Community hub
0 subscribers8 pages, 0 posts
Recent from talks
All channels
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something
Welcome to the community hub built to collect knowledge and have discussions related to Framer.
Nothing was collected or created yet.
Framer
View on Wikipediafrom Wikipedia
 |
A framer is someone who builds or creates frames.[1] In construction work, frames may be built from wood or metal and provide support and shape to a structure. In a related sense, framers may create frames for art works, pictures, or mirrors. The term framer is also used for the authors of a formal text such as a constitution.[2]
Woodworking
[edit]Building industry
[edit]In building construction a framer is a carpenter who assembles the major structural elements of a wood-framed building called the framing. Framers build walls out of studs, sills, and headers; build floors from joists, beams, and trusses; and frame roofs using ridge poles and rafters or trusses. Platform framing is the most common method of construction.
Timber framing
[edit]Timber framers are framers who work in the traditional style of timber framing, historically with wooden joinery. Timber framing is a type of light framing in which wood (as the building structure) and drywall framing are used.
Traditional chair making industry
[edit]
In the traditional chair making industry, it was the bodger who produced the turned parts of a chair and the benchman who produced the splats, side rails and other sawn parts. However it was the framer who assembled and finished the chair with the parts supplied by the bodger and benchman.[3]
Art
[edit]Picture framer
[edit]A picture framer is the person who builds picture frames for artwork and photographs. The first carved wooden frames as we know them today appeared on small panel paintings in twelfth and thirteenth century Europe. Framed panel paintings were made from one piece. The area to be painted was carved out, leaving a raised framing border around the outside edge, like a tray. The whole piece was then gessoed and gilded. Painting the image on the flat panel was the last thing to be done. Eventually, a more efficient method was developed which used mitred moulding strips. These strips were attached to a flat wooden panel which produced a similar result to the carved panel, but were more cost effective. The modern picture framer can use a variety of materials for the frame, but essentially the framing technique remains the same.[4]
Written text
[edit]A framer can be the creator, inventor or author of a formal text such as a law or constitution.[5]
A framer can also be a language translator who is responsible for producing the translated text.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ "Framer". def. 1. and "Frame, v." def. 5 and 7. Oxford English Dictionary. Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) ©. Oxford University Press. 2009.
- ^ "Framer". def. 1. and "Frame, v." def. 5 and 7. Oxford English Dictionary. Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) ©. Oxford University Press. 2009.
- ^ Jenkins, J. Geraint (1965). Traditional Country Craftmen. Stroud: Amberley Publishing. p. 123.
- ^ Diane Day (August 1998). "A Survey of Frame History, part 1" (PDF). Picture Framing Magazine: 82, 84. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2006.
- ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary, 1933, p. 509
Framer
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Framer is a collaborative design tool for creating interactive prototypes and production-ready websites, enabling users to build responsive sites with features like CMS integration, SEO optimization, analytics, and AI-assisted generation without requiring code.[1][2] Developed by Framer Inc., a company founded in 2014 by former Facebook designers Koen Bok and Jorn van Dijk in Amsterdam, Netherlands, it originated as a prototyping platform before pivoting to emphasize no-code web development and publishing.[3][4][5]
The tool supports vector editing, animations, components, variants, and responsive constraints, allowing designers to transition seamlessly from ideation to deployment while integrating with tools for high-fidelity UI/UX work.[6][7] Framer has achieved significant growth, raising over $100 million in funding in August 2025 at a $2 billion valuation, marking its status as a unicorn and positioning it as a competitor to platforms like Figma and Webflow through innovations in AI-driven workflows and visual content management.[8][9] Its emphasis on flexibility and interactivity has made it popular for portfolios, agency sites, and complex interfaces, with built-in hosting and drag-and-drop editing streamlining production.[10][11]
Framer's primary monetization derives from these subscriptions and usage-based add-ons, supplemented by a marketplace where users can sell templates and components while retaining 100% of earnings, though Framer benefits indirectly through user referrals offering up to 50% commission.[85] [87] This model supports scalability, with no upfront costs for the Free tier encouraging adoption before upgrading. Students receive complimentary access equivalent to paid hosting value.[88]
History
Founding and Initial Development (2013–2014)
Framer was founded in 2013 by Dutch designers Koen Bok and Jorn van Dijk in Amsterdam, following their return from the United States after selling their Mac app development studio, Sofa, to Facebook in 2011.[12][13] Van Dijk had served as an early product designer at Facebook, contributing to interface prototypes, while Bok focused on animation and interaction tools.[14] The duo aimed to create a prototyping framework that empowered designers to build dynamic, code-driven interfaces without requiring deep programming expertise, addressing gaps in tools like Sketch or Photoshop that limited interactions to static visuals.[15] Initial development centered on Framer.js, an open-source JavaScript library that used CoffeeScript—a concise scripting language compiling to JavaScript—for defining layers, events, and animations.[16] Bok publicly announced Framer in early 2013, with version 2 launching by May 16, 2013, introducing hardware-accelerated rendering via CSS transforms and spring-based physics for realistic motion effects. This version supported device emulation for iOS and Android, enabling prototypes that mimicked native app behaviors, such as gesture handling and state transitions. Throughout 2013 and 2014, the team iterated rapidly through community feedback, releasing modules for advanced features like data binding and HTTP requests, while maintaining an emphasis on web standards for exportable, performant prototypes.[15] Framer.js gained traction among UI/UX professionals for its balance of visual design integration and programmatic flexibility, fostering an early ecosystem of user-contributed examples and plugins. By late 2014, the tool had evolved into a more robust platform, setting the stage for commercial expansion beyond the initial library.[17]Launch of Framer Prototype Tool (2014–2018)
Framer was founded in 2014 by former Facebook product designers Koen Bok and Jorn van Dijk in Amsterdam, with the initial goal of enabling high-fidelity interactive prototyping beyond static mockups.[18][17] The company's first product built on Framer.js, an open-source JavaScript framework Bok had developed earlier for animating and interacting with design prototypes using CoffeeScript code.[19] This code-centric approach allowed designers to script precise behaviors, transitions, and states, addressing limitations in tools like Sketch or Photoshop by producing functional demos shareable via web links.[20] In 2015, Framer released Framer Studio, a desktop application for macOS that introduced a visual canvas alongside the code editor, reducing the barrier for non-coders while retaining scripting power for complex interactions.[17] The tool supported importing designs from Sketch, layering vectors and images, and defining prototypes with events like taps, swipes, and scrolls, outputting browser-previewable results without compilation. Adoption grew among tech firms; by 2017, companies including Google, Facebook, and Uber used it for app feature testing, valuing its ability to simulate real device physics and micro-interactions.[18] Throughout 2016–2018, Framer iterated on prototyping capabilities, adding CMS previews, device frame overlays, and enhanced animation curves to streamline iteration cycles.[21] A 2017 update integrated full visual design tools like auto-layout and components, bridging prototyping with static design workflows.[21] These enhancements positioned Framer as a versatile tool for teams, though its hybrid code-visual nature required learning curves compared to purely no-code alternatives. In November 2018, Framer secured $24 million in Series B funding led by Khosla Ventures, reflecting investor confidence in its prototyping market traction amid rising demand for collaborative design tools.[22]Framer X and Technological Shift (2018–2020)
In September 2018, Framer released Framer X, a major overhaul of its prototyping tool that transitioned from the CoffeeScript-based Framer Classic to a React-powered desktop application.[23][24] This shift replaced CoffeeScript scripting with JavaScript ES6, enabling designers to create and manipulate interactive React components visually without manual coding.[25][26] The update emphasized component-based design, where elements like frames and overrides functioned as reusable React modules, facilitating smoother handoff to developers and reducing discrepancies between prototypes and production code.[27] The technological pivot addressed limitations in Framer Classic, such as its reliance on browser-based CoffeeScript execution, by adopting React's declarative paradigm for more scalable interactions and animations.[28][29] Framer X introduced canvas-based editing with layers organized as React components, supporting features like code overrides for custom logic and improved import/export compatibility with tools like Sketch.[30] This enabled prototyping of complex transitions, states, and events directly in a unified interface, positioning Framer toward code-savvy designers and UX engineers rather than pure visual prototypers.[31] Amid this transition, Framer secured $24 million in Series B funding in November 2018, led by investors including Index Ventures, to accelerate development of Framer X's ecosystem, including a beta private design store for component sharing.[22] Between 2019 and 2020, iterative updates refined React integration, such as enhanced event handling and state management via overrides, though early versions faced criticism for incomplete zooming and import workflows compared to predecessors.[32][33] By bridging design and code more effectively, Framer X laid groundwork for future expansions into full-site building, diverging from standalone prototyping toward a hybrid toolset.Evolution to Website Builder (2020–Present)
In the years following the release of Framer X, the platform began incorporating features that bridged prototyping with web production, such as enhanced responsive layouts and component libraries optimized for site-scale designs, laying groundwork for full website creation capabilities.[34] This evolution addressed limitations in earlier versions by emphasizing no-code workflows for interactive web elements, enabling designers to prototype experiences that could transition more seamlessly to deployable sites. By 2021, internal developments focused on publishing pipelines, culminating in beta testing for site-specific tools.[17] The pivotal advancement occurred on May 24, 2022, with the official launch of Framer Sites, which ended the beta phase and integrated website publishing directly into the core Framer editor.[35] This update allowed users to design, animate, and deploy responsive, production-ready websites on custom domains without exporting code or relying on external developers, supported by built-in hosting on framer.app subdomains.[36] Framer Sites introduced features like automatic responsive generation, SEO optimization, and basic analytics, positioning the tool as a competitor to platforms like Webflow by prioritizing designer autonomy in end-to-end web creation.[37] Subsequent updates from 2023 onward expanded the website builder's scope, including the introduction of Framer AI on June 14, 2023, for generating layouts and content via prompts, alongside CMS integrations for dynamic content management.[37] In 2024 and 2025, enhancements such as advanced vector editing, AI wireframing tools announced at the Spring 2025 event, multi-selection for pages and assets, and improved overflow handling with "Clip" functionality further refined scalability and performance for complex sites.[38] [39] These iterations have sustained Framer's growth, with the platform reporting increased adoption for professional web deployment while maintaining its roots in visual design.[40]Core Features and Capabilities
Prototyping and Interaction Design
Framer's prototyping tools enable designers to build interactive user experiences by connecting design frames to simulate navigation and user flows without writing code. Core interactions include triggers such as taps, drags, hovers, and scrolls, which can initiate overlays, swaps, or page transitions to replicate app or website behaviors.[2] These features support the creation of fully functional prototypes that demonstrate realistic user journeys, from simple button presses to multi-step processes.[41] Animations and micro-interactions are integrated via visual controls, allowing for properties like opacity, scale, position, and rotation to be animated with easing curves and timing adjustments. Scroll effects, such as parallax or triggered reveals, enhance prototypes by linking motion to viewport changes, while gestures incorporate physics simulations for natural drag-and-drop or swipe responses.[2] [42] Variants provide a mechanism for defining component states—such as hover, active, or error—enabling dynamic responses without duplicating elements, which streamlines iteration and maintains consistency across prototypes.[41] For advanced interaction design, Framer supports code components built with React and JavaScript, permitting custom logic like conditional behaviors or API integrations within prototypes. Overrides allow designers to modify these components visually or via code snippets, extending no-code prototypes to handle complex scenarios such as data-driven animations or third-party embeds.[43] Real-time previews eliminate the need for separate compilation steps, and prototypes can be instantly published as shareable web links for stakeholder review or user testing, with built-in commenting for feedback.[2] This approach facilitates high-fidelity testing closer to production, as prototypes leverage the same rendering engine used for final sites.[6] Framer lacks built-in native dedicated diagramming features such as flowchart or diagram editors. Basic diagrams can be manually created using the canvas with shapes, lines, text, and grouping tools. For advanced diagramming, including interactive diagrams, workflows, graphs, and data visualizations, users rely on third-party solutions available through the Framer Marketplace (e.g., components like Metric Flow Chart, Smart Chart, IntegrationDiagram), plugins such as Charts for Framer or Common Ninja's Diagrams and Flow Charts for customizable interactive flowcharts with animations and responsiveness, and external AI tools like diagrams.framer.ai which generates diagrams from text prompts and exports them as SVG or PNG for import into Framer projects. This extends Framer's prototyping flexibility for visual representation tasks beyond standard UI/UX interactions.[44] [45] [46] [47]Website Creation and Publishing Tools
Framer's design canvas features an interface similar to Figma, including support for auto-layout, stacks, and grids, which enables full UI/UX design, vector editing, layout creation, prototyping, and publishing all within the platform. This self-contained workflow allows users to initiate projects from scratch without importing from external tools like Figma, thereby eliminating intermediate steps that could introduce fidelity issues such as broken components or manual fixes during transfer.[48][49] Framer provides a visual, no-code interface for website creation, allowing users to build responsive sites through drag-and-drop placement of elements such as text, images, buttons, and sections on a canvas.[1][7] This includes support for advanced design features like variants for interactive states, layout constraints for adaptability across devices, and built-in animations and effects to enhance user experience without requiring custom code.[1][50] The platform integrates a content management system (CMS) directly into the design workflow, enabling dynamic content updates via collections for items like blog posts or product listings, with real-time previews and collaboration tools for teams.[1][7] Users can incorporate code components for custom functionality, such as embedding third-party integrations, while maintaining visual editing primacy.[1] Publishing occurs via a one-click process from the editor, automatically generating a subdomain on Framer's hosting infrastructure (e.g., site-name.framer.app) with optimized performance and security features like automatic scaling.[51][52] Custom domains can be connected through DNS configuration, with Framer handling SSL certificates and redirects.[52] Built-in SEO tools allow metadata editing, sitemap generation, and performance optimizations, including recent additions like Dynamic Optimization for faster load times on published sites.[1][34] Framer's hosting is proprietary and does not support direct export of sites to third-party providers, requiring users to remain within its ecosystem for deployment, though analytics integrations track traffic and conversions post-publish.[53][52] This model emphasizes seamless iteration from design to live site, with free publishing on subdomains and paid plans unlocking custom domains and advanced features.[54][1]Content Management and Optimization
Framer's content management system (CMS) integrates directly into its website builder, enabling users to organize and update dynamic content through visual collections without requiring custom code. Users create structured collections containing fields for text, images, rich text, dates, and relations, which populate lists, grids, and detail pages automatically.[55][56] This approach supports scalable content workflows, such as blogs, portfolios, or product catalogs, where individual items can be edited inline on the live site preview, with changes propagating across connected components.[55] Dynamic content rendering in Framer relies on conditional logic, filtering, sorting, and variables to adapt layouts based on data, including index-based variations for staggered designs like alternating cards in galleries.[57] For instance, CMS lists can filter items by tags or categories, displaying personalized views, while detail pages link to specific collection entries via slugs or IDs for SEO-friendly URLs.[58] Role-based access controls limit editing permissions, though advanced users note limitations in granular permissions compared to enterprise CMS platforms.[59] Optimization within Framer's CMS emphasizes performance and search visibility, with automatic image compression, lazy loading, and font optimization applied to CMS-sourced assets to reduce load times.[60] Built-in SEO controls allow per-page customization of meta titles, descriptions, Open Graph tags, and structured data (e.g., JSON-LD for articles or products), alongside robots.txt directives, noindex rules, and 301 redirects to manage crawl budgets and preserve traffic during updates.[61] As of October 2025, Dynamic Optimization accelerates site rebuilds to seconds for large CMS-driven sites by prioritizing incremental updates to changed content, enhancing publish efficiency without full recompilation.[62] Further refinements include backend compression for CMS item saves and CDN caching for faster delivery, reducing latency for visitors accessing dynamic pages.[63] While Framer's tools achieve high Core Web Vitals scores out-of-the-box—often exceeding 90/100 on Google's PageSpeed Insights—users must manually optimize heavy media or third-party embeds to avoid penalties, as the platform handles core static and dynamic rendering but delegates video hosting externally for best results.[60][64] Independent tests confirm Framer sites routinely rank well when leveraging these features, though outcomes vary with content volume and external linking strategies.[65]AI and Advanced Integrations
Framer's AI capabilities primarily enable users to generate website layouts, interactive components, translations, and full sites from text prompts, automating initial design and structure creation to accelerate workflows. Framer does not offer a dedicated "Framer AI Chatbot Builder" tool or feature. As of 2025, the "Start with AI" feature produces responsive wireframes, layout suggestions, and content outlines based on user descriptions, with smart edits for refinement.[66] This tool focuses on structural foundations rather than stylistic details, allowing scalability into interactive prototypes.[67] Additional AI functions handle content tasks, such as refining copy, localizing text across languages while preserving brand voice, and generating alt text for accessibility.[68][69] Users can integrate AI-powered chatbots into Framer websites through third-party plugins (e.g., AssistLoop, Pickaxe) or by embedding scripts from external AI chatbot providers via custom code or tutorials in the Framer Marketplace.[69][70][71][72] The platform supports custom AI plugins, permitting integration with external models including OpenAI, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini for specialized outputs like image synthesis, text rewriting, and dynamic content adaptation.[69] Developers can build these plugins to extend Framer's native tools, embedding AI-driven effects such as automated visual enhancements or real-time personalization without requiring external coding environments.[73] Advanced integrations facilitate connections to third-party services, including API endpoints for data syncing, form builders like FramerForms for multi-step inputs and file uploads, and embeddable scripts for tools such as Spline (3D rendering) or Rive (advanced animations).[74][75] Framer's Workshop component allows no-code creation of complex elements like cookie banners or tabs, while broader ecosystem plugins support analytics tracking, SEO optimization, and e-commerce hooks, enabling hybrid no-code/low-code deployments.[69] These features position Framer as a bridge between design prototyping and production-ready sites, though custom API integrations may necessitate verification for compatibility and performance.[76]Technical Architecture
Underlying Technologies and Framework
Framer's technical architecture centers on a component-based system leveraging JavaScript and React, enabling designers and developers to build interactive prototypes and websites through a unified canvas. Code components in Framer are implemented as standard React components, which render directly within the design environment, previews, and published outputs, allowing for native integration of custom logic, state management, and third-party libraries.[77] This React foundation facilitates overrides—functions that modify component properties dynamically—using ES6+ syntax to inject behaviors like API calls or complex animations without leaving the tool.[43] The framework employs a declarative paradigm akin to React's virtual DOM, where components maintain variants for states (e.g., hover, active) and respond to user interactions via event handlers defined in JavaScript. This structure supports responsive design through breakpoints and constraints, compiling designs into optimized HTML, CSS, and JavaScript bundles for deployment. Framer's runtime handles real-time collaboration and previewing via WebSockets, ensuring low-latency updates across canvases.[78] For extensibility, the platform exposes an API for programmatic control, including hooks for data fetching and rendering custom nodes.[43] At its core, Framer generates production-ready code from visual designs, producing lightweight React components that preserve fidelity to the original layout and interactions, minimizing bloat compared to traditional markup generation. This approach, introduced with Framer X in 2018, shifted from earlier CoffeeScript-based scripting to a full React ecosystem, empowering hybrid workflows where non-coders handle visuals and developers refine via code injection.[26] The architecture prioritizes performance through tree-shaking and lazy loading, with published sites hosted on a global CDN for static assets and dynamic elements routed server-side when needed for CMS integrations.[78]Customization, Code Export, and Extensibility
Framer enables customization through reusable components, which designers can create, modify, and manage using variants for states like hover or active, and variables for dynamic properties such as colors or typography.[79] These components support property controls for visual manipulation of props and auto-sizing to adapt to layouts, allowing precise adjustments without altering underlying code.[77] Additionally, code overrides—small TypeScript functions—permit modification of any layer's properties or behavior, such as adding custom interactions or animations to existing elements, and enable integration of custom React components for complete control over functionality.[80][43] For code export, Framer does not provide native support for exporting full websites to HTML, CSS, or React for self-hosting, as the platform is designed for hosted publishing and management.[81] However, third-party plugins like React Export enable conversion of individual components or prototypes into production-ready React code with TypeScript support, responsive settings, and type definitions, facilitating integration into external codebases.[82] Tools such as Unframer further assist by generating React files from selected Framer components via command-line processing.[83] Extensibility in Framer is achieved through a plugin marketplace featuring over 30 tools as of October 2024, including canvas enhancements (e.g., Dither for pixel art effects), CMS integrations (e.g., Notion), and AI-driven features for content generation.[84] Developers can build custom code components in TypeScript or React, which export as reusable modules with features like property controls and sharing capabilities, extending core functionality for advanced interactions or third-party API connections. This allows integration of custom React components, overrides, and full code sections for complete control over functionality.[77][43] Integration plugins also bridge Framer with external tools like Figma for syncing designs or Photoshop for asset handling, enhancing workflow without leaving the environment.[73]Business Model and Market Position
Pricing Structure and Monetization
Framer operates a tiered subscription model for its services, with plans designed to accommodate individual users, small teams, and larger organizations. The Free plan supports non-commercial prototyping and basic site building with limitations such as 10 CMS collections, 1,000 pages, and no custom domain support.[85] Paid plans include Basic at $10 per month (billed annually), which provides access for students, freelancers, and small projects with features like custom domains, 30 pages, and 10 GB bandwidth; Pro at $30 per month (billed annually or monthly), suited for professionals and small teams with expanded CMS (10 collections, 2,500 items), staging, and roles/permissions; and Scale at $100 per month (annual billing only), targeted at growing companies with higher limits (300 pages, 20 CMS collections, 10,000 items, 200 GB bandwidth) and premium features like priority support and a global CDN.[85] [86] Enterprise plans offer custom pricing with tailored limits, security, and dedicated support for large-scale deployments.[85] Additional editors beyond the included one cost $20 per user per month, with seat limits varying by plan (e.g., up to 10 for Pro and Scale). Billing flexibility includes annual commitments for cost savings, with overages charged for exceeding limits (e.g., $20 per additional 100 pages on Scale). Add-ons such as extra locales ($20 each) or A/B testing ($50 per 500,000 events) enable further customization.[85]| Plan | Monthly Price (Annual Billing) | Key Limits and Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10 CMS collections, 1,000 pages, 5MB uploads, no custom domain |
| Basic | $10 | 1 CMS collection, 1,000 items, 10 GB bandwidth, custom domain |
| Pro | $30 | 10 CMS collections, 2,500 items, 100 GB bandwidth, staging/permissions |
| Scale | $100 | 20 CMS collections, 10,000 items, 200 GB bandwidth, premium CDN |