i’m totally in the same boat here and so fed up with all this wordpress nonsense.
I dipped my toes into headless cms and frameworks like nuxt or astro for frontend some years ago and will give it another go as it feels like the perfect moment to do so.
I am also going the FSE and custom blocks route. Looking forward to trying the new interactivity API as well. In between, I would like to try Pinegrow as well to see if it makes the block-creating workflow better. I have played around with it for a few hours, and it seems okay, but I have not used it for an actual project. I saw somewhere mentioned that you have used it for some time. What is the reason why you are not choosing Pinegrow right now and going fully custom with learning React?
I also tried the custom block route, but the workflow is much slower compared to Cwicly.
I miss Cwicly, I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Oh yes I built a site with Pinegrow. But the learning curve is rather steep. Because FSE is in flux Pinegrow is waiting till the dust settles util they incorporate it. The complexity is such that Wordpress core block development isn’t that far off in difficulty. If Pinegrow was ‘built into’ the Wordpress core block editor like Cwicly then it would make more sense to use in my opinion. I am not a fan of the UI. But of course Pinegrow is a powerful tool.
But at this point, if I am going to invest my time into learning something of this caliber, why not cut out the middle man and learn straight to the source? The required React knowledge isn’t as demanding as I thought. You can add your desired controls with a wee bit of React but most is done by json in the themes.json/blocks.json file.
FSE is the future of Wordpress. I have had enough of builders and if I am pressed I will use Bricks/Pinegrow for some bits. I think we have all learned we can not rely on third parties. At some point you will get burnt. The interactivity API is also very interesting.
Good resources:
interactivity API
https://www.udemy.com/course/wordpress-gutenberg-block-development/
@hopscotch, thanks for the info! I have built some custom blocks before, so React is not really a problem for me. Just wondering if I can improve my workflow when going full custom blocks. Pinegrow seemed like it could help a bit, but as I have never used it extensively for a real project and just played around by creating a few test blocks, I was wondering if someone more experienced with Pinegrow can point out some drawbacks, limitations, etc. I like Pinegrow’s easy hybrid block solution (React in the backend and PHP in the frontend) so I can easily update blocks without backend block regeneration.
Probably just need to try it out for the next project and see how it goes.
Pinegrow you have the obvious benefits of Bootstrap or Tailwind. It’s animations/interactions that are over complex. Also the initial configuration can be a bit time consuming. You can create a theme or plugin. But once you have it up and running you can push out custom blocks at a good pace. I have the Pinegrow plugin version, the only draw back is no SASS compiling. If you get the Pinegrow desktop app you also have the SASS compiling. Adam Lowe’s videos are very helpful.
this is all the more reason to have a spokesperson. Loud and good ideas go much further than just Great ideas w/o that backing of vocal supporters.
Imagine not having the backbone to face any obstacles in business or in fact, any venture in life, then any sudden rain is going to seem to you like its toxic and its going to burn your skin, it will make you even paranoid and make you believe you are being stabbed by the little drops… at the end it was all you, with the resilience of a snowflake.
Yeah, I’ve also been interested from the start. I haven’t used it in production because I was always waiting for further developments (in Gutenberg FSE and Cwicly). When components were introduced, it really made a difference. I’m not deeply committed to using Tailwind with WordPress, but I was willing to try it. Marius and Louis seem to be hinting at a specific person without naming them. I’m closely monitoring this area and can’t think of anyone else they might mean. I won’t name the person either, as their vagueness seems intentional. I understand how all the educational efforts and “indoctrination” could be perceived as “lies”. However, influencers have historically promoted products even worse products like Visual Composer or, more recently, Elementor as the best solutions for building websites. This isn’t to compare their quality of what is being pushed, but to illustrate that influencers often market products for economical or ideological reasons, regardless of whether they are superior or alternative are. This is just how capitalism works: it’s not always the best or most feature rich product that succeeds, but the one with the most effective marketing, achieved through various means including said word of mouth and cult-like followings. I am reading JulianM’s comment, and in that sense, it resonates with me as being quite accurate. Resilience, community, and communication skills seem to be key these days. And talking of community, building a following and engaging them with new features is crucial. Simply presenting a bunch of superior features and hoping they sell themselves is often not effective. I am guilty of that myself, but then again my many GitHub projects are mostly for myself and for a very little group of people willing to put up with my lacking documentation. Cwicly has done well in creating promotional trailers and tutorials. It seems they still need dedicated influencers and fundamental strategies to market the product successfully without a large budget.
I felt like it was just picking up after all this time. But then again, running such a business at the level of being a tool provider is no easy task and is pretty involved and costly. It’s easy to comment, but so much harder to actually do it. Kudos to all the entrepreneurs!
Sorry but whatever the case, the idea of blaming others for your failures and hiding is not right, I don’t blame my parents or the lack of them for my issues. So blaming X so called the unnamed influencer aka prob. Kevin Geary, only helped him getting more business. Though I am not a user of any of his products but appreciate his “marketing efforts” for illustrating a community on matters that are important and for people who are willing to learn and grow.
I’m done with the wordpress for now, I will not blame people with poor judgement or great marketing skills for my decisions again. So there is not a tint of cult like behavior in my comments instead i see the overgrowing trend of the cult of feeling touched or offended by the opinions others and call it misinformation, even governments are using such cheap tactics and do indoctrinate people to be offended for simple statements like a boy its a boy and a girl its a girl.
That’s how I interpreted your rather poetic comment - as one of resilience and not caring for the noise (of the rain).
I also believe that there was more at play. So, I am not suggesting that this was the main reason. Apart from personal tragedy, being an entrepreneur is hard. From the sidelines, it seems like an easy task, but being in the public eye with a personal brand is a demanding task not for everyone. I don’t think I could bear it.
I can´t call it poetry, I just use analogy because anything I say, even though it might be true, its called toxic and misinformation and you get the silence treatment even in this small forum, all i said was that the explanation for the cwicly demise was not clear and it would have been better explained.
I paid a full year for a product and got a few months worth and still have my licenses and don´t know what to do with them, you don´t do business like that, If i screw up my customers, I have to carry with my reputation but I would rather work for free than to carry with such burden.
I have really learned to appreciate Cwicly after working with Bricks now. I am building a mega menu and popups with Bricks then I will build custom blocks with Pinegrow. With Bricks I keep running into limitations. Wrecks my head 
I’m looking for alternatives to Cwicly, specifically Bricks and Greenshift. However, I’ve found that both have some limitations compared to Cwicly. It’s been challenging to find a suitable replacement.
I think Blockstudio is also worth considering.