If you are like me, having access to an array of no-code tools, I am constantly switching between them to find the best tool for the task.
Read along to find what I did to pick, and what my preferred tool now is.
TL;DR- (My biases)
Ease of use with creating the UI - Adalo > DraftBit > Kodika.
Making screens responsive - Draftbit > Kodika > Adalo
Freebbble
I picked a free mobile-UI design from http://freebbble.com/ because I wanted to work using real-world designs. The designs were high-fidelity and precisely in the style I was expecting (simple and easy to design). Go grab a free design copy from there to play around while learning.
I picked the three tools at my disposal- Adalo, Draftbit, and Kodika. Brief dive into these tools.
Adalo - Lets you create, and publish cross-platform apps. This is the best beginner tool out there IMO. You understand learn no-code paradigm here and how all pieces come together.
Draftbit - Similar to adalo, but the process to publish is not straightforward. I read through the documentation and it seems convoluted. But the tool is fast evolving and I expect to be my go-to very soon because of the design capabilities it has. This feels like Webflow of mobile apps.
Kodika - I picked this tool the last of three. So my exposure is limited but this tool feels like creating the UI in Xcode itself - easy if you are from Xcode world, scary if you are from anywhere else, like me. Setting the constraints was like pulling my hair but when they run responsively well in several devices it feels worth it. Did I mention, this is iOS apps only.
Alright, talking about designing in
Adalo
Pro
Straightforward drag-drop interface.
Decent amount of customization.
Designing lists/custom-lists is a breeze.
Testing multiple devices/screen sizes was very easy.
Con
Without a grid layout, the UI can get very messy if you are laying multiple components on the same x-axis.
No option to add gradient on buttons.
No way to define pressed states - they have an in-built representation for all buttons.
DraftBit
Pro
Robust UI builder. If you are used to grid layout, with a good understanding of Positions, Margins, and Padding you will feel at home. I had a lot of learning to do in that regard. Have to clap for the sound documentation they have provided.
There are tons of sample screens, they seem to work like magic when you try to recreate them. I am digging the layout builder.
Con
The UI hierarchy/layout building gets tedious without drag-drop. You have to pick the parent and add each control to the hierarchy.
Debugging is a chore with having to switch to your phone for live preview. It takes a few tries to get it going. What should I do if I want to try multiple device/screen sizes? I may be missing the whole bus here, if so, please enlighten me.
Although we are not talking about publishing here, it is convoluted, to say the least. I will need some handholding to get it to the app stores.
Kodika
Pro
iOS folks coming from Xcode can feel at home (I think?)
The responsive design is pretty cool once you have added the right constraints.
The level of designing of components is amazing. You can design lots of states for each component e.g. button pressed, disabled, etc.
You can simulate multiple devices quickly. Loved this.
Their YouTube channel has a good amount of help videos to educate yourself.
Con
The desktop app to design and develop crashed a couple of times where I lost all my progress - with all the constraints lost, I wanted to give up. Brutally painful.
The lingo is different, so it takes a bit of getting used to it.
Conclusion
The feedback recorded is based on UI designing alone, which may not be right because the app needs to be designed with API response data and screen navigation as well. As a next step, I will create a firebase backend and plug it to the different tools to compare how they playout.
Alright, the best tool for:
Beginners - Adalo
Who come from web designing and in need of a robust tool with a background in React- DraftBit
iOS app maker coming from Xcode - Kodika
If you have any comments or if I messed something above, please let me know.