Just 10 years ago, many people thought that website and app development would always be about writing complex code that is impossible to understand (let alone edit) for non-experts. No-code platforms were often seen as either something from a sci-fi novel or a technology doomed to technological irrelevancy due to its inflexibility. Today, however, the field has completely overturned most expectations. While more visible technologies like VR or self-driving cars proved to be niche despite the massive hype one decade ago, no-code applications managed to slowly but surely enter the mainstream and become not only viable but optimal for development. In this article, we will overview what makes this success possible and present some examples of sites and apps that can be built with its help.
Organizational and Business Support
Today, no-code and low-code apps have one of the most important “building blocks” of success: significant organizational and business support. Firstly, no-code platforms are often developed by organized groups of developers and businesses. Technologies like Bubble or Webflow are not small passion projects but regularly maintained and updated products. Bubble development, for example, is very simple today because you not only get access to no-code app/site building interfaces but also to in-app hosting capabilities and several other services that require manual setup for traditional developers. Secondly, these platforms also have active developer communities, which formed around the already robust capabilities of those no-code development environments. The users of Bubble and Webflow have access to a very large number of user-made plugins and an active community ready to answer user questions on various forums. This means that the new users are not alone: they can ask both community members and official support of various no-code apps for help.
Large Number of Modules
When services like Bubble or Webflow were in the early stages of their creation, the most significant barrier to their adoption was the relatively small number of modules available to users. The modern Internet has thousands of various services that require integration: from social media to banking apps. More importantly, the diversity of features expected from modern websites and apps is also very large. The modern web can integrate almost everything: from forums/chats to complex visual editors for design. Most users expect a large number of very complex features from the modern Internet.
Platforms like Bubble or Webflow have been in development for more than a decade, meaning that they have managed to accumulate all those vital features over the years. There are now Bubble plugins for everything: from maps to banking and AI. These platforms also support custom modules, meaning that you can develop your own features if necessary when there is a gap in available modules. All this enables users to quickly combine the existing modules into new apps and sites, finalizing them with some custom code. This approach significantly reduces time for app and site creation as it streamlines the implementation of widespread features like social media integration.
Perfect Integration with AI
Once you take a look at those features, it quickly becomes evident that this technology can have a perfect symbiosis with generative AI. Generative AI can create a large number of features based on user prompts today, using a very diverse set of programming languages. Even though it tends to make many errors while creating larger apps, this technology is very successful at creating smaller modules. Today, no-code platforms like Bubble or Webflow are already leveraging this advantage of AI. Since they have a large number of pre-made modules in their ecosystems already, they remove the largest issue with AI: its challenges centered around big projects. The users can assemble a site or an app via pre-made modules in a GUI and then ask AI to create modules that are not present in the existing database. Of course, some code editing may be necessary, but this combination of technologies can ultimately enable users to save hundreds of hours on app creation by using the benefits of pre-made modules and automation.
Types of Apps You Can Create in Modern No-Code Platforms
Modern no-code platforms, of course, have their limitations in some scenarios, but are usually robust enough for the majority of user needs. Above all, technologies like Bubble are used en masse to create customer portals, dashboards, websites, and web apps. As we’ve mentioned before, no-code platforms offer a large number of modules for integrating the most popular features requested by the users of the modern web. If you want to create a customer portal, integrating payment or product profiles will not be difficult: the necessary modules are already present in no-code frameworks. Dashboard tools are similarly easy to configure, as there are multiple tools for integrating them within no-code platforms. Websites, which usually rely on text and social media integration, should not be a problem because platforms like Bubble already have modules for the most popular social media and integrate blocks necessary for creating blogs and forums (for example, text editors).
The combination of more complex blocks with configurable variables, GUI-based automation features, and customizable scripts is also perfect for creating web apps. No-code can be used for creating very complex solutions aimed at automating company processes or collecting information: HR, accounting, and inventory management apps are actively being created within their ecosystems.
At the same time, no-code, of course, has some limitations. It was created with modern web and mobile platforms in mind, targeting the rising demand for browser-driven and smartphone apps. It is definitely possible to use no-code in manufacturing as more and more hardware developers make sure to integrate smartphone and web platforms into their products in order to adapt to the increasingly web-oriented technological landscape. Nonetheless, since the web was created with scalability and visual complexity in mind, its optimization for repetitive tasks that require complex calculations is usually suboptimal. For this reason, no-code is not optimal for calculation-heavy apps (for example, math modules) or various complex visual editors for creating 3D objects. However, outside those niche industry-specific applications, the technology in question appears to be very versatile these days.
Conclusion
To summarize, no-code platforms like Bubble or Webflow are now a feasible alternative to traditional coding. They are perfect for organizations that need to create customer portals or websites at a low cost and fast. In our opinion, this technology will make the Internet more accessible, with a significantly larger number of organizations creating sites and web apps for their users after its widespread adoption. More importantly, these users are not alone: many IT companies like Keenethics can assist with no-code development. This means that you can now rely not only on a streamlined technology but on expert help too.
Peyman Khosravani is a seasoned expert in blockchain, digital transformation, and emerging technologies, with a strong focus on innovation in finance, business, and marketing. With a robust background in blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi), Peyman has successfully guided global organizations in refining digital strategies and optimizing data-driven decision-making. His work emphasizes leveraging technology for societal impact, focusing on fairness, justice, and transparency. A passionate advocate for the transformative power of digital tools, Peyman’s expertise spans across helping startups and established businesses navigate digital landscapes, drive growth, and stay ahead of industry trends. His insights into analytics and communication empower companies to effectively connect with customers and harness data to fuel their success in an ever-evolving digital world.
