How to deal with too much flexibility in a no code tool?
I have been getting feedback by customers that they find https://versoly.com/ not as easy to use as other tools that aren't as flexible.
The thing is you can just use our blocks and if you don't try to do any customising it is as simple or even simpler (other tools require you to edit text in modals or on the side).
What do you think of having a "No Code"/"simple" mode that hides the flexibility? Then they can enable the "pro" mode that comes with more advanced features.
Don't forcefully try to be for everyone.
Users might say it's complicated not for technicalities but for other cognitive load factors like visual.. large blocks of text, lots of greys, long lists of options or otherwise, lack of air in the design..
It's weird initially that sometimes you can change design and it would become simple.
Like I watched the video shortly and it's a very programmer design ;). Ask a designer to show you what he would do with it, you might not like it but probably the non coders will.
You can try the simple/easy/begginer mode as well if you like 🤷
Interesting.
Agreed will look at removing the long lists.
I’m a current customer, but I’d love it if you had two modes. I really like the “more complex wyswig”. But my marketing guys who don’t code hate it. They’re getting lost and are really struggling to do the basic things.
If you had two modes this would solve that problem for us.
Thanks Shane.
I think I will try and "hide" stuff where possible. The UX can still be improved a lot, the right hand side bar is scary for non technical folks.
And I will make a short video on how marketing can easily edit content, blocks and pages without code.
This is a difficult question to answer because "not as easy to use" can mean a lot of things. Have you tried onboarding screenshare calls to see exactly where users are running into friction?
Many times.
The problem comes from them trying to edit stuff that they can't do in other non-flexible builders.
So they just give up and say the other tool is easier/more focused.
The same happens in tools that are more advanced than Versoly. However those tools can't easily add a second mode because the way they're built and doing anything in them is difficult.
Whereas in Versoly you can easily add blocks edit content and publish.
So i'm trying to work out if having 2 modes is worth while.
When you say "they just give up and say the other tool is easier/more focused" this could mean 2 things to me:
If #1 is what is happening, then I think you need to fix the UI so that it's easier to do what the user wants.
However if #2 is what is happening, I think before decide to do 2 modes, you should probably consider whether you can solve this by hiding the advanced options and bring them up only when the user actually wants/needs them.
I just took a look at your UI, and I think there's a lot going on. I think you have to decide who your customer is... I think you're kind of straddling the line between "simple" and "complex" and to me, it's not obvious whether you're trying to target a technically sophisticated user, or a user that has little idea how to code. For example, exposing classnames and other HTML attributes works well for those who know HTML, but will probably overwhelm those who don't.
I suspect that you're trying to have an information dense UI, but that works best when a user is expecting to have a challenging learning curve. For example, people know that Photoshop is pretty complex and they don't expect to dive in the first time and have everything be intuitive and easy. When I think about no-code or low-code tools, I think they are for less-sophisticated users and so the expectation is for everything to be "easy" from the start.
I don't know who your target customer is, so please take this with a grain of salt, but if I were you, I think I would first try to hide some of the complexity in the UI rather than making two modes. Basically, the "visible" UI would be like "simple mode" and the more complex stuff would be hidden until the user needs it.
I'm sure there are some exceptions, but I think in general two modes is a mistake. To me, it means you're trying to serve two very different customers with the same product, and I'd be concerned that you will end up making compromises that make the product not great for either customer type. I think it's always better to have one product that is a super experience for one type of customer.
I'm sure you've thought a lot about this already, but I hope my feedback is useful nonetheless.
Good luck!
#1 most likely happens but that will always be the case. We also purposely do it.
Lots of people want to try and edit colors freely but we limit to a set of colors so they have a good design.
I'm more worried about #2 for now.
Yeah I need to find a way off hiding stuff without making it annoying for technical customers (i don't want them to have to click 3-4 times instead of 1).
Will need to do more video calls with non technical folks :)
I understand the desire to have everything one click away, but I think your product has enough complexity that it's too overwhelming. Of course going the other way and having 3-4 is not good either. I think the sweet spot is to have all of the basic and most commonly used features one click away and having the more advanced and less frequently used features 2 clicks away. I also think context menus and modals are a good way to hide complexity and bring it up when the user needs it. Good luck !
I don't know why people would say that but I played with it and I was impressed :) It's actually pretty easy to use for me, not sure if it's because I am a developer. I really like it. :)
Thanks :) Backend developers usually love it.
It is more marketers and non technical people.
Makes sense as I built it for myself as a full stack developer who didn't want to learn another tool.