Webflow Dev for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide

Webflow is an all-in-one platform that allows you to design, build, and launch custom websites without needing to write code.

Webflow is ideal for beginners because it offers a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to create and customize websites.

You can start building a website in Webflow by creating a new project and selecting a template that suits your needs.

With Webflow, you can design your website using a visual interface, and then use Webflow's built-in coding tools to make any necessary adjustments.

Webflow also has a large community of users who share resources and knowledge, making it a great place to learn and get help when you need it.

A computer science education can be useful, but it's not a necessity to become a Webflow Developer/Designer.

It's essential to know Webflow, its individual modules, capabilities, and integration.

Courses, especially online versions, can be super helpful in learning about Webflow.

Having a strong portfolio is crucial, and it's even better if it's created with the help of Webflow.

Make sure to showcase your site designs, preferably divided into several thematic categories, in your portfolio.

Becoming a Webflow developer is an exciting field, and starting with the basics is essential. You can create stunning websites without coding and still deliver exciting and speedy websites to clients.

Learning the basic coding skills is a must, even though Webflow frees you from the hassle of coding. A basic understanding of HTML and CSS will greatly enhance your ability to customize and style websites.

To become a proficient Webflow developer, it's essential to lay a solid foundation in the web design platform. Understanding the basics of the Webflow tool is the essential first step in this exciting journey.

Here are the main languages used in Webflow:

Choosing a learning path for Webflow development can be overwhelming, especially with so many resources available.

You need to understand your learning style and preferences, whether you enjoy structured courses with step-by-step instructions or prefer a more hands-on approach, experimenting and learning as you go.

You can choose from various educational resources that Webflow offers, including tutorials, videos, and documentation that cover everything from the basics to more advanced topics.

Webflow University provides four options to learn Webflow development basics and advanced items: Courses, Docs, Certificates, and Interactive learning.

The "21-day design portfolio course" is a great starting point, covering topics such as Webflow resources, hero section, client projects, responsiveness, site enchantments, and steps to design and manage websites.

You can also enroll in online courses or join communities dedicated to Webflow development, such as Udemy, Skillshare, and YouTube, where experienced developers offer different courses and tutorials.

Here are some educational resources to consider:

Learning basic coding is essential for Webflow development. Understanding the basics of HTML and CSS will greatly enhance your ability to customize and style websites.

You can build Webflow websites using the platform's templates, but knowing the basics of coding will give you a unique edge. HTML tags and CSS selectors work together to create web pages, so it's worth taking the time to learn about them.

HTML is used to structure the content of your site, while CSS is necessary for the style and layout. Mastering CSS allows you to customize the appearance of your elements. With a solid understanding of these languages, you'll be able to make the most of Webflow and create outstanding websites.

Here are the main web languages used in Webflow:

A basic understanding of these languages will help you create well-organized page structures, customize the appearance of your elements, and add interactive features to your site.

Webflow offers a wide range of features and tools that make it a popular choice among developers.

To become a proficient Webflow developer, it's essential to master the design tools, 2000+ templates, and strategies offered by Webflow. This includes familiarizing yourself with the interface and exploring each tool to understand its purpose.

A good approach to building components is to define what type of components you want to build depending on your use case. Large “complex” components are good for reusing components between marketing sites and web apps, while small “atomic” components are best for building a design system in Webflow.

Here are some key features and tools that Webflow offers:

To become a proficient Webflow developer, it's essential to master the design tools and strategies. This includes familiarizing yourself with the interface, exploring each tool, and understanding its purpose.

You should study and explore the existing templates and deconstruct them to gain insights into effective design practices. This will also help you learn how to create visually appealing websites.

A basic understanding of HTML and CSS is also crucial, even though Webflow frees you from the hassle of coding. This will greatly enhance your ability to customize and style websites.

Webflow offers a wide range of features and tools that make it a popular choice among developers. Some of the key features and tools include a powerful design toolset, a library of pre-designed components and templates, and a content management system (CMS).

To install the Webflow CLI npm module, you need to run the command `npm i @webflow/webflow-cli` in the terminal in the root directory of your next.js project.

Webflow components use CSS modules by default to prevent component’s CSS classes from colliding with global styles. However, you can disable CSS modules and all styles will be defined globally in global.css by updating the `cssModules` flag in `.webflowrc.js`.

To integrate Shopify with Webflow, you need to create a seamless shopping experience for your customers. This can be done by using Webflow's pre-built product page templates or creating your own custom design.

The following are the key elements of a supported Webflow element that can be exported with DevLink:

To create a Webflow portfolio, you need to include examples of projects you've worked on, provide screenshots and details, and make sure your portfolio itself is well designed.

To get started with Webflow Dev, you should have an idea about responsive design. This is crucial for creating websites that look great on different devices and screen sizes.

Responsive design is all about adapting your website to fit various devices and screen sizes. With Webflow, you can easily build websites that work seamlessly across desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.

To make this happen, you need to understand how responsive design works. This includes learning about reflowing content, which means that the content on your website can change its position and size based on the screen size.

You should also be familiar with fixed sizing, where the size of elements on your website remains the same regardless of the screen size. On the other hand, relative sizing allows you to set the size of elements relative to their parent or other elements.

Breakpoints, also known as media queries, are essential in responsive design. These are the points at which your website's layout changes to adapt to a different screen size. For example, you might have a breakpoint at 768px, where your website's layout changes from a desktop to a tablet layout.

Here are the key concepts to learn about responsive design:

To get started with global styles in Webflow Dev, you'll need to import a CSS file. In Next.js, you can add this to the layout.tsx file so that all pages will have global styles available.

The global.css stylesheet contains all global style definitions of your Webflow site to be used in your DevLink project. It's exported alongside all your custom components' CSS modules and contains your custom fonts imports, all global resets from normalize.css, and specific classes from base Webflow CSS.

You can find the global.css file in the DevLink project, and it's where you'll define your custom CSS tag selectors from your site, such as "All Links" or "Body (All Pages)" style selector.

Here's what global.css doesn't contain: classes set on elements that are not part of any of your components. If you want to apply a default style on the body so that all your components inherit from it, then we recommend applying it on the "Body (all pages)" tag selector.

To give you a better idea of what global.css contains, here's a list of some of the items you'll find:

Lists and tables are a crucial part of any web application, and Webflow Dev provides a solid foundation for creating them.

To render a repeatable list of data, it's recommended to divide the component into two separate components: a wrapper "list" component containing a Slot where you want to render your list of data, and an "item" component to render each individual item in the list.

This approach is demonstrated in the UserTable component, which is used to render a list of users. The list is wrapped with a User Table Content div that is connected to a Table Content Slot property.

The UserTableRow component is used to render each individual user item, and it's hydrated with the user's data. The Users component uses the UserTable component to render the outer table and passes it a list of UserTableRow components with the tableContent prop.

The Users component uses the useQuery hook to fetch the list of users, and the fetched data is used to render the list of users in the UserTable component. The list of users is rendered using the map function, and each user item is rendered using the UserTableRow component.

The UserTableRow component receives the user's data as props and uses it to render the user's details. The component also receives the user's id as a key prop to ensure that each user item is uniquely identified.

If something goes wrong and the sync command fails, you'll be prompted in the terminal to send a crash report.

You'll have the chance to send a crash report manually, and if you agree to persist your preferences, future crash reports will be sent automatically without further terminal prompts.

To opt-in to automatic crash reporting, you can set the allowTelemetry flag to true in your .webflowrc.js file.

Here's an example of how to do this:

This will enable automatic crash reporting for future sync command failures.

File Extensions are an important part of Webflow Dev, and understanding how they work can save you a lot of time and frustration.

By default, all DevLink component files use the .js extension.

You can change this to .jsx if you want, but you need to configure it in the .webflowrc.js file.

Here's how you can do it:

Similarly, you can configure your CSS file extensions.

In the UK, Webflow developer salaries are competitive and reflect the industry's rapid expansion.

The demand for Webflow developers in the UK is growing, with salaries varying based on experience.

For junior Webflow developers with up to two years of experience, salaries range from €2,200 to €3,500 per month.

Developers with two to five years of experience earn between €3,500 and €4,800 per month in the UK, handling more complex projects.

Senior Webflow developers with over five years of experience can expect to earn between €4,800 and €6,500 per month, often taking on a leadership role in projects.

Experts and tech leads in the UK, managing end-to-end implementations and technical strategy, earn from €6,500 to €8,000 per month.

Here's a breakdown of Webflow developer salaries in the UK by experience level:

Styling and Layout can be a bit overwhelming, especially when working with Webflow Dev. If you opt-out of CSS modules, your project will contain all styles for your components.

This can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, having all styles in one place can make it easier to manage and update your design. On the other hand, it can lead to a cluttered and hard-to-maintain codebase.

If you opt-out of CSS modules, your components will contain all styles for your components. This can be a good option if you want to keep your styling simple and straightforward.

You can import a global.css file to make your components have access to Webflow's global default styles. This is especially useful if you're using a layout file like layout.tsx or _app.tsx.

The global.css stylesheet contains all global style definitions, including custom fonts imports, global resets from normalize.css, and specific classes from base Webflow CSS used by DevLink supported elements.

Here are some examples of what global.css contains:

Note that global.css does not contain classes set on elements that are not part of any of your components.

Accessibility is crucial for a seamless user experience. DevLink components are as accessible as the underlying Webflow elements.

Following the guide is essential to make all elements fully keyboard accessible. This is a simple yet effective way to ensure everyone can use your site.

By following this guide, you can create a more inclusive and user-friendly experience for all visitors.

Components and Interactions are the backbone of any web application, and Webflow Dev provides a robust set of tools to create and manage them.

To use Webflow interactions in DevLinked components, you'll need to wrap them with the DevLinkProvider. This can be done by adding the provider to the layout.tsx file in Next.js, so all pages will have interactions enabled.

A good approach to building components is to define what type of components you want to build, such as large "complex" components or small "atomic" components. This will help you structure your components so they can be used only as UI "presentation" components.

Here's a breakdown of the different types of components:

Keep in mind that DevLink components cannot be "enhanced" with custom code on the dev side, so it's best to structure your components for reuse in both marketing sites and web apps.

Interactions are a key part of creating an immersive and interactive experience for your website users.

You can use Webflow interactions in your DevLinked components by wrapping them with the DevLinkProvider. This is necessary because DevLinked components need to be wrapped with the DevLinkProvider to work with Webflow interactions.

In Next.js, you can add the DevLinkProvider to the layout.tsx file so that all pages will have interactions enabled. This is a great way to make interactions work across your entire website.

Webflow interactions can include hover effects, scroll animations, click triggers, and more. These interactions can add a lot of visual interest and make your website more engaging for users.

To use page interactions, you'll need to use the DevLinkProvider. However, keep in mind that only the first page interaction will be exported. This is because of how page interactions work in Webflow.

Webflow forms are supported with DevLink in two ways, but unfortunately, there's no more information about this in the provided article sections.

Webflow offers an intuitive animation tool that allows you to animate any element on your website. With just a few clicks, you can add motion and visual interest to your website designs.

Here's a quick rundown of the types of animations you can create with Webflow:

These are just a few examples of the many types of animations you can create with Webflow. With practice and patience, you can create complex multi-step animations that really bring your website to life.

Some Webflow elements require an API key to function correctly, which can be a bit tricky to set up if you're new to Webflow.

Webflow offers a wide range of features and tools that make it a popular choice among developers, including advanced features that require an API key.

To access these advanced features, you'll need to have an API key, which can be obtained through the Webflow dashboard.

Webflow offers a variety of features and tools that are designed to make development easier and more efficient, including features that require an API key.

Some of the key features and tools that Webflow offers include advanced features that require an API key, which can be a game-changer for developers who want to take their projects to the next level.

When building a web application with Webflow Dev, it's essential to consider the approach you take. Many developers will try to convert an existing full page application into the requisite components to be exported via DevLink.

This approach can be effective, but it's worth noting that some developers may find it more efficient to take a "design systems" approach, building components in isolation and creating a library of composable components.

To optimize your development process, consider taking a "design systems" approach, where you build components in isolation to create a library of composable components.

This approach allows for greater flexibility and reusability, making it easier to update and maintain your codebase.

Many developers find it helpful to start with a clean slate, building components from scratch rather than trying to convert existing full-page applications.

By doing so, you can ensure that your components are well-structured and follow best practices from the outset.

Effective project management is crucial for delivering high-quality services to your customers. Customer satisfaction is essential to building a solid reputation.

Having solid processes in place can help you manage your customers' projects efficiently. This requires commitment, hard work, and business management skills in addition to your Webflow expertise.

Customer satisfaction is key to building trust and loyalty with your clients. A reputation for delivering high-quality services can lead to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth.