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Published a Roadmap for No Code List

I published a roadmap, in article format, to explain what I have in the works with the No Code List.

You can read it on the site at nocodelist.co/roadmap, but here it is in full. The TL;DR is I'm adding new sections for Stacks, Endorsements, and Resources.

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The No Code List is a list of no-code software: tools to build, run, and market a digital business without code.

My goals with the list are to:

  • Show people the breadth/depth of no-code
  • Help them choose which no-code software is right for them and their project

To achieve these goals, I have three sections planned to support the main list: Stacks, Endorsements, and Resources.

🧩 No-Code Stacks
The Stacks section is a list of projects that are built on no-code stacks.

Visitors can see how many projects use each software (displayed in the main list), and they can check out the projects themselves.

My hypothesis is that seeing and using real-world projects is the fastest way to understand what a software is capable of.

I also think it will be really cool to see the commonalities between different projects' stacks. That in itself will be a good signal when vetting a piece of software.

Next steps for Stacks
More projects! Projects and their stacks are user-submitted, and I need to do a push to get submissions. It might be possible to seed a few myself, but it's rare to know the full stack a project used. (Do you run something on a no-code stack? Submit it at nocodelist.co/submit-stacks!)

📣 Endorsements
The Endorsements section is a purposely modified version of "comments" or "reviews." I limit it to vetted no-code experts (who knows what that will mean, though, since it's only me so far), and it's positive comments only (hence the name).

The choice for positive comments is because the idea of negativity and putting down hard-working people building software doesn't sit right with me. Instead, by raising good software up with positive endorsements, it will stand out from the ones without endorsements. Plus, software grows and gets better, so "bad" software might just be "young" software.

The goal of this section is to add some context and specificity to each software. Endorsements are a great way to differentiate between all the no-code web app software, for example, where the one-line descriptions are very similar.

Next steps for Endorsements
More endorsements! From people who aren't me, haha.

I paused on this section because I didn't get great feedback (in post replies or analytics) for the original version, called Comments. I've since switched it to Endorsements and standardized the format to create more useful content, but I need to dig in further and figure out who would read these, who would write these, and why. That will help to shape this section.

📄 Resources
Lastly, Resources is a list of links to third-party sites related to each project. This is the least developed section right now, but eventually, resources will be categorized and potentially have upvoting.

If done well, this section should be pretty helpful to people vetting software. It's also a good way to create synergies with the other great no-code resources that exist. If I can help people when they're initially considering no-code, I can graduate them to others for demos, courses, tutorials, and consulting.

Next steps for Resources
Resources isn't really on the site yet, although a couple entries link to a single article. The next step is to build and launch this section.

Content
In addition to building out those sections, I'm also focusing on generating some content (something I'm usually good at but haven't done much for No Code List).

Right now, I've got three content categories in the works, aimed at three different "levels" of no-code builders. The names are placeholders.

How to no-code (beginners... more general, less software-specific)
No-code landscapes (intermediate... thought pieces or roundups about no-code in different verticals, industries, or business styles)
Tips (experts... novel, software-specific tips)

Timeline

  • Week of 9/30 Initial Endorsements section

  • Week of 10/7 Initial Stacks section

  • Week of 10/14 (this week) Initial Resources section

  • Week of 10/21 First batch of content

I'll update this roadmap as things progress. Thanks for reading, and feel free to reach out with any thoughts or feedback!

  1. 1

    Hi Drew, I didn't know there were so many no code tools. How do you make money? I don't see any member space or hidden content...

    1. 1

      I don't make any money yet. I'd love to monetize it in more thoughtful/creative ways (as opposed to ads or hidden content). I have some ideas, but I'm still figuring that part out. In the meantime, in order to monetize eventually, I need the content, so I'm just working to build it up.

      It actually costs $92/month to run, too, although most of that cost is shared with other projects. Still, I'm going to pull the trigger on monetization sooner than later!

      1. 1

        Hi Drew,
        Wow 92$ is a lot. Why does it cost you this much?
        I look forward to seeing what you come up with:)
        I started following you, I am big on nocode, so much so that I am starting a digital academy in Africa to teach them how to build things using the best tools.
        Working name is AIcademy 😁
        Still figuring out the how and your websites has a lot of resources I haven't tried.
        Thanks for sharing

        1. 1

          Awesome, good luck with that! I love the idea of spreading no-code!

          $92 is a lot, but to be a little more "accurate," only $29 of that is specific to the No Code List, and it's for Ghost Pro. The rest- Airtable, Mailchimp, Zapier, etc.- I pay for but use for many different projects, so it's not as extreme as it sounds.

          I think I could probably have the whole thing done for $10 or $20 per month with Glide or Table2Site.

          I do think no-code's biggest weakness is all the subscription costs, though. I wrote a little bit about it here: https://x.workandwhistle.co/no-code/no-codes-achilles-heel/

          1. 2

            Nice in-depth article, and another tool I didn't know about unqork :D
            You really have your finger on the pulse.
            I will sign up for your newsletter

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