Webflow Conf 2023 - Ezine

WEBFLOW

CONF 2023

WHAT'S I SIDE 02

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Webflow Conf 2023

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At Webflow Conf 2023

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Build More in Webflow

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Create Immersive 3D experiences with Spline

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Take your business worldwide with Localization

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Style with unprecedented control

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Support for custom CSS properties

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Components get an upgrade

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Growing the Webflow Ecosystem

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Elevating our developer platform

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Bring your Figma designs to Webflow

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Improving the way teams work

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Editor-in-Chief John Castro

WEBFLOW

CONF 2023

Managing Editor Jessa Pasion

Content Director John Castro

Art Direction Jessa Pasion

Photographers Digital Team

Contributing Writers John Castro

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AT WEBFLOW CONF 2023, WE ANNOUNCED NEW PRODUCT FEATURES AND CAPABILITIES THAT EMPOWER YOU TO BUILD UNMISTAKABLY PROFESSIONAL WEBSITES. Unveiled at Webflow Conf 2023, our latest product enhancements redefine the landscape of website creation, placing unparalleled professionalism at your fingertips.

Over the past decade, Webflow has been the creative playground for a global clientele, fostering the development of awe-inspiring web experiences.

From industry titans such as Dropbox, Discord, and IDEO to the innovative minds at Social Driver, Whiteboard, and Outliant, Webflow has been the catalyst for unlocking the full potential of diverse businesses worldwide.

Today marks a pivotal moment as we amplify this potential with a suite of groundbreaking features.

These empower teams to craft even more sophisticated websites, elevating the digital presence of their clients and organizations to new heights.

John Castro Editor-in-Chief

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Embark on a glimpse into the enhanced Webflow experience: 1. Amplify your creative scope through seamless integration with Spline and advanced localization capabilities.

2. Command your design narrative with unparalleled precision, courtesy of modern and scalable design systems.

3. Witness the evolution of our ecosystem, unlocking novel functionalities with Webflow Apps and offering developers a dynamic platform for innovation.

4. Foster enhanced collaboration among teams of all sizes, empowering them with dedicated workflows for seamless commenting, editing, and publishing.

And that's not all—we've ushered in a revitalized Webflow aesthetic, both within and beyond the product, complemented by our brand-new logo. Delve deeper into our design journey here and explore the full array of our latest launches below.

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BUILD MORE IN WEBFLOW

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CREATE IMMERSIVE 3D EXPERIENCES WITH SPLINE Step into a visually captivating realm with the transformative power of 3D, elevating websites and projects to a level of distinction. Whether it's providing a closer glimpse of a product, accentuating a design, or immersing users in a 360º visual experience, 3D brings a new dimensionality to the digital landscape.

Excitingly, we've harnessed the creative potential of expressive and interactive 3D within Webflow through our seamless integration with Spline. Spline, a web-based 3D design software, empowers users to craft animations, visual models, and interactive experiences. With this live integration, you can now effortlessly create visually stunning 3D designs and immersive scenes for your audience, unlocking a world of creative possibilities today.

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TAKE YOUR BUSINESS WORLDWIDE WITH LOCALIZATION

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In order to optimally cater to a global customer base, businesses must customize their websites to align with specific target markets. However, existing solutions often require heavy reliance on developers or entail notable compromises in terms of design control, organic discoverability, and elevated overhead costs.

Introducing Webflow Localization—an innovative solution designed to empower businesses, irrespective of size, in tailoring their websites for a global audience. This feature has emerged as a top request from our community, and over the past year, we've dedicated ourselves to comprehensively addressing and solving this intricate challenge.

With Localization, you gain the power to: Tailor every aspect of your site for specific locations, effortlessly adjusting design and content without the need for coding.

Harness the capabilities of native machinepowered translation, seamlessly integrating with partner apps like Lokalise or connecting to your preferred Translation Management System (TMS).

Optimize global visibility with top-notch SEO, utilizing customizable subdirectories, metadata, and localized sitemaps.

Localization is currently accessible for Enterprise customers and partners, with availability for all customers scheduled for next month. Dive deeper into its capabilities here and reach out to our sales team to embark on this transformative journey.

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STYLE WITH UNPRECEDENTED CONTROL Design faster and stay on brand with variables

Unlocking the efficiency of design systems is no longer a secret to speeding up your workflow. The ability to design a universal component and deploy it across various scenarios not only accelerates your design process but also ensures a seamless and consistent user experience.

Excitingly, we're introducing the versatility of design systems to Webflow through the launch of variables. These dynamic elements store values such as colors, fonts, and sizes without the need for hard coding. Any modification to a variable ripples through your entire site, providing a streamlined design process and steadfast consistency throughout your build.

Experience the power of variables live in the Webflow Designer today, revolutionizing the way you approach and execute your design projects.

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BY JOHN SCOTT CASTRO

SUPPORT FOR CUSTOM CSS PROPERTIES Experience a leap in styling precision with our upcoming feature designed for projects that demand the utmost finesse. Soon, you'll have the ability to seamlessly integrate custom CSS properties and value pairs directly into your style elements within the Webflow Designer.

These personalized styles will effortlessly blend into your classes and tags, presenting a scalable and efficient avenue for crafting your design. Keep an eye out for the latest updates as we meticulously refine and enhance this groundbreaking functionality.

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COMPONENTS GET AN UPGRADE

We're supercharging the capabilities of components, enhancing their power and usability to empower you in constructing more seamlessly integrated websites. Whether you're orchestrating a primary component or working with a component instance on the canvas, managing modifiable properties within your component has never been more effortless.

As of today, a user-friendly process allows you to effortlessly create and delete properties, along with clear action items for linking properties and elements. Our new side panel further refines the editing experience for content editors, displaying only the component properties they can modify.

For teams leveraging components, we're introducing a game-changer: slots.

These are adaptable placeholders within a component that grant flexibility from the outset, enabling the component creator to build with foresight. Moreover, component consumers can now alter the structure by placing any element or component within the slot. With the introduction of slots, Webflow components are inching closer to the powerful capabilities of true React components.

Excitingly, slots will be available for all customers in the coming months, enhancing your website-building experience.

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GROWING THE WEBFLOW ECOSYSTEM A mere few weeks back, we unveiled the latest evolution of Webflow Apps, seamlessly integrating the robust capabilities of Apps directly into the Designer. Now, Apps take your workflows to the next level, enabling real-time addition and editing of site elements like forms, images, and text. The connectivity is now made even more effortless, allowing you to establish seamless links to your team's daily toolkit, including HubSpot, Unsplash, Jasper, Finsweet, and Memberstack.

In today's exciting update, we're expanding the Apps available in the Marketplace, featuring Finsweet's innovative Wized App, Better Shadows, and Lokalise's new localization App. Stay tuned for an enhanced web design experience!

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ELEVATING OUR DEVELOPER PLATFORM Going beyond the horizons of what Apps can offer to those steering and constructing sites within Webflow, our revamped developer platform unfolds even more potent tools for the thriving community of agencies, freelancers, and marketing teams.

In August, we introduced Designer Extensions—a groundbreaking building block for Apps driven by Webflow Designer APIs. This empowers developers to construct Apps that seamlessly interact with a site's Canvas. Furthermore, substantial updates to our REST APIs have been implemented, enabling developers to integrate their products with more of Webflow's core features, including Forms, Assets, Pages, and Custom Code.

Today marks the unveiling of three new APIs, providing developers with access to some of our latest features. First in line is a suite of Component Designer APIs, empowering developers to seamlessly add, bind, and manage components on a Webflow site. We're also rolling out a Variables Designer API, allowing developers to define and manage variables such as color, font, and size.

Excitingly, next month, we're set to release a Localization API, facilitating the integration of third-party Translation Management Systems with Webflow.

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BRING YOUR FIGMA DESIGNS TO WEBFLOW Earlier in the year, we introduced the Figma to Webflow plug-in, streamlining the process of seamlessly transferring your designs and wireframes from Figma to Webflow.

Taking your design-to-build journey to the next level, we're unveiling enhanced functionality that automates the import of your Figma components and their associated variables directly into Webflow. Now, as your designs undergo changes and evolution in Figma, you can effortlessly propagate those updates into Webflow with just a click.

The upgraded Figma to Webflow plug-in, along with its complementary Webflow App, is set to launch in the coming months, promising an even smoother and more integrated design workflow.

IMPORTING REACT COMPONENTS WITH DEVLINK Empowering developers, DevLink now offers the capability to export Webflow components seamlessly into their React environments. We're taking DevLink a step further by introducing a new feature—React component import—allowing customers to infuse their Webflow sites with the dynamic potential of React-built components.

Looking ahead, envision creating a spectrum of elements, from live data-connected components like a store locator to complete full-stack applications.

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IMPROVING THE WAY TEAMS WORK

Fostering collaboration is paramount for enhancing speed to market and efficiency across teams of all sizes. In the past year, we've made substantial investments in elevating teamwork within Webflow.

The recent introduction of commenting provides a swift feedback loop within the context of your project, facilitating the seamless progression of tasks. The addition of a free commenter role allows specific team members to adopt a 'comment-only' role in Webflow. Furthermore, we've unveiled a dedicated content editing environment in Webflow, catering to marketers, copywriters, clients, and any team member, ensuring a simplified and secure space for quick content edits and publishing.

Another notable enhancement is the rollout of new publishing workflows, offering enhanced visibility into proposed updates, instilling peace of mind before the final publish.

In the upcoming months, we're set to amplify the power of page branching—especially popular among Enterprise users—enabling teams to expedite branch testing through a streamlined approval process. Additionally, we're diligently crafting a new avenue for less-technical team members to independently compose new pages using designer-approved components.

With these innovative features and capabilities on the horizon for Webflow, we eagerly anticipate witnessing the extraordinary creations of you and your teams. Our commitment is unwavering in supporting your journey to craft the most exceptional and unmistakably professional websites.

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Excitingly, we've partnered with Spline to offer a 30% discount on their Super Annual Plan exclusively for Webflow users, using the code 'WebflowFriends.' Join us in this collaborative journey towards excellence!

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