August 18, 2025
If you use Webflow as your website hosting provider (client) or build and design websites in Webflow (designer), you have probably heard about Client-First before. Here is my interpretation of it in the simplest way I understood it.
Wednesday night, I found myself reading documentation after a long time, so I could get a deeper understanding of what client-first really means.
The first thing me and a colleague did was to watch an overview of the style system on YouTube from 2 years ago, but I didn’t learn anything from that tutorial. Even worse, I got frustrated with how confusing the “explanation” got.
You probably think:
But, Nikoleta why are you learning this again?
Well, don’t tell anyone, but I am building my first Webflow template with Client-First. 🫣 Yes, since I started an intensive Webflow learning journey this year, paired with client work, I decided to dedicate 2–4 hours a week to learn more about Webflow, client-first and build my first Webflow template.
And now in 2025, I’m able to say:
I now have 2 of my own website templates. One in Wix Studio and one in Webflow. ☺️
Client-First is a set of guidelines and strategies to develop organized and maintainable Webflow projects.
So the way I understand Client-First:
Keeping all your styles on a website in check by having a system that helps apply scalable changes across your website without wondering what’s happening and where random styling comes from. 😂
It seems like a very useful “language” among developers and designers, so if you inherit a client-first project, you will easily find your way around.
Here are some easy examples from the Fit Warrior Style Guide:
Did you know that you can become Client-First certified? Yes, you can, and here are the requirements you need to meet.
Remember that you can still use client-first if you have a one-page website. I recommend that you start small and make the best of using the framework for your projects.
Check other examples, use what works for your project. I copied the full Client-First Style Guide and started learning the dependencies and stripping it down, and adjusting it so I could see what I needed for my website.
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P.S. If you want to be part of my curious journey, you can find me on Instagram @angelova.nikoleta.design and LinkedIn (Nikoleta Angelova).
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