It has been 4 months since this category was created. I just wanted to touch base with all of you to check how far along the learning curve you are and how are you doing with your Wappler projects. Do you feel comfortable/confident with Wappler? Do you still Bubble?
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Iām delighted I moved, but the learning curve and generally more geeky nature of Wappler is making progress slower than I had hoped!
There is absolutely no going backā¦
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I am really in love with the new client flow feature. One thing I liked from Bubble was the workflow system idea. I did hate that it didnāt have ifā¦else clauses, proper loops and that backend and frontend was all mixed up in a crazy way. But I did like the idea. Now having flows for server connect and app connect in Wappler and the fact that they are independent but can talk to each other. Incredible work by this army of 3.
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Iām definitely glad I switched!
The learning curve still feels steep, however. I feel like I would be on more solid ground with Wappler if I understood javascript. Also, the Wappler documentation could be better, but Iāve been encouraged that there are efforts to build that out more and I understand that the team is more focused on building innovative features at the moment.
For a new project a business partner and I did revert to using Bubble so that we could get something out there quickly but I definitely think of Bubble as more of a platform for prototypes now. The performance issues in Bubble are very noticeable to me compared to Wappler.
Weāre currently exploring Wappler capabilities for mobile apps, in particular, progressive web apps built with framework7. Iāve been so happy to see the Wappler team focused on mobile!
Gracias por preguntar! @JonL
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Yeah. I get your point. I remember a few years ago when Bubble implemented plugins that I had to remove the dust from my js books. It was worth the effort for me. I developed a few private plugins for myself that made my life easier. However it got to a point that I noticed that I was using JS to fight bubble. I was undoing via JS things that Bubble was doing in its core. It was kind of ridiculous.
Now I see it as a way to complement Wappler. I am not fighting it. Just extending it.
Disclaimer: To be fair most of the plugins in Bubble extend the platform at least for the outcome. In the inside though I am pretty sure that the other Bubble plugin developers are fighting hard imposed rules as I was doing. They were hard to maintain. And pray Bubble team didn't change anything that messed up your plugins.
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This. ^^^
Once I realized I was working hard to āmake something work in bubble ā I was done.
I like working hard on the applications I build, but despise when the products I use to develop those apps, get in the way.
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Agree, but the flexibility and ease with which you can draw/design a page layout and elements etc. in Bubble is unmatched. The learning curve of using Bootstrap and CSS in Wappler is steaper (for me) .
That being said, the rate of speed at which new features are being added, use of open standards and competitive pricing made me choose Wappler over Bubble and Outsystems.
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Yep, agree with all your comments 100%.
Bubble is quick to learn but very slow as you start fighting the limitations, super scary as you realise you app could stop working at any moment, and super expensive to use their hosting.
Was a great place to become an App Entrepreneur Apprentice though!
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The more I think about Bubble use cases, the more I think itās a great solution for inside big companies/organizations to solve internal tech needs. I donāt think itās the right solution for standalone apps that are public facing where scale or full control over the tech stack is needed.
Also, itās a good solution for prototyping but even that is limited since itās not possible to implement mobile UI patterns. Thatās an area where I think Wappler can really stand out.
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I think Wappler is absolutely going to be a better option for me long term, but Iām concerned at this point about the ability to develop beyond my expertise.
With Bubble, I canāt really screw it up. Sure, I can break workflows or formatting, but thatās easy to fix. Wappler is totally different. I can deploy a docker machine, but when the server decides to FUBAR itself, I would have no idea how to repair it. This hasnāt happened yet, but I feel itās inevitable.
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I gave up on bubble a while ago, It was easy to pickup and I thought that the workflow approach was excellent but the hosting/server units model put me off. Plugins were helpful at times but had the feeling it was going to end up being a solution where you frequently had to buy plugins to get it to do want you wanted.
As others have mentioned the learning curve is steeper but I think a lot of that could be resolved by better documentation. I seem to spend a lot time on the forums looking for that elusive {{ }} or dmx-??? not sure whether I am doing things correctly or is it a bug?
I have achieved more with Wappler in the time I have used it than any other low code system and the response from the team and community is the best I have seen. I did have concerns that too much business logic was embedded inline to make things work but I am hoping that the new client side flows will enable me to separate that a bit more, once I have figured them out (did I mention better documentation)
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Thereās usually an additional cost but thatās what Managed Hosting is for. Certain providers will also manage VPS and Dedicated servers too.
Either that or you could look at services such as Heroku. It lets you focus on the app rather than infrastructure.
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Heroku and others are great services. I think youāre right that thatās a good option.
HI @Antony I am considering the move from Bubble to Wappler, been with Bubble for 4 years and performance is becoming an issue!
How to did you find the move over to wappler? How long would you say it would take you to move your app across? Like yourself I have a larger app.
Did you have to learn PHP or javascript?
Sorry lots of questions 
Cheers
Steven
I find it far easier in Wappler than in bubble.
My main project has 3 targets. A local backup (on a NAS), A local docker dev enviro, and a hosted server. I also have a private Github repo.
These 4 different locations for my website files give great redundancy. They allow you to leave the live server well alone, until you want to push a major update.
Having said that Iām reluctant to move the live enviro to a docker container. One false move and the database could be nuked, Iām not proficient enough with docker yet to trust it with my live data. It is great on your local machine as a dev environment tho, file saves and page loads are so snappy.
Hi Steven,
I started with bubble then ended up here.
The only recommendation is to learn all about how databases work before diving into Wappler. Search for āCaleb Curryā on YouTube, he has some great content for learning.
You donāt need to know any coding language. But to place things on a page visually and then seeing the code constructed for you has probably furthered my learning more than anything else, I now can now read HTML and css and am starting to āseeā php and SQL.
Good luck
I am DMX-user for more than 10 years. The best part of what Wappler does is that it is transforming you to a full-stack developer. Yes database creation knowledge is fundamental in order to create dynamic apps with Wappler. But then as you progress you will find out that learning to work with Bootstrap, HTML5, css, php etc on your own will make you even better Wappler developer.
Wappler helps non-coders develop great stuff, but as you continue bringing your own coding knowledge into Wappler you start to understand how brilliant this program is.
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