMS nest is outrageous. Bricks is great!

[@AlternatePro]

Yeah I can’t lie I’m really disappointed. I’ve been a MASSIVE fanboy for a very long time but it’s just insane to be missing what I consider fundamentals and to see no sign of addressing them and then for them to be glossed over by some bolt on acquisition that adds functionality that I don’t want or need at a price that is WAYYYYY more than what I could do within another platform or tool.

[@nickm1049]

Not harsh enough 😉 Bricks user myself, but hope WebStudio keeps evolving, so I have a backup self hosted builder

[@AlternatePro]

I find it’s a hard line to be both fair and objective. We can get so easily caught up in “my way is the right way” as web developers and designers and there is still lots I love about Webflow but the scale has tipped (for me anyway)

[@nickm1049]

@@AlternatePro Tools like Webflow feel like the builder is there to lock you into their hosting and whatever price they decide to set in future, not a fan of that business model

[@gashumba888]

What's wrong with Gutenberg now? I can almost do anything in Gutenberg that I can do in Bricks Builder.

[@AlternatePro]

Hi for me it’s feels too restrictive, but to be honest I haven’t given it much time or attention at all recently. I will have a proper play. Thanks for your comment.

[@GrantHawkey]

The WP block editor is fine for basic content, but trying to use it professionally for real client projects instead of an actual framework and layout (page) builder is far too limiting. Need to do something simple like adjust a heading from left aligned to centre aligned on mobile? Now you’re into the weeds of installing additional plugins that give you the basic controls that should be in core. Conditional display of elements? Proper query loops? Element conditional display? Class first workflow? Plugin plugin plugin… and painful in comparison. All these things pros need are standard in Bricks along with far too many necessities to list here. Pros understand 🙂

[@gashumba888]

@@GrantHawkey I build websites for local service businesses, been at it since 2006. Not sure if I’m a "pro" but I’ve been around since the Dreamweaver and Microsoft Expressions days. Was using Oxygen until the big exodus, then gave Gutenberg a shot. Turns out, I don’t need all the fancy tools “pros” claim are essential. FSE, Spectra Pro, ACF Pro, and WPCode do the job just fine, and I’m cutting about 15% off build time. Spectra Pro handles most of the conditional logic, and if I need something more complex, ACF Pro’s always there to save the day. The setup is lean, efficient, and effective for my needs.

[@AlternatePro]

@GrantHawkey nicely put

[@gashumba888]

​@@GrantHawkey I thought I had already responded! Web development really comes down to mastering three core components: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. With a solid understanding of these, you can achieve just about anything in Gutenberg. Frameworks are just shortcuts-they streamline the process but aren’t always necessary. Personally, I prefer sticking to vanilla code or lightweight utility frameworks. It keeps things clean and makes it much easier for clients to transition the project to another developer or their in-house team down the line.

[@htz70]

Bricks Bricks Bricks -- especially with components coming soon

[@AlternatePro]

Yes I saw that.. that’s awesome.

[@johnnwabuforudemezue1108]

Thank you for this, Webflow should be a Ui design framwork, not a web design, stuff it has nothing for web designers,such as SEO and stuff , I go with WordPress Nuxt js any time

[@AlternatePro]

Thank you for your comment. Agreed and you just put a smile on my face. Have a great day.

[@valentinpetlov]

Bricks is insane. Welcome to the family!

[@gdj777]

Webflow becoming Adobe

[@AlternatePro]

100% agree.. buy functionality, bolt it in with duct tape and then ask the community to lament and pay for more without fixing core issues.

[@pascalkrebs8291]

It's sad but true

[@AlternatePro]

Yep

[@nasmith67]

Waiting to see what Etch brings to the table. Hopefully by 2026 they'll be putting most in their rearview

[@AlternatePro]

Always interesting to see how this space develops.. constantly evolving. It’s what I love about it.

[@GavinDavidson]

Dude, Bricks is amazing. Also, try out Automatic CSS [ACSS] - if you like Tailwind and also their Frames module - it's a great tech stack. I wanted to ask you: I'm ok with HTML, CSS, and SASS, should I give Nuxt a bash? How hard is it compared with Bricks?

[@AlternatePro]

Hey they are very different. Bricks is a no code page builder and Nuxt is a JavaScript framework. Which is all code. But I would recommend having a play and learning something like Nuxt (vue) as this gives you flexibility in your toolset so you can solve bigger problems for your clients. Also frameworks like Nuxt, NextJS, Astro etc all begin to feel familiar once you know at least one. And becomes so much easier to switch things up if needed. You just have to change gear with the conventions and structure of the specific framework but that is no biggy when you consider good documentation, communities and ai.

[@evil-808]

Technically these limitations are your own. I use utility classes in webflow and have been doing so for years. I've never used finsweet either, I have my own for most key functionality. I think that's really the line which gets drawn between coders and no-coders. I do agree with you on some of the other things though. The company has become sort of like adobe with their pricing and attitude.

[@AlternatePro]

The issue isn’t todo with being able to create a utility class but instead have them independent from each other.. for example in Webflow if you create a class of margin-b-sm and apply that to div that already has a class assigned (eg. text-white) and then you modify the divs classes this creates a combo class issue and effectively breaks the utility class workflow. This gets even worse if you start adding more utility classes like “text-white padding-sm margin-bottom-lg flex …” You can use variable to get round some of this issue but still any amends to the combo class creates a ripple effect. As a direct comparison In bricks for example these classes are independent so you lock the utility classes and you can safely assign, modify and remove the classes without any overwriting or modification. Tailwind is a different beast in the way it works as it’s a coded solution vs page builder so is not a fair comparison. But builders like Bricks give you a way to at least safely work with a utility class based workflow.

[@evil-808]

@@AlternatePro That's what I mean, you're doing it wrong. I have for example a class called "flex" a class called "space-between", "center", "vertical", "baseline" plus hundreds of others which are in my style guide. So if I want to create a area where we have flex box and spaces between the items. I apply flex, space-between on the item. Let's say on tablet I want it to be centered, well I have a class called m-centered, which I would apply to the combo. On desktop it does nothing but on tablet is switch space-between to center. So I have utility classes for like skeleton things like column sizes etc, based on a grid (design), then for actual elements I use the "cards system". I also have section styles like section midtone, section has it's own styling, midtone has it's own styling which if I applied to section or any other div would bring in only that specific styling. I also have the same system for footers, headers, collections, basically everything. So if I am changing anything, I don't need to change it on the page it's on, I can just change it in the style guide. It's a combination of understanding what is skeleton html and what is components, actual components/cards. Then having it all in your style guide which allows you to change anything you want without stuffing everything up. Like for example, you mentioned "margin-bottom-lg", I don't have those, I've seen them on other style guide systems - but you don't need them if you use components properly.

[@evil-808]

@@AlternatePro I worked with wordpress for years as a theme developer, using bootstrap. I know what tailwind is, my actual system is based of tailwind & scss, but I adjusted it for webflow use. All those classes like text-white etc, I don't use because the color of the text comes from the section. For example section.dark will have a dark bg and white text, then let's say you have a dark bg, but collection items with white bg. I use richtext mainly, so I have a rt.dark which will have dark themed colors for fonts etc.

[@AlternatePro]

Yes I know this workflow and use it myself (style guide and utility). But this is still inflexible vs an isolated class workflow. Now if this was the only issue I had with Webflow then it can be worked around like you have said but the point I’m making in the video is that there are options out there that give you more flexibility, more powerful cms’s, backend access, better dev/design experience and no hacky class systems needed. I’ve used Webflow for almost a decade and loved it but I feel that other tools are now eclipsing the design experience pioneered by Webflow. Ultimately if you like webflow’s workflow and it’s good for you then all good. But for me I find myself enjoying other frameworks more.

[@evil-808]

@@AlternatePro I use webflow mainly because that's where the work is. But if I get to choose for the client the CMS then I always go with strapi. In terms of flexibility and power you will not find a CMS that's even close to being on the same level as strapi.

[@_HMCB_]

Ycode is pretty awesome.

[@ArtfulUI]

Agreed 💯

[@AlternatePro]

Yep. a shame but yep

[@electronicdementia9050]

Webstudio?

[@AlternatePro]

Heading in the right direction but it’s still early doors with some missing fundamentals. But definitely interesting

[@bruchsal_growing_brands]

Webstudio is amazing

[@tjrowe]

Been exploring Webstudio myself. I think it has a promising future. It doesn't have all the features of the other platforms yet but they seem to be moving quickly.

[@StevenAkinyemi]

Well, Webflow is for folks who can't bother to code.

[@AlternatePro]

For me it’s more a right tool for the job kind of thing. For example we work with a number of brand agencies who have a no-code web development component to their business and they make some awesome marketing sites. But when the complexity of the site or a clients requirements evolves then we work with them to help transition the client or provide a coded solution.

[@digitald74]

How can you compare a javascript framework to a no code visual website builder and cms? 😂

[@AlternatePro]

The no code comparison is vs Bricks builder. But my workflow and my companies isn’t restricted to just one tool and I wanted to share my favourite stack. Depending on the client or agency I’m working with then selection differs. These are my preferences and Nuxt is my personal favourite but when required by a client to use a page builder then my recommendation has tipped toward Bricks. This is the same for different frameworks. But like any tool/ framework/platform they all have their own quirks/limitations/strengths and it really comes down to client preference (if there is a strong opinion or existing tooling) and requirements (use a hammer to drive a nail in not a wrench). At the end of the day it’s all just HTMl, CSS and JavaScript how you put it together (excluding Backend) is up to you, but flexibility and unhindered workflow should be a priority and to me these “tools” tick that box. Hope that clears up my intention with this video.

[@sltho]

@@AlternateProI’m starting and insights like these are gold. Thanks for sharing. Subscribed

[@AlternatePro]

Thanks and welcome to the never ending roller coaster of web development 😂 Best of luck in your journey.

[@k225]

Webflow isn't "no code" - to do anything meaningful requires some understanding of code

[@AlternatePro]

100%

[@carltongordon]

i dipped years ago!

[@suppien]

With Bricksbuilder, you need to have Advanced Themer, after that you don't need anything more.

[@personal154]

goodbye webflow

[@AlternatePro]

Yep

[@ineedthemax]

agreed

[@Opsdead]

The fact that you compare webflow to framworks, means weblow is doing very good in their sector compared to their competitors such as wordpress and elementor

[@AlternatePro]

The comparison is between bricks and Webflow when comparing low/no-code and it’s just my preference. There are so many new tools coming out and I will be testing them all. My personal preference is Nuxt but it is not a comparison as they are vastly on different sides of the web dev spectrum. But bricks and other newer no-code builders offer similar workflows that you can achieve within a js framework and that was my point, webflow’s builder workflow is beginning to show its age and hasn’t stepped forward vs nimbler and newer competitors. In addition it’s walled garden approach to the server and backend massively handcuffs you were a self hosted solution like Wordpress you don’t have those limitations. Then you have price creep for bolted on services and a stagnant feature set (development wise, ecommerce, elements) which again smaller nimbler tools are outstripping them or you can easily integrate 3rd party solutions at a fraction of the cost.

what about elementor?

[@AlternatePro]

Personally I’m not a fan I found performance to be poor and the overall building experience was not for me.