The latest news from Balsamiq:
We learn about No-code by talking to two important players in the space.

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Will No-code tools really replace the need for programmers?
Let’s find out.

Just like Balsamiq’s extreme ease of use has made it possible for non-professional designers to communicate their product ideas, No-code tools promise to democratize the process of product development.

It’s an ambitious vision, one that many have tried to tackle unsuccessfully in the past. Will this cycle succeed where others have failed?

We’ve interviewed two prominent players in today’s No-code space to find out.

Tara Reed knows the No-code space better than anyone else. Her company Apps Without Code is an online school that teaches people how to build their own apps.

Their 8-week program teaches the intersection of design thinking, marketing, and this new style of No-code computer programming to help aspiring entrepreneurs bring their app ideas to life.

To date they've trained 150,000 entrepreneurs in 14 different countries, with a focus on helping underdogs (women, people of color, people who've never worked in tech before) break into tech.

The Apps Without Code curriculum has been used at Wharton School of Business as well as featured on the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company list.

David Adkin is the co-founder and CEO of Adalo, a major platform for building No-code apps. Adalo’s company purpose is to empower makers to bring their ideas to life. They believe anyone should be able to create an app regardless of their technical expertise.

Both Tara and David have generously provided you, Balsamiq’s inner circle, with discounts on their products. Read until the end to find out!

Who is No-code for?

Tara: Most of our students are ambitious professionals looking to break into entrepreneurship. They have jobs in non-tech industries (e.g., healthcare, education, manufacturing) and they have an idea for an app to solve a problem that's being done manually or inefficiently in their jobs or in their hobbies.

We teach students how to monetize, strategies like white-labeling, which allow them to charge high price points ($3,000/yr & up) to companies or organizations who use their app.

David: To understand the sweet spot of No-code tools, I find it useful to segment businesses into 3 major categories, along a spectrum:

On one side, there are many businesses that just need a simple website, like a brochure or a portfolio. Website building tools like Squarespace fill this need very well. If you need to add simple e-commerce, Shopify is the clear leader in this segment.
For some businesses, that’s not enough. They need a way for users to log in and do something with their data, and an administrator interface for managing users and performing power-user functions. Think of a nutritionist who needs to offer personalized diets to their clients, for instance. This is a great place for No-code tools.
On the far end of the spectrum are more traditional software companies, like Balsamiq for instance: the software they make is their core business, it’s their main offering. No-code tools can be useful for these businesses — to build dashboards and administration / support UIs for existing SaaS apps, for instance — but these companies typically write their own code, at least for now. 😉

Who are the major players in the No-code market?

Tara: We really love Glide, Adalo, and Bubble as tools you can use to make an app without code.

Glide is our overall favorite. We give it an 8 out of 10 on the "easy to learn" scale.
Adalo is great for native mobile apps in the app store. We give it a 7 out of 10 on the "easy to learn" scale.
Bubble is great for professional designers or people who already know how to think like an engineer. We give it a 3 out of 10 on the "easy to learn" scale.

David: Bubble is the biggest player, but they’re going after the holy grail of replacing code in every situation, which makes their tool very powerful, but harder to use. We at Adalo are focusing on the middle segment I described above, where No-code really shines.

Does wireframing have a place in the No-code process?

A lot of the No-code tools provide users with many templates and pre-built elements to use.

In your opinion, is there still a need for wireframing?

Tara: This is an interesting question! All the No-code app-building tools DO have templates, but we actually don't use templates in any of our curricula. We notice that students ultimately take MORE time navigating a template than if they just wireframed their needs from scratch.

All of our students wireframe a custom app first, and then they start building. I think the only thing that has changed is that the time delay between wireframing and launching the actual functioning app has shortened with the introduction of these tools.

David: Absolutely! The problem with trying to design the structure of your app directly in a No-code tool is that those tools are not designed for it! They’re much slower for wireframing than Balsamiq, and they give you too many options: you will end up fiddling with all the details instead of focusing on your screen’s structure and functionality.

Where can our readers find out more about you?

Tara: We have a free class about No-code app building which is a great place to start. You can also follow us on Instagram at @appswithoutcode. Balsamiq’s newsletter readers can also get a 10% discount on our program ($1,710 instead of $1,900) by signing up via this link.

David: our website is adalo.com. We would like to offer Balsamiq’s readers 1 free month of Adalo Pro. Just use the code BALSAMIQNOCODE50 to apply.

Thank you Tara and David for giving us a peek into the No-code world!

I have to say, I was impressed by both Tara’s and David’s intimate knowledge of the problem space, and by their realistic and pragmatic focus. They understand the limits of No-code, and are not over-promising in the way that a lot of tech companies normally do.

Happy customer of the month

Huge fan of Balsamiq, thank you for building it. Among my favorite tools as a PM. — Shreyas Doshi

Product news

We did our regular monthly release, mostly a bug-fix one around the new Find & Replace functionality.

We’re working on some very exciting features that have to do with icons… stay tuned! ☺️

Wireframing Academy news

Some highlights from this past month:

Jess and Billy were guests for this month’s Smashing Conference Meets event about UX Research. Here’s the recording of Jess’s presentation and the panel discussion that followed.
Leon wrote an article for the Design Matters '22 conference magazine called “The Antidote To UX Burnout is Designing For Users Who Need it Most”.
Tune in to our latest webinar on Template-Based UI Design with Wireframes.

UX/UI links for May

The Difference Between Co-Design and Participatory Design — by Ashley
Design a Better Text Field — by Guy Ligertwood
Systems Thinking Is What Makes Designers Great — by Tanner Christensen
How to Structure Your Blog's Homepage - and No, There's No Single Best Structure — by Alexandra Cote
Ideas From Developers on Handling UX Feedback — by Taylor Palmer

Company news

We’re still recruiting for a Business Manager in Illinois or California. Please help us spread the word, this is a great opportunity — you know how rarely we hire!

Help us make Balsamiq Better! Come talk to us about how you found us, and how we can improve Balsamiq for you!
Sponsorships and raffles: Notable sponsored events this month are Roadmap to Billions, Icon Summit, Pride Summit, and more!
Notable recipients of our Free Software Program:
- Wild Me is supporting the fight against extinction by building open software and artificial intelligence for the conservation research community.
- The United Nations is using Balsamiq to develop a data visualization authoring tool for developing countries and/or to support sustainable development.
- AIESEC (pronounced eye-sek) is the largest student-driven organization in the world, using Balsamiq to improve their websites and internal tools.

That's it for this month!

We see many similarities between our customers and Tara and David’s customers, so we hope this newsletter was useful to you.

Let us know if you’d like us to write other similar newsletters in the future! Until next month,

Peldi for the Balsamiq Team

Most new customers find Balsamiq via recommendation...

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Balsamiq interviews about the No-code world

Who is No-code for?

Who are the major players in the No-code market?

Does wireframing have a place in the No-code process?

Where can our readers find out more about you?

Happy customer of the month

Product news

Wireframing Academy news

UX/UI links for May

Company news

That's it for this month!

Most new customers find Balsamiq via recommendation...

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