How Easy Is The Webflow Website Editor To Use?
One of the key reasons we love using Webflow here at Domin8 Designs is the website editor for clients.
“CMS” or ‘content management system’ is a popular term nowadays — with many website platforms having their own inbuilt system to manage and organise content — however not all CMS platforms are created equal.
With this in mind, we thought it would be beneficial to take some time to unpack what it is we love about Webflow’s Editor — but also focus on the elements that make it easy for our clients to make changes to their websites.
Before diving in, you may be asking ‘what is a website editor?’…
What is a ‘website editor’ and why is it useful?
Without an editor, website owners would need to know coding, HTML, CSS, Javascript and more to complete even a basic tasks such as making a small amendment to some text or adding a new image.
A website editor makes making changes to your website much (much) easier, including tasks such as:
- adding new blog and news pages;
- editing existing text; and
- adding images and video.
Both a CMS and Editor also remove the need to manually export files and re-upload them to an external server — reducing opportunities for errors while reducing the time it takes to update a website.
What are the benefits of Webflow’s website editor?
While each CMS has their unique strengths and weaknesses, having used Webflow for over five years, we’re a firm believer in the benefits the Editor brings to clients who want to maintain their own website.
As a summary, these include:
- it’s ridiculously easy to use — stripping away all the unnecessary backend features and providing a front end, clean and simple experience for Editors;
- it’s pretty powerful — once setup correctly, Editors can add new content like blog articles and news posts and even filter these under categories or tags;
- it’s an ‘on page’ experience — changes can be made swiftly without having to dig deep through a backend;
- no external platform needed — simply log into your website editor using your website broswer*.
How easy is the Webflow Editor to use?
A popular question we receive from clients is: “Can we make changes to the website from our end — and how easy is it?”
Having used Webflow for close to five years now, we love the the benefits that Webflow brings not only to our team here in Tasmania of website designers — but also to clients who utilise the Editor.
So with this in mind, here’s a list of benefits we wanted to share about the Webflow Editor…
1. Easily make changes and updates to your website — right on the page
With the Editor, you can make basic changes such as text edits and updates on the page using your website browser*.
This saves the need to dig through the backend of a website platform just to make a simple change — or have to pay a premium for an external platform or service
Here’s an example using Webflow’s Editor…
Once logged in, Editors can simply hover over a text area, click inside and type to make the change (just like using Microsoft Word) then click out to save the update.
With the Webflow Editor, changes can easily be made right on the screen.
2. Adding new items to blogs, news pages and FAQ’s is just like filling in a form
Without Webflow’s content management system (CMS) — to create a new blog or news post (like this one you’re reading) would be incredibly tedious and require a lot of manual work.
The CMS negates the need for all of this manual handing — making additions to ‘dynamic content’ so much easier.
What is dynamic content? We refer to this as areas of a website that are going to be continually updated; such as blogs, news pages, FAQ’s, testimonials etc.
Through the Webflow Editor (once setup by your website developer) you can use the “Collections” area to add new content to your website — and it is as simple as filling in a form.
The real power of the CMS however is that — once setup correctly — the formatting, SEO titles and descriptions, internal links and social media previews of this dynamic content are all ready to go; saving time and effort.
Here’s an example using Webflow’s Editor…
Adding a new blog post to a website is achieved by pressing the green “New Blog Post Button”, filling in the form fields such as title, description, date and image, then publishing the change live.
Adding new items to ‘dynamic areas’ (blogs, news pages) is as simple as filling in a form.
3. Advanced styling and adding media are easy using “Rich Text Blocks”
With some Editors, styling content such as adding headings, images, videos and bullet points can be tricky.
Through the use of ‘Rich Text Blocks’ in Webflow, making advanced styling changes is easy — beyond just bold or italics.
Here’s an example using Webflow’s Editor…
You can hover over existing or new content and select advanced styles such as sub-headings, quote blocks and internal links — as well as adding images, embedding videos or dot points.
Advanced styling including sub-headings and images can be achieved through Rich Text Blocks.
4. Publishing changes to the live website is as simple as pushing a button
Beyond launching a website, we’re always looking at ways to reduce the reliance on us as developers to save time and cost for small businesses and organisations in Tasmania.
The Webflow Editor enables you to not only make the changes to your website, however once happy, you can also immediately publish these changes to your live domain — making quick updates or corrections a breeze.
Here’s an example using Webflow’s Editor…
Once you have finished reviewing the changes in the tab at the bottom of your browser — Editors can press the blue “Publish” button and after a short time, Webflow will publish the new changes to your live website.
Publishing changes live to your website is as simple as pushing the big, blue button.
5. You can have more than one Editor
As a small business here in Tasmania, we know the importance of having a good team around you.
Many of our website clients have more than one Editor added to their website — easing the workload around making changes or adding new content.
By default, you can have up to three “Collaborators” who can jump in and make any changes to ensure a website is fresh and up to date; however more can easily be added for bigger teams who publish content more regularly.
Wrapping up the Webflow Editor
These are just a handful of reasons why we think the Webflow Editor is such a beneficial tool for clients who want to manage their own site.
If you’ve got any more questions about the Editor or would like a bit more of a break down on any of the features, feel free to get in touch through our contact page — or social media such as Facebook or Instagram.
If you’re a business or startup in Tasmania that has been looking to update your existing website or get started with a new one, we’re always here to help — you can head over to the Discuss A Website Project page and we’d love to chat further about what you have in mind.
Thanks for reading!
- Dom
Originally published at https://www.domin8designs.com.au.
