Hey all,
I’ve been using BSS since 2018. Regular user, until this year I went with the lifetime license. When I found out about/started using BSS, I didn’t know what no code/low code was. However I have used BSS for some client pages and find it absolutely incredible. But I’ve looked into BSS “competitors” and TBH not much impresses me.
If there is one thing I think BSS could get that would help everybody (I’m even thinking of them WP folks in the other post); give BSS basic backend functionality.
- WP fans can use wordpress if they want to
- Other CMS are an option too like ButterCMS
- Admin pages ( IMO more useful then a CMS)
- API Calls/Minimal JS Hydration
I guess I’m a bit confused. I see people arguing about the WP feature whether it should happen or not; when if you just did a backend that was capable of the above; it would cover many use cases and make people happy.
I only just tried playing with BSS “competitors” yesterday to see, honestly, what other options are out there, I don’t like any of them. They just aren’t for me. I like BSS and would love to see her snatch some of the market away from some of these other tools; because she deserves too; she’s better.
I don’t know the option/tool that would be the best fit for BSS in this, I assume the developers of the project who monitor these things far closer then I do, will know far better which solution is the best implementation or if a bespoke implementation is the way to go. I just feel this one solution could solve many feature requests users would love to see in BSS.
Cheers,
Nick
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I can appreciate your points, but it’s very unlikely you’ll see these kinds of backend features in Bootstrap Studio.
There have been requests before for such features, but as Martin has explained in previous posts, in order for BSS to retain its drag-n-drop functionality and run locally, the code for the site needs to come from one source - the software - not PHP executed from a remote server.
Online builders like Webflow and Wix support database-driven features like blogs, logins, CMS’s, etc… because the sites themselves are generated and running on their own servers in the cloud. Bootstrap Studio runs on the user’s computer. Aside from having to completely recreate the software from scratch, incorporating dynamic features would be impossible in a $60-for-life program. There’s a reason those online builders cost hundreds of dollars a year. Bootstrap Studio fills a much needed niche in the website development community. It’s ridiculously affordable, produces immaculate code, provides free hosting, free forms, while also being robustly supported and actively developed. I’m actually quite amazed it’s not more expensive than it is (especially now that they’ve added e-commerce and are considering adding some level of Wordpress support.)
FWIW - while I haven’t looked at it in years, Wappler was conceived to be a drag-n-drop type of builder that ran on the user’s computer and also supported database-driven features like you’ve described. It was also very expensive as I recall (like $400 a year!)
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Thanks Ninja,
Was hoping you would chime in as it seems you are quite familiar with the project both the pros and the cons. Well the only other option for these things to me then is if the bootstrap studios community themselves do something. (And I noticed that webflow thing actually has a conference already?!? 
)
And I see that the main dilemma there is the knowledge gap between the power users (coders also) and the regular users who wouldn’t make a website without a tool like Bootstrap Studio.
Just when I thought I was out… They pull me back in… 
Thanks for the reply man this has given me alot to think on.
Bootstrap Studio kind of suffers from its own success. It has an elegant UI, produces clean, semantic code, the learning curve isn’t steep, and it is very affordable. It’s kind of in a class by itself. And because it does what it does so remarkably well, more advanced users constantly rhapsodize over the notion of it doing so much more. But often they’re things that are specific to the particular needs/workflow of small minority of users.
From a practical perspective (I believe) the developers try to devote their resources towards incorporating the features that are most requested, and which will attract the largest number of new customers. This is why they’ve added things like animations, e-commerce, integration with external code and image editors, multi-monitor support, and so on. Clearly they realize that the future of the program depends on keeping BSS accessible, while not making the learning curve excessively steep, or turning the UI into a bloated mess (like Pinegrow.)
This is my concern adding things like wordpress themes.
Personally I think that the advanced users take it for what it is, to quote the homepage " Bootstrap Studio is a powerful desktop app for designing and prototyping websites."
I use it for just that, designing and prototyping, and then taking that code and using to create a theme for a cms, ecommerce etc. I’ve just completed an opencart installation (sorry I can’t use reflow, it has too much missing at the moment for me), I did the layout in bss and then painstakingly*** converted the standard bs3 theme to bs5.
I think a lot of the users that want it to be all singing and dancing are the not so advanced users that want it to be a wordpress alternative that will run on the free bss servers. Whereas the advanced users know and accept its limitations.
***actually it was quite enjoyable 
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