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😤 What problems do people using no-code have?

I’ve been thinking about what it looks like to create products for people using no-code. In other words, I’ve been thinking about serving the community of people who use no-code. It’s a bit meta.

Maybe you can relate if you're:

  • Building a no-code app like Softr.io, Automatio.co, or byteline.io to join the others like Webflow, Zapier, and Bubble.

  • Interested in building something to serve the no-code community like an online course

My blog is more or less my way of building something to serve the no-code community. So I’m in this group, too.

I’ve taken a step back to think about what drives the no-code community. What do they want? What problems do they face? Why are they using no-code? Are they developers? Aspiring founders? Builders?

This was a bit of a self-reflection because I, too, build with no-code and am part of this group! So let’s take a look in the mirror and explore.

For this purpose of this post, we’ll look into what problems people face with no-code and not what type of people use no-code.

Here are (at least) 2 reasons why people use no-code

It’s quick and it’s visual.

You can build an app, a website, or an integration more quickly than you ever have before.

You can build things without code and do it visually. And let’s be honest, when you’re building something visual, it helps if the building process itself is visual. That’s what no-code offers.

No-code is about one thing: the building process

No-code solves a building problem.

Naturally, the no-code community is all about building. They have challenges for building everyday (see 100daysofnocode), communities with building tutorials and bootcamps (see Buildcamp), and Slack workspaces where people troubleshoot building (see No Code Founders).

The point is that no-code isn’t about marketing, advertising, accounting, copywriting, launching, or any other -ing.

It’s about building.

So what does the no-code community need? What problems are unique to the no-code community?

A big one: they’ll want ways to use no-code even more quickly.

At the moment, this is done through education (Makerpad, Buildcamp, NoCodeMBA, NoCodeMVP), frameworks (Airdev), and templates (Zeroqode).

What building needs are still left unmet? What areas can we improve on for people in no-code?

Organization might be one. No-code can be janky. It can pull together information from many apps (gets complicated when you introduce Zapier).

Here’s an idea, something like Snapboard but for no-code. It would create a dashboard of your product built with no-code to keep track of everything it uses to operate.

But, once you start getting into other areas of business like marketing, the problems aren’t so unique to people building with no-code.

I had an idea on copywriting for no-code. But it doesn’t quite make sense.

Perhaps it would make more sense if I zoom out just slightly to “copywriting for micro-saas founders” or “copywriting for landing pages for super small businesses like 1 or 2 people tops who don’t have a ton of time.”

Once I get into the copywriting realm, I exit the building process which is so integral to no-code. Tying the idea to no-code breaks down.

What do you think?

What are other problems people building in no-code have?

  1. 1

    As someone who learned to build his first websites at 13 years old and worked on little projects using Laravel for around 2 years IK a bit about coding, but not enough to create a service by completely coding it myself. I wish there where services where no-code and code joined together very easily.

    No-code enabled me to finally build and FINISH a project (for IOS, Android AND as a PWA!, using Adalo). It was extremely easy for me to create a big project, because I know how to use the building blocks.

    All the hate on “no-code” I see on IH is simply because people code themselves and forgot how long it took them before they were able to make a complete project. And “no-code” is a stupid name tbh, because it is made out of code😂

  2. 1

    I built the Airtable Integration Directory to try and solve the problem of identifying potential tools that integrate and connect with Airtable when figuring out your tech stack!

    https://airtableid.pory.app/

  3. 1

    "Are they developers? "

    NO!

    1. 2

      lol heard.

      But I bet we'll see more developers using frameworks and "shortcuts" that today may be labeled as no-code but will someday just be the norm.

  4. 1

    In Latín América "no-code" is very new, I'm building the Makerpad for spanish talking people. There are tons of opportunities in this region.

    We can chat if you want.

    1. 2

      Cool to hear it's spreading. It definitely still feels new here in the states, too.

  5. 1

    When I tried to find no-code solutions the biggest issue I ran into is a lack of flexibility which is limiting for anything complex.

    Rather than 'if x then y', I'd like to see options like 'if x and z, but not k, every nth time, then y'.

    1. 2

      I'm building hupreter.com which will give you more flexibility. I will have a live demo in a few weeks, there's an email list if you want to hear about it!

    2. 2

      I definitely see this. No-code needs that ability to apply advanced logic.

      In some cases, like Zapier, they've allowed for this and even have opened up ways to code within a "Zap." Bubble is similar. You can have a code step to help.

      But... a code step isn't true no-code. It's low-code.

  6. 1

    No-code users are:

    1. Coders who want something faster than coding (otherwise why bother).
    2. Non-coders who want to build without coding (otherwise they fail).

    Can we build a product that serves both these simultaneously? Possibly, but don't
    assume it's easy.

    Can we build docs that serves both these simultaneously? Doubtful, as one gets bored or one gets lost.

    So its 1 x product + 2 x docs at least.

    What does your meta thinking think?

    1. 1

      Nice.

      Well, I think you have to take one of the two and then get a bit more specific. Not sure you could build for both simultaneously and be successful?

      1. 1

        When introduced to no-code I assumed it was for non-coders but I'm concerned the effort involved in explaining is too high. I'm wondering if no-code for faster coders is the route. Am currently building something and you can see am wrestling with the question.

        1. 1

          Faster is better (as long as quality can remain high).

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