Custom HTML/CSS to Webflow

Migrating a website built with custom HTML and CSS to Webflow can simplify your website’s management, design, and update processes. While coding your site from scratch using HTML and CSS offers full control over your design and functionality, Webflow allows for a more accessible, no-code approach, combining a visual design interface with built-in hosting, CMS, and more. This guide will walk you through the steps to move your custom-coded website to Webflow seamlessly.

Why Migrate from Custom HTML/CSS?

While custom HTML and CSS provide complete design freedom and control, maintaining and updating such websites can be time-consuming and often requires developer support. Here are a few reasons you might consider migrating to Webflow:

• Ease of Use for Non-Developers: Webflow allows non-developers to manage, update, and even design a website visually, without needing to write or edit code.

• Integrated CMS and Hosting: Webflow offers a fully integrated solution with hosting and a CMS included, meaning you can manage all aspects of your site in one place.

• Responsive Design and Flexibility: Webflow’s visual editor ensures that your website is responsive across all devices and allows for easy customization of styles, layouts, and animations.

• Less Maintenance: Webflow automatically handles security updates, hosting, and backups, saving time and effort compared to managing a custom HTML/CSS site.

Custom HTML/CSS vs. Webflow

Custom HTML/CSS

• Complete Control: Custom HTML and CSS allow developers full control over the design, layout, and functionality of the website, providing limitless customization possibilities.

• Requires Coding Knowledge: To build and maintain a custom HTML/CSS website, you need a solid understanding of front-end technologies, which limits control to developers.

• Time-Consuming Maintenance: Even small updates or changes require editing the code, making it a time-intensive process to maintain or modify a website.

• Manual Responsiveness: You need to ensure that the website is responsive across different devices by manually coding media queries and styles.

Webflow

• No Coding Required: Webflow allows designers and non-developers to create, edit, and manage websites without needing to write any HTML or CSS code.

• Pre-Built Responsive Design: Webflow ensures that your website is responsive by default and offers a visual editor for making further tweaks across breakpoints.

• All-in-One Platform: Webflow provides hosting, CMS, and design tools in one platform, simplifying the entire website management process.

• Automatic Maintenance: With Webflow, you don’t need to worry about hosting, security updates, or backups—everything is handled automatically.

Exporting Content and Assets from Custom HTML/CSS

The first step in migrating from custom HTML and CSS to Webflow is to gather and export your content and assets:

1. Extract HTML Content: Copy the HTML content (text, headers, images, etc.) from your website. You can access this content directly from the source code or via your site’s CMS (if you are using one).

2. Gather CSS and Media Assets: Collect the CSS files and any custom styles you’ve applied. Also, download all media assets, such as images and videos, to later upload them into Webflow.

3. Export Dynamic Content: If your site has dynamic content such as blogs, testimonials, or product listings, export this data into a CSV file for easy import into Webflow’s CMS.

Building the Website in Webflow

After exporting your content and assets, you can begin rebuilding your custom HTML/CSS website in Webflow. Follow these steps:

1. Start a New Webflow Project: Create a new project in Webflow. Choose a blank canvas or one of Webflow’s templates, depending on your preference and design needs.

2. Recreate Page Layouts: Use Webflow’s drag-and-drop interface to rebuild the layouts from your custom HTML/CSS website. This includes the header, footer, navigation menus, and other important sections.

3. Add Interactions and Animations: Webflow has built-in features for adding interactions and animations, allowing you to replicate any hover effects, transitions, or dynamic behaviors from your custom HTML/CSS site.

4. Customize Styling: Adjust typography, spacing, colors, and other design elements using Webflow’s visual editor. You’ll be able to replicate the look and feel of your original HTML/CSS website.

Importing Content to Webflow

With your site’s structure built, it’s time to import the content and assets:

1. Create CMS Collections in Webflow: If your custom HTML/CSS website includes dynamic content (like blogs or portfolios), set up Webflow CMS collections to manage and display this content.

2. Import Content via CSV: Import dynamic content (like blog posts, products, or portfolios) into Webflow using a CSV file. Ensure that the CSV is properly formatted to match Webflow’s collection fields.

3. Upload Media Assets: Use Webflow’s Asset Manager to upload images, videos, and other media files. Ensure each asset is linked to the appropriate pages or CMS items in Webflow.

4. Embed Custom Code if Needed: If your custom HTML/CSS website included any specific code or integrations (like third-party APIs or tracking scripts), you can embed custom code within Webflow’s custom code blocks.

Managing SEO and Redirects

To ensure a smooth transition and maintain SEO rankings, you’ll need to manage SEO settings and redirects during your migration:

1. Set Up 301 Redirects: Create 301 redirects for your original URLs from the custom HTML/CSS site to the corresponding URLs on your Webflow site. This prevents broken links and ensures users and search engines can find the right pages.

2. Optimize SEO Settings: Webflow offers built-in SEO tools. Make sure to update each page with appropriate meta titles, descriptions, alt text for images, and Open Graph settings for social media sharing.

3. Submit a New Sitemap to Google: Once your Webflow site is live, submit an updated sitemap to Google Search Console to help search engines properly index your new site.

Launching the Webflow Website

Once your Webflow site is fully built, tested, and populated with content, you’re ready to launch:

1. Test Responsiveness and Performance: Use Webflow’s built-in responsive design tools to preview your site on different devices and screen sizes. Make sure everything displays correctly across all breakpoints.

2. Connect Your Custom Domain: In Webflow’s Hosting settings, connect your custom domain to the new site. Webflow also provides automatic SSL certificates to secure your domain.

3. Launch the Website: Once everything is ready, publish your Webflow site and make it live. Monitor the site to ensure it works as expected after launch.

4. Post-Launch Monitoring: Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor your website’s performance. Keep an eye out for any SEO issues or broken links after the migration.

Migrating from a custom HTML/CSS website to Webflow offers numerous advantages, from reducing development overhead to simplifying ongoing website management. While HTML and CSS offer full control and flexibility, Webflow allows you to maintain that same creative freedom in a no-code environment while adding ease of use, integrated hosting, and faster iteration for future changes. The migration can save time and resources while empowering non-developers to manage and update the website independently.