We’ve been in the web design industry for many years now seeing it move through its innovations and standards to make it an even playing field and we’ve come to realise how complex it has become. Unfortunately, many of the changes and advancements have also created vulnerabilities that allow Hackers in through “back doors” to potentially compromise websites!

Sorry to add, but we’re looking at you WordPress! 

This is a blog on ‘artificial steroids’ created by web developers, not web designers. Many platforms such as WordPress beef themselves up with plugin after plugin, many of which are in conflict with each other and need to be constantly patched or updated……and they’re a heaven for Hackers!

During our many years in this industry we’ve come across many programs for designing websites without code. Whilst previously this tended to be more of a hit and miss experience,  this hasn’t been the case of late. Designing websites without touching the code has started to trend in the last 3 or so years but in most cases it is a play on words because you still have to have an understanding of the underlining code, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not truely ‘web design without code’. However, there is a standout in the field of ‘web design without code’ which allows you to visually create and absolutely not touch code and that is Sparkle!… and we love it! It isn’t just a well thought out and future-proofed platform but its makers, Duncan & Daniele, are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to client support and platform updates! I can’t recommend their services highly enough.

Code is the underlying platform for a website, but code isn’t the look and feel or the user-flow experience or the call to action. That’s found in the visual, the creative, and the strategy… and that’s what Sparkle allows us to concentrate on.

Sparkle allows us to just get on with it and, at the end of the day, it generates the W3C standard html/CSS/javascript code with a very light smattering of PHP for the sending of  forms. In all of that you don’t touch a line of code and yet you can have a perfectly working website across the multiple screens, including tablet and mobile after  publishing.

For the team at Flamin’ Fig it’s the freedom and the art of design, the ability to test and reiterate if needed without the deconstruction, it allows us to be agile and sharp as we work towards our client’s end goal. Sparkle gets completely out of our way as we craft your existence online. It makes an appearance only when we hit the publish button, converting the canvas to W3C semantic html/CSS/javascript and compressing the laid images plus all the other little things that makes for a great website build - minus the plugin spaghetti! That is what we call ‘web design without code’ and that is how our Flamin’ Fig theme kits are created - a no-headache approach to putting you online and giving your end-user a great experience!

There is nothing out there that compares to Sparkle… the closest is Adobe Muse but that has been dropped by Adobe like a hot potato totally letting down their web design community! Sparkle is the total opposite to the complicated, heavy code-driven and security compromised WordPress CMS and similar! The simplicity of Sparkle allows for it to reside on your macOS machine instead of on a server, giving you ownership and security over your Flamin’ Fig theme kit and file. In other words, you don’t need to be connected to the internet to change out your text or images, you can work offline and go online just when you hit the publish button. Throughout the process you will not touch any code because our Flamin’ Fig theme kits, through the support of the Sparkle platform, are totally visual.

So you have our Flamin’ Fig theme kit loaded into the Sparkle app that resides on your macOS machine. You can be internet connected or not as you build out your purchased theme kit to represent you and your online business. Within the Sparkle app you can add tools such as social media and Google Analytics. You can work with your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), and if you know what you are doing with SEO then your Flamin’ Fig Theme Kit  will shine online as it moves up the ranks with the keywords you’ve assigned.

POST THOUGHTS
You’ve probably gathered along the way that I’m totally visual when it comes to the web. Don’t get me wrong, I have worked with code and have created large projects with a lot of bespoke code but having done all that, I can now say I’m totally over it because the web should not be that complicated!

You’ve most likely heard of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, or even Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher (which I prefer). If you’re on macOS then you would have come across Pages. If you have knowledge and experience in these applications then you’re already half way there to using Sparkle - it works along the same lines - it’s visual without code but code nonetheless underlies it to generate those creations you make. The Sparkle app allows you to create and when you’re done and you publish it, Sparkle creates the needed code to make it work exceptionally well as an adaptive website across the differing sized screens.

Our Flamin’ Fig theme kits are based on this platform technology so you will have the same experience by loading it into your purchased Sparkle app, swapping out the text and images, placing your logo, and tweaking the colours to make it represent your brand and in the end you did not touch a single line of code to make it happen - we love that!