New To BSS / Non Web Dev Use?

Hello,

New here. I'm not a web developer by trade, rather UXD among other things. I have a need to build a small static site consisting of 6 pages. I have the design wire framed and the copy and content completed. I've tested Pingendo, Pinegrow, Mobirise, CC SD3, Webflow, etc. as much as someone ignorant of the trade can and think I can manage to build out something passable using the templates and components.

My question revolves around assistance if I get into a bind on building out the site. Is there support available with BSS, even paid? I took a look at the Tesla build and it was very well done but saw there were some areas that manual code had to be entered. I don't want to get jammed up trying to use a product that requires me to know all the fundamentals well first. I realize I'm going about this in a backwards fashion, it's simply a matter of hours in the day and availability.

Is there anyone who isn't a web dev that uses and has experienced some success building simple sites with BSS?

Thanks.

Hi,

BSS is a really good product for your use, and there's a forum for your help.

But, like in any other product, you have to know - even a few - HTML/CSS basic function to achieve your site just as you wanted to be.

You're going to need to know a good bit of "fundamentals" actually, in order to truly fine tune your site how you want it. Granted, you can get away with just a bit of basic HTML and CSS knowledge, but the more you know, the better your site will look and work.

You'll find a lot of help here learning how the app works, but when it comes to actually building things that's not what these forums are really for. There are some that will help you fine tune something that you are having issues with, but asking people to outright build something for you because you can't isn't a good thing to do here.

Sounds like you might be better off hiring someone that already knows what they are doing, but give it a shot first and be sure you aren't able to. It's not super hard to learn HTML and CSS if you put your mind to it, it's not as bad as a lot of the other languages out there. Good luck on it!

Hello,

Thank you for your perspectives. My initial objective is to build something simple and usable which it looks like is possible with the existing assets in BSS. I'm in UXD so I am not so concerned with pixel perfection as a UID would be.

I know I'm in that middle area of needing a tool that gives more flexibility than something like Mobirise but not as technically complex as a text editor. I believe I've tried the vast majority of visual editors currently available and none of them are particularly usable but I think the light bulb will go off in some companies mind that they need to focus on the UX and that will be the company that dominates the larger design market, right now it's just in the copycatting stage.

Until that happens I think I will give BSS a try. I think the Pingendos and Pinegrows of the world will be more confusing to me given the addition of Foundation and WP, there are a few less letters in the BSS alphabet soup. I do appreciate the honest feedback, if I can't make effective use of BSS due to my inexperience with the underlying language it's not like I haven't been warned up front.

You're quite welcome, and I wish you good luck on your adventure as it truly is at times!

@OSTexo - if you get stuck then just feel free to post up asking for advice - the 2 video tutorials that’s the devs have put up on YouTube are brilliant.

I think the Pingendos and Pinegrows of the world will be more confusing to me given the addition of Foundation and WP, there are a few less letters in the BSS alphabet soup.

Just for the record, Pingendo is only Bootstrap. Pinegrow works and provides the visual tools for whatever library you are working with, it does not intermix the other libraries or tools if you are working with Bootstrap. ;-)

I believe I’ve tried the vast majority of visual editors currently available and none of them are particularly usable but I think the light bulb will go off in some companies mind that they need to focus on the UX and that will be the company that dominates the larger design market.

The race is definitely on, time will tell. ;-)

Hello,

I'm making some good progress on the first site I wire framed using preexisting components in BSS. I'm sure it's not perfect but it will suffice until I am able to start learning the fundamentals of the language. I'm attempting to build a hero image for the home page consisting of a raster image layered with a linear gradient consisting of two colors at an angle (e.g. 45%) similar to the top image shown here:

https://templates.pingendo.com/aquamarine/conference.html

Does BSS currently have any sort of overlay builder that allows content that can be layered in Bootstrap to be built visually or is this a manual process?

By the way the page build videos BSS put out have been very helpful. Thanks.