Today someone asked me, what do I need to create a website? There are so many ways to answer this, easy ways and hard ways. For non-technical folks, 'no code' might be the way to go : 'no code' solutions reduce or eliminate the need for technical skills to build your solution. These solutions typically provide templates that fit well for very common situations. And you might just find a product that fits closely with your own specific need. Recently the scope of capability for 'no code' has significantly increased and it is growing fast : you can do more with these tools than ever before. You may be surprised at what you can do all by yourself! Yet companies will also benefit from this shift.
Everyone knows about WordPress, the grand-daddy of 'no code' on the internet: nearly 40% of the internet runs on WordPress. It turns out that a high percentage of websites are quite simple, with just a few pages and a brochure or blog flavor. And they have many competitors such as Squarespace, Wix, and more, not to mention social media.
But let’s look past the obvious : what are some newer tools that are gaining traction? Here are some of the latest tools that are on my radar. If you can recommend others, please add them to the comments.
If you’ve dabbled with Survey Monkey or Google Forms, you can go deeper with Typeform, which includes a variety of templates and tools to build forms, surveys, quizzes and polls. Another quiz platform is Interact. Did you know that your quiz can have integrations?
Web 2.0 applications like Wikipedia allow the community to create their own data. If you want to gather data with a form, and then allow others to see or use all the data that has been gathered, take a look at Airtable. At first glance it is a bit like sharing a custom spreadsheet or database. The product feel is solid, much like something from Google Workspace or Microsoft Office. But Airtable goes further by providing a platform for building applications with data. Google is trying to jump into the trend with a similar product called Tables.
Webflow allows creating visually appealing and interactive websites using a visual editor. It’s a no code environment, and the results are aesthetically pleasing and behave well across desktop and mobile devices. They have free and paid templates and integrations for a variety of common use cases. In this case, knowing a little bit about HTML and CSS makes you a power user. But it is not required. See also: Bildr.
Bubble makes it easy to build a website application with no code. They also have templates which can give you an idea of their sweet spot. Bubble has a deeper level of functionality and so you can build interactive applications. For example, try building a WhatsApp clone. Bubble also has robust integrations to other tools. For example, you can integrate Bubble with Airtable. The opportunity to combine 'no code' tools can really expand options.
What if you want a mobile app? Appgyver takes 'no code' into the mobile app realm. One of the pain points of mobile applications is getting apps past the web store on to your device. Appgyver has followed the example of Expo, a React Native tool for programmers, and allows a non-technical person to build an application and then immediately test the application on your phone. That's pretty slick. And because they allow integrations to the outside world such as Javascript and application programming interfaces (API), one can extend the system beyond in-the-box features and add new capabilities down the road. See also: Draftbit.
If e-commerce is your thing, Shopify takes the ‘no code’ concept all the way to creating an online business. Check out the variety of themes that you can grab, customize, and deploy out of the box.
Another interesting option is Adalo, which has a variety of templates. Rapidly create an app for coaching, real estate, or ordering food. As reflected in this recent press release, what’s very exciting about the trend to use ‘no code’ tools is that we are just at the beginning of a wave of investments that will make 'no code' options stronger. And if you think 'no code' is just for lightweights, some companies are more ambitious: imagine creating an Ethereum distributed application on the blockchain using DappBuilder.
The list above is, of course, incomplete. These are just a few of the options out there today. One can search online to find more similar products. 'No code' tools are not perfect, so as you try tools out, try to get to know the strengths and weaknesses, pricing, and limitations of each option. Check to see if the templates and integrations are a potential fit. The good news is that there is no huge technical hurdle to stop you from creating a website or app to fuel your business. And by using the latest generation of 'no-code' tools, you can shift your focus from how to build something to the more important topic: how to connect with your audience. I hope this is helpful - if you like this post, let me know. Comments and feedback are welcome!
This article was first published on Linkedin at linkedin.com/pulse/whats-all-fuss-code-eric..