Webflow introduces new visual tools that make building a website even easier

Called IX2, it brings engaging website animations into Webflow's drag and drop platform

If you're a web designer over the age of 30, you probably remember a time of building websites with straight HTML. While there was something deeply satisfying about getting your code perfect, it was ridiculously time consuming and one misplaced semicolon could mean disaster. It wasn't something for those without patience. Then after some advancements, early CMS applications hit the scene making web design much more accessible, but still had its own stable of issues that required hard coding when doing anything outside of a template's theme.

Web design has continued to become more accessible to non-coders, but there has always been a gap when it comes to truly dynamic experiences - either experts are required to make it happen or you're locked into a particular ecosystem (like Wix) that doesn't allow for the growth or changes a business desires. While we should still recognize companies like SquareSpace and Wix for what they brought to the table, they still have plenty of limitations. That's where companies like Webflow are coming in to help advance web design even further. 

Take for example Webflow's new IX2 features - this allows users to add visual animations and transitions in a website without any coding. It's dragging, dropping where you need it, and tweaking variables to get the desired results. The coding is literally being built as the developer is setting up their webpage. You can quickly tie motion to scroll process or build animated blocks that come together as you scroll. Stuff that typically would require lots of time-consuming, expensive coding. 

As you can see, the software allows for large levels of customization that will enhance the viewing experience for your web traffic. And sure, you could go overboard and take it from a classy experience with tasteful animation to something that looks like some sort of weird Angelfire/Geocities Hell, but hopefully that doesn't happen.

It should also be noted that this is not some gimmicky tool to play around with for a couple hours then forget about, but instead, Webflow expects serious developers to latch on to this style of visual development to help expedite the web design process. 

In fact, Bryant Chou, CTO and co-founder of Webflow wants to make it clear, “We’re not a SquareSpace or Wix. We’re not one of those grandma website builders. We’ve taken the approach of building WebFlow as the next visual way to build software. We see ourselves as an abstraction layer on the building blocks of the Internet, which are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript," he tells TNW.