Good or bad - made with Glide!

[ABYSS]

I wonder what is good and bad in your opinion?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of users (you) making the application with Glide??

I try Glide for a week, read comments, look for solutions, options, see that a lot can be done and more that can’t be done with Glide.
I see for the most part here the same group of people commenting and spinning in circles.

I’m interested in thinking if someone tried something before Glide on another system, another platform, do you have any ready-made example of a successfully completed application, that not one of these examples on this site or/and a few people are showing just their few applications in the comments?? (not just a free, paid app that does its job! )

[Sandro_Brito]

Hi @ABYSS
This is a good question. I think it really depends on what you are using Glide for.
I learnt about Glide a long time before I really wanted to try something for real.
I rediscovered it later when I was looking for a platform to launch a quick MVP and learn from my customers. Whilst looking for a tool, I started building my MVP in a few other platforms at the same time, comparing what I could do and couldn’t.
I tried a lot of tools that I’m not even going to mention here but the 3 main tools that I was considering in the end were: Bubble, Glide and Adalo.

My criteria was the following:

• I had to be able to build it fast
• It had to be optimised for mobile

Good to haves we’re:

• Not too expensive per app (I’m a very early startup, still validating the idea, I don’t want to lose too much money)
• the ability to integrate with an API

Building with Bubble
When it came to build I started with Bubble. It seemed to be a tool used by a lot of startups to build their MVP’s
I loved the ability to integrate with the google books api very easily and it got me off and running working with data.
But I found myself faffing about with building the UI too much and I didn’t have enough knowledge to build fast. The other thing was that it wasn’t mobile optimised, even tho it does build mobile too.

Going back to the criteria:

• Fast: not really
• Mobile optimised: Yeah, but with work, so it’s not fast

On the good to have side:

• It allowed integrations with APIs
• Not too bad, it has a free version or a 25usd a month, I can that for my experiment.

A plus for Bubble is that it has a vibrant community

Next I tried Glide
I built my app in Glide quickly but with a few user experience compromises. The forms are alright but not the best experience. Some of the control you have on UI elements and screen layouts are limiting and make the apps look a bit strange.

Back to the criteria:

• Super fast to build - if you’re willing to compromise on some stuff
• Mobile optimised - Not too much time working on the UI

Good to have

• API integration is a no no - However I did manage to make scripts that integrate the google book api at regular intervals.
• Price - it’s reasonable

On the plus side it has a great community (yay us) and you can see new features being added regularly, as well as the support from the team behind glide here in the forum. Another plus was the side scrollable tiles layout.

Now for Adalo.
I built most of my app on adalo. I love that it compiles to a proper mobile app that can be deployed onto the app stores.
The UI builder is good, it allow quite a bit of flexibility on how you build your lists. Building the DB and relationships is also easy.
In the end I wasn’t happy with the fact that it didn’t have the horizontal scrollable tile layout that I really wanted on my homepage.

Back to the criteria:

• Easy to build - Yup, it was easy
• Mobile optimised - yes

Good to haves:

• Integration with API’s - It does in the pro tier
• Price - It’s very expensive for me. 600usd a year is more than I want to spend

Ultimately the fight was between adalo and glide.
Adalo didn’t have the layout I wanted, but it was better from a UI point of view in general, better API integration and better control over branding. What Adalo wasn’t very good was in how they fostered their community. https://forum.adalo.com just check it and compare it with Glide. Part of the building fast requirement is having good enough documentation, a good community and a way to ask questions to the company. Glide wins by a mile.

Now, initially when I said that it depends on what you wanted to do with Glide, this is my point of view. I built and will iterate on an MVP with glide. Once I have a product that people are starting to love, I will migrate to a react native app. Glide as is, doesn’t have enough flexibility to provide the features and user experience that I want to provide with my product in the long run. But the good thing is, Glide is constantly evolving.

Hope it helped.
Here’s a few screens of my app for you to picture what I mean.

[NataliaGo]

Great review, Sandro👍 Thanks for this detailed comparison of these 3 options. Very useful

[ABYSS]

Thanks for the reply, very well said

I didn’t try “Bubble” & “Adalo”. I accidentally found Glide on the internet and gave it a chance.

Before I say my opinion and compare it with some other platforms that I know and options, here look at my site and tell me your opinion?
What do you think it can be done in Glide and how it looks to you?

Dubrovnik offers

[JackVaughan]

@Sandro_Brito really great post - very interesting to hear your thoughts on all this. Love your app too,

[ABYSS]

I made a website and an application (Dubrovnikoffers-com) in Wordpres, it took me two weeks, without a coding line, easier than Glide.
Briefly:

• Wordpress + Elementor = can be edited by anyone, plug and play, with absolutely no coding knowledge (no if-else as in Glide, it’s easier)
• Template you pay once, the most expensive as this one is 59 (there are million free or up to 10-15)
• Server and domain are only paid every year (domain approx. 15, server approx. 30 (however you must pay same thing extra in Glide pro plan anyway))
  Benefits:
  Easier content creation, plug and play with everything, more media, text, hundreds of styles, fonts, sizes, shapes,… mail, forms, woocommerce, shopping card, items, prices, discounts, payment in all currencies, all banks supported, payment whatever you want (not just Stripe), Login & users, login as you see fit (facebook, gmail, twitter, whatever network), posting and promoting ads, popup ads, indexing on google and other search engines (SEO), you can edit separately for desktop, tablet and mobile how it should be displayed, you can also have it in the same format as Glide, as an application (PWA, Glide is not a real application, it is just made to look like an application (so we don’t lie!)) multilingual, multiple currencies, users with their profiles, photos, google sheet if you need, all formats supported, import export, backup, reservations, phone calls, notification, airbnb & booking-com calendar view, direct booking, connection to other platforms + hundreds of other things (from simple things to great things)

This site cost me less than Glide would cost in a year (and next year I’m just extending my domain and server, I don’t pay everything again!)
and yes, you can also share it with your friends, put a link on the QR code, save it on your mobile screen, your computer, with just a lot more and better things!

Two weeks of work and here are the results, and I see people spend more time here to make a test notebook “application”!
I tried Glide, it just looks cute, it has no real effect and purpose other than playing a little and thinking you did something serious! I see they got $ 4 million for this , good idea but there is no realization - they sold the fog! The only thing that seems convenient is that it is presented as an application, but it is not an application and it will never be, it just looks similar!

My example of what I did in two weeks (dubrovnikoffers-com)

[Sandro_Brito]

I understand what you’re saying. But even with elementor I don’t think it’s as easy as glide. Is it more capable? Yeah. But I can tell you I wouldn’t be able to setup a website like the one you did in 2 weeks.

[Rosewebstudio]

So you don’t like glide then?

[ABYSS]

Quite conveniently today you can buy a server that comes automatically with wordpress installed, in a few clicks you install the theme of your choice (free or paid, you can find them all in the Themes menu), then add the page as you wish, click on edit with Elementor - and all the rest is a matter of imagination and creation. In the paid version, you have hundreds of looks, so you just change the text, picture and publish.

I think every beginner can make their own kind of website in one day. it’s simpler than Glide, there are no columns and rows or a google sheet, I don’t have to look where I have to put it, there are no limits on row numbers, and the PWA layout of an application like Glide you install a plugin of the same name and just activate it, and there it is!

Elementor Page Builder for WordPress

[ABYSS]

Glide is a nice try for beginners to think they made the app. The app is something else entirely, Glide is not. Glide is nothing but a simple display of an application-like interface.

I tried to do something and saw that there was not much opportunity for something more serious. This is more like a PowerPoint presentation that looks like an iPhone / Android app,

Google Sheet is just a simple database. Drag & Drop is like Elementor, with only fewer features, let’s say it’s 10% of Elemental, or all other visual editing tools.

What is missing is that you are accessible online so that customers can find you (because by sharing you have to find them), there is no “SEO” visibility on search engines, no multilingual, woocommerca shopping carts and item billing, web shop, photo gallery and slider capabilities (not loading one at a time), no users and their profiles, logging in via social networks, no sharing to social content networks (no link copying), etc etc …

In short, a tool that promises a lot in advertising and very little in reality. Very little for the amount they are looking for.
Because of this, they have thousands of tried-and-tested “applications” and rarely any example of a finished “application” that performs its function as real applications! (and besides, it’s not just some kind of presentation “like app” that you could have made in PowerPoint)

If you don’t think so send me the “link” (because otherwise you cannot) of your PRO version GLIDEAPP of what you made for us to look at??

(It’s not bad for kids at school to learn to do something serious one day on the right platforms, not on google sheets)

[david]

We launched Glide less than a year ago. Wordpress is 17 years old. It’s not surprising that Wordpress has more features.

[ABYSS]

That’s understandable. Then you need to make a nice list of what’s on your plan, what are the changes, what’s coming soon, what you can’t, etc, …

I am new here, and in a very short time I saw a bunch of flaws, to see that something would move in that area, maybe I would just stay on your platform and give it a chance, this way I cannot count on you. time goes and time is money. you know that very well. They have funded you very well and for that people expect it to be some of that. For now, as I see it, it’s a children’s game and doesn’t promise anything more serious

[Jeff_Hager]

I deal mainly with .Net, JavaScript(when karma wants to get back at me for no particular reason), RPGLE, and Planet Press at my paying job. Admittedly, nocode tools are new to me since I normally live in a code world. I looked into WordPress several years ago, but I always had concerns about security, especially when PII is involved. Here’s a couple questions I have:

Forgive me if my questions are irrelevant. Again, I have no experience with WordPress, so I’m just making guesses.

1. If a security hole is found in the WordPress core and ultimately fixed by the wordpress team, who is ultimately responsible for deployment of updated code to your hosting provider? Is it automatic?
2. If a security hole is found in any of the plugins, and the provider fixes then, are they automatically deployed or do you have to redeploy the site? (Same for themes.)
3. Are there any hourly/daily/monthly traffic limits against your hosting account for the site and/or database?
4. How does your database work? Is it an SQL server? How do you manipulate and change the layout and data in the database? Can you fully customize the types of data that can be stored?
5. How do you maintain the content on the site? Do you allow businesses to submit offers through the site, do you manipulate the database manually, or do you have to change the site and redeploy?
6. I see a lot of email contact forms on your site, especially for reservations. Do you plan to implement a full booking system into your own database?

Obviously the host will keep all of the VM’s updated and deal with firewall maintenance. Ultimately I didn’t want to deal with security and continuous code maintenance. I just want to deploy and not think about anything other than enhancements. In the end the WordPress ecosystem is still just a bunch of third party programmers writing code. WordPress does have 16 years of existence compare to Glide’s 1 year, but the confidence I have in Glide is that they are in charge of development, hosting, and ensuring security with no need on my part to redeploy my app when updates are made.

My Glide app is a student database, but also allows for lesson entry and handles invoicing and billing. Building something with that much PII and dynamic calculations, and maintenance on a platform that requires the user to be diligent with security updates and practices just scares me. That’s more effort than I want to put into an unpaid side gig.

This is an interesting read about WordPress security.
https://www.bluehost.com/blog/security/is-wordpress-secure-10500/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=genericsearch&kclickid=kenshoo_clickid&kenshoo_ida=Blue%20Host%20IDA&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjfvwBRCkARIsAIqSWlOhlXaok_TCOHkjfAVe6lP6K8vZ8QnFg-jjeogEyVeDIRkslSBdwhIaAkluEALw_wcB

[ABYSS]

Wordpress, like any other platform, has a security issue, but for whoever is afraid, buy a trusted server and a trusted theme.

No one is going to attack you on Glide because they can’t even find you, and if you work and earn money first and foremost, it is your interest to be visible online for someone to see you on the search engine.
For a simple thing like Glide you don’t need a plugin or any special server, it won’t be interesting for anyone to attack you. If you are doing a good job then get better and secure yourself, as in real life, you will not put a paper door at the bank entrance!

Database (SQL) and traffic depend on your server vendor. If you are a beginner then you do not bother with this, you do not even need server knowledge and SQL to try and create a school calendar like in Glide.

If you have 1000+ users, lots of sites, options and settings, a web store and thousands of items, then you will either learn to work with databases or hire someone experienced to do the work. Because you can’t do it with Glide anyway, so there’s nothing to worry about.
Wordpress and similar platforms use well-known databases, not google sheet, and if you think that someone can enter your database then they can also get your google sheet.

do you think google sheet is protected? Is your gmail safe? Think twice!

There is a lot of database on my page, for example:
Users fill out the form and independently add their offer to the site, so they log in via email or social networks, enter the name and activity of their offer, address and location so that customers can find you and google maps can display and bring them to you, They upload their photos (up to 128Mb +), cover photo, profile photo, add their phone number for direct contact, sms for direct message, chat for contact via platform, email for contact directly, html or iframe on their booking calendar on AirBnb , Booking-com, Viator, Tripadvisor (connects the user and the owner directly, in real time), Video presentations, youtube linking, all social networks, status view, opening hours (which also displays depending on the time, if you work until 11pm afterwards, the system shows you closed until reopened), offline booking, bookmarking, sharing (link or QR code like on Glide), logging in if incorrect, writing reviews, star rating, commenting and posting photos in reviews , and much more!

The owner has an insight into his offers, promotions of the same through all channels, sees the number of times each ad is viewed, sees the number of views per IP address, per device platform (phone, tablet, desktop, windows version, Chrome browser, Mozilla, OSX, and all with what users are joining, and even Blackberry, if any), they can see what time and what offer their customers are looking at most, when their promotions expire, when they need to renew their offer, can change, edit, add, delete, and more on its own!

Administrators only approve posts after reviewing that everything is filled in, after verification, the ad goes online, renders to all search engines, is indexed, becomes visible, publicly available, and anyone can find it (without someone sharing their link and asking others to look at him)

Isn’t that enough ??? Make it with Glide and let me know!
best regards

[ABYSS]

As the title says good or bad - made with Glide,… my opinion that it could have been made much better!
There is still a lot of work to do if you are thinking of achieving something on the market/internet, justifying interest and support from the Kickstarter platform, etc.
I have written a lot of flaws or what would be good if it were on this Glide, but this is not the case for you, at least not for now, it probably won’t be any of that in the near future.

Who wants to play and make pointless lists or as PowerPoint presentations on Glide feel free to learn and waste time,… when you want make something more serious you will look for other solutions just like me…then you may understand me!

I will definitely recommend Glide to my children at school, let them learn and play with Glideapp until they grow up!

best regards from Croatia. JM (abyss)

[Christophe_HK]

@ABYSS, first I thank you walere a troll. Then I understand that you’re someone whom doesn’t have anything to do or expect with Glide. So yep, the best option is that you continue to do what you’re doing very well, and let others who can expect achieving their goals with Glide.

WordPress is great but is a grandfather. Let’ s let a chance to disruptive products, they will evolve and reach, I think, a high level of satisfaction in the coming months, or even years, no matter. At least for what they are made for, which will also evolve with time.

Let a chance to the product, let a chance to Glide and come back in several months, perhaps you will be happy to see the progresses made (by your children!)

[ABYSS]

It’s just my opinion. I read the comments of others, tried, tested, asked and gave my opinion. It might even be one day something of this “app”, until then, enjoy

[Christophe_HK]

I will!

[Christophe_HK]

After, you know, Glide is a fresh new product. We can’t seriously expect the same level of features, integration, and so on, than with other more mature products.

BUT, for a new product, respect. Because some apps are already pro and live, and drive some business. A very good start.

[ABYSS]

Unfortunately, that’s just your opinion, mine is not and i am the one you expect to pay you for the pro version and use your Glide!

I am not rich enough to spend money on incomplete products!