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Hilal Aydın

Where do you stand about developing a web app on a no-code platform?

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We are currently building an automated task management app on Bubble.io. The platform is quite comprehensive, however as expected there are some limitations when it compared to native applications. I experienced that these limitations are easily resolvable by embedding some code inside, and no-code development definitely fastens the app development process. What do you think about no-code app development platforms? Have you used one before? Let's meet in the comments! 🚀

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Khach Martirosyan
As a product manager using various no-code tools, I believe these platforms are a game-changer for software development. They offer a way for individuals and businesses to quickly and easily build functional applications without requiring extensive coding expertise. No-code tools have democratized the software development process, allowing anyone with an idea to bring it to life. With visual interfaces and drag-and-drop tools, these platforms enable users to create applications in a matter of hours or days, rather than weeks or months. This rapid development time means that businesses can iterate quickly and get their products to market faster. However, as with any technology, no-code tools do have some limitations. They may not be able to accommodate highly complex or custom functionality, which may require coding expertise but hopefully it will be solved over time.
Don Bosco
Hey Hilal, I've spent a lot of time building in Bubble before transitioning to a full development team (after our raise). The short answer is, platforms like Bubble are an amazing way to build a prototype fast and cheap. You can go from idea to basic platform in a weekend. When it comes to scaling anything complex, though, you'll need to transition to an actual code environment.
Hilal Aydın
Hey @don__bosco I couldn't agree more. Transitioning to a native application is inevitable, but Bubble provides desired resources even for the complex projects. Special to our case, we can continue with Bubble for almost a year since it can support all of our clients but building the app with actual code is required at the end.
Nadir Arda Oral
I have developed a website through Webflow several times before. Instead of spending hours with coding, you can create a website at any level in a short time! Moreover, their own training is also available, and they explain it in a very descriptive way. Ready-made layouts are also available. Their systems are built on AWS, so your site speed and security are also very high! I definitely recommend Webflow.
Hilal Aydın
Hi @arda_finsmart as I mentioned, I am currently working with Bubble but I will definitely check Webflow out, and see what it provides to no-code developers. There are many no-code app development platforms in the market and choosing the one that satisfies your needs is a real task.
Erblin Shala
@arda_finsmart @hilal_aydin I have started using webflow and it's great for building not very complex websites. On the other hand I know that bubble is better for building web apps
Hilal Aydın
@arda_finsmart @erblin_shala1 Hi Erblin, I totally agree with you, Bubble provides back-end development when it is compared to Webflow.
Raju Sivaram
Hi Hilal, I have developed aasaan, a complete no-code e-commerce platform, and I say this is the future as we as engineers should create no-code apps/platforms//solutions so that prospective audience can use it for their need than spend time understanding how to use for their needs.
Hilal Aydın
Hi @raju_sivarama_gadiraju I am thrilled to see that the number of no-code solutions to the existing platforms are increasing day by day. I would love to listen your experiences on the no-code e-commerce platform you have built. I agree with you on the no-code/low-code is the future of engineering, and I believe that the limitations I mentioned will be resolved with the growth of no-code.
Anna
It's a great tool to test product-market fit and build some simple straightforward products. But once you've found it and need to grow and add some custom features - it might feel like it's getting in a way. When this happens - probably the best option is to gradually switch to custom development.
Hilal Aydın
Hey @horovody I think we are on the same page about the limitations of no-code platforms. I experienced that when you embed some code into a no-code app you can customize it liberally. However, I believe transitioning to a native application is inevitable if you are planning to scale up your product.
Jules Pratt
I have used a few, and I see it as a battle between time vs limitations. No-code certainly speeds up. Code takes time for most.
Hilal Aydın
Hey @jules_pratt I couldn't agree more. Additionally, no-code also costs less.
Jack Phillips
Hey Hilal. We're about to launch our closed marketplace for freelance production professionals using Bubble. It's been a fantastic experience and has helped up build something robust in just a few weeks. Like many here, we anticipate that we'll need to build on a more robust/flexible tech stack in the future. But what Bubble will enable us to do it prove out our concept and start generating revenue. We're looking to raise so this component is important for us. And of course... Bubble is great for marketplaces. In fact, our MVP cost less than our agency website $ for $, which has just 10 pages. Also Bubble new responsive engine is pretty bas ass.
Hilal Aydın
Hey @jack_phillips1 I am using Bubble for over three months now and I still get excited about every feature I discover. Bubble really is great for marketplaces, I think you chose the right platform for your needs. I would love to hear from you about your product and experiences, let's get in touch on LinkedIn or Twitter. Btw I totally agree with you about the new responsive engine, it is really comprehensive and easy-to-understand even for people with no hands-on coding experience.
Ghost Kitty
Comment Deleted
Hilal Aydın
Hi @sewell_stephens I have heard Editor X but never tried it out myself. I am definitely intrigued to check it out and discover its features after your comment. I have integrated Stripe payment system to my Bubble app without using any code or any other tool, but I have read so much about Zapier and I totally agree with you on that. I looked into the websites, and if you want to check mine out: https://oppflow.io I really want to hear your experiences, feel free to contact me on LinkedIn or Twitter if you want to.
Failmane
Отличный инструмент для запуска продукта без больших затрат. Конечно, позже использование кода будет просто необходимо, но в начале это наиболее выгодно!
Hilal Aydın
Hello @fail_men I think most no-code platforms are satisfactory enough to build a prototype or a simple website. However, as you said, when the app gets complicated you may need a touch of code at some points. Have you ever tried other no-code platforms other than Bubble?
Vaishnavi Piprya
Hello Hilal, I'm a from Aasaan Support Team and Aasaan is a Completely no-code E-commerce Platform it's a Ready to Use App that Sellers Can Use Very Easily
Hilal Aydın
Hello @vaishnavi_piprya I will definitely check Aasaan out! I love that most no-code platforms are clear as day even for non-developers.
Tushar Bangera
Hey Hilal, I am a marketer who loves building stuff. So no-code is a great tool for a person like me to test ideas and do quick builds. Most of them seem to be very intuitive, and with the help of tutorials and YT videos you can almost always find a solution or a work-around for most of your problems. Of course, there are limitations and if you want to scale or do highly customised builds, then you will definitely need to transition to actual coding. I have used Glide and currently trying out Softr. I am almost always amazed how quickly these apps let me start building without the barrier of knowing how to code. For me, NoCode = #win :)
Hilal Aydın
Hey @tusharbangera I totally agree with you on the points you mentioned. However, I overcame most of the limitations by embedding some code inside and building a low-code app in a no-code platform. Have you ever used Bubble? I have never used Glide or Softr before but I think they have some major differences when they compared to Bubble. In addition, how would you compare Glide to Softr? Please let me know! 🚀
Julian Burr
I think no-code tools are perfect to enable as many people as possible in a company to maintain websites, build automated workflows, etc. And on top of that, they will help you to really understand what exactly you need if you ever do hit the point where the no-code tools are not enough anymore, which makes it much easier and more efficient as a starting point to then build your own custom solutions.
Hilal Aydın
Hi @jburr90 I am working on a low-code app for some time now and I wasn't aware of how no-code platforms and discovering their limitations are prepared me to the transition to a native app until I saw your comment. I totally agree with you on that! Have you ever hit to the point where no-code was not enough for you? Please feel free to share your experiences 🚀
Julian Burr
@hilal_aydin I'm a software developer mostly working on saas apps, and i.e. one of the things I deliberately try to push for is to use no-code automation tools like Zapier as much as possible to test out potential integrations or automations within our apps. This makes it a lot easier to verify not only what we can automate from a product perspective, but also what users would be interested in. Once we verified what we need it's often better to build a proper integration, to cut out the need for users to have a Zapier account and to understand how to set things up there. In contrast to that, I still remember the days when marketing websites had to be built and maintained by the dev team, and I don't miss those days 😅 Having no- or low-code tools like Webflow in place not only allows designers to build those sites themselves, but also the rest of the company like the Marketing team to access and change it. No more bottlenecks!
Prashant Maurya
We are currently building on a no-code solution as an ecosystem product of Spheron called Buidlfy. It's a no-code UI tool for interacting and building smart contract interaction. No-code is the future and will always remain. Building no-code intends to reduce hiring time, product shipping time and expenses. In the later stage of the product, hire and build the custom interfaces.
Hilal Aydın
Hi @web3prashant I think we are on the same page. Thanks to no-code, building a product gains momentum at the starting point and you can build the product with less resources in shorter time horizon.
Martin Moravek
For minimalist phone (Android app) homepage, we use Webflow, primarily a static page. There is also a dynamically generated block section, for this one we use the Webflow CMS.
Hilal Aydın
Hi @minimalistphone I have heard Webflow for several times under this discussion and it is great to see that how no-code platforms are used for different purposes!
Martin Moravek
@hilal_aydin Yeah, if you want to e-shop, you can try for example Shopify, Shoptet or Simple shop, it depends on the project you want to work on.
Takashi Yamamoto
Hi Hilal, I've used it to build landing pages, but I've never used it as a main product. However, I would like to try it, so I would like to refer to your efforts.
Hilal Aydın
Hi @takashiyamamoto I would recommend Bubble for building a main product, I think it is worth trying out.
Kevin Mihalik
Create a no-code company to empower every employee to automate workflows and create business apps in minutes
Hilal Aydın
Hi @kevin_mihalik I agree, no-code platforms and solutions really fastens the process of building apps.
Dan Costanza
I'm an engineer at heart, but to be honest, no-code is awesome. There are very few ideas that I wouldn't want to use a no-code tool to prototype & try to test product-market fit with first
Hilal Aydın
Hey @kiraz I also think that no-code tools are great to build a prototype, and I think these platforms are growing day-by-day and getting a point that in the near future we may not need that much code to build a product.
Ronni K. G. Christiansen
Check out Aesirx.io it's super relevant for your question.
Sanuj Bansal
Hi Hilal, I agree that every no-code platform have limitations in terms of functionalities. Being a developer I have very less experience in using such platforms, but nowadays I am more interested in learning about them. So, I discovered a few products like DhiWise and Overlay which can create applications through drag and drop AND you can download the high quality code for React.js, Flutter, Vue.js like libraries. This way we can overcome any limitation of no-code and speed up development as well. Since after downloading the code, you will have UI, code examples and best practices already available.
Hilal Aydın
Hi @sanuj_bansal I will definitely check out the platforms you mentioned. Especially DhiWise seems so good at integrating no-code and code together. As I mentioned in the description, I am currently using Bubble.io, it has some elements that you can use to embed HTML or Javascript in but it is not comprehensive as DhiWise or Overlay I guess. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Hunter Carter
Maybe one day it will be a worthwhile strategy but today the downsides are massive. Not the least of which is technical debt.