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Semplice 4 (semplice.com)

6 years ago from , Designer

45 comments

  • George Bartz, 6 years ago

    When your coffee cup matches the website.

    Photo - https://twitter.com/georgebartz/status/900352238211612673

    15 points
  • Surjith S MSurjith S M, 6 years ago

    Their marketing is really great.

    Its just a WordPress theme with Page builder but they never advertised as it is. They say "WordPress Portfolio Tool" and "We built on top of WordPress"

    Genius :)

    7 points
  • Clay MacTavishClay MacTavish, 6 years ago

    I enjoy reading Tobias van Schneider's newsletters and admire his design work, especially his work at Spotify. He is truly a rare talent. However, as a professional developer who has worked with WordPress since 2005, this drag-n-drop type stuff annoys the hell out of me.

    I've encountered numerous clients who ask me to undo previous "developer's" wysiwyg, drag-n-drop dumpster fires. I usually decline or charge top dollar or tell them I'm going to nuke what is there and start from scratch.

    With that said, I'm curious about this product. Does anyone have any experience using Semplice? Does it break the mold at all?

    6 points
    • Giovanni HobbinsGiovanni Hobbins, 6 years ago

      I've only used 2 Wordpress-based drag and drop editors. Semplice and Visual Composer. I wouldn't characterize either as dumpster fires. Semplice is easier to learn and feels like editing in Medium but Visual Composer might have more features.

      I've seen some custom editors that are terrible (as you mentioned). But these 2 are built by top teams that keep the products updated.

      2 points
    • Cory MalnarickCory Malnarick, 6 years ago

      ive used semplice 3 extensively. my issues are with wordpress PHP garbage fires, and not the drag and drop stuff.

      I like semplice 3, and i intend to measure semplice 4 against webflow and cargo's new site builder. Its hard for me to see the value of semplice 4 over cargo, particularly, because of how similar they are. Semplice 4 seems to offer little in addition, such as instagram feeds and hover states...

      1 point
    • Connor Tomas O'BrienConnor Tomas O'Brien, 6 years ago

      I'm totally with you on this! The issue for me is when previous designers lean heavily on these kinds of themes/plugins as a way to knock out client work quickly, without informing clients of how expensive and time consuming it will be if they need to move away from them. (That said, this looks fantastic for those aware of the nature of what it's doing!)

      0 points
  • Marek LMarek L, 6 years ago

    Massive fck you to v3 users. I you want to move to v4, you get a "huge" 20% discount and you have to recreate the whole web site just because there is no backward compatibility. Really great.

    5 points
    • Huseyin EmanetHuseyin Emanet, 6 years ago

      It's just a WordPress theme.

      3 points
    • Matt Hirsch, 6 years ago

      Software is always getting updates, and larger changes which require a lot of work often have paid updates. Not sure why WP themes would be any different. Some of the stuff they've updated look like massive changes. It makes sense that they're breaking changes, and cost money.

      3 points
      • Marek LMarek L, 6 years ago

        Software is usually backwards compatible.

        1 point
        • Matt Hirsch, 6 years ago

          Software is sometimes* backwards compatible. Occasionally there are changes that simply cannot be compatible, but are necessary for the good and future of the product.

          1 point
    • Alex MartineauAlex Martineau, 6 years ago

      The alternative is not adding more features that require a more robust platform, which would kill the growth of the product. IT's a difficult decision, but the correct one.

      2 points
    • Roman PohoreckiRoman Pohorecki, 6 years ago

      If you don't like v4, don't buy it. What's the problem?

      4 points
  • Jake CooperJake Cooper, 6 years ago

    I always worry about getting locked down into the theme's features when choosing drag-and-drop options. I feel like you end up with less control over things like SEO, minification of assets, building custom admin fields (via advanced custom fields / other) to make the client's life easier when updating.

    How do you all feel about drag-and-drop wordpress themes in general? I'm not knocking their value -- clearly they can make a great website -- I just tend to prefer developing custom themes for clients

    3 points
    • Dominic Huysmans, 6 years ago

      I never tried Semplice and I'm sure it depends on what you're trying to achieve, but my clients are always happier with a custom theme with clean custom drag-and-drop elements (usually with Unyson or Visual Composer). It never gave me any issues with SEO, minification, or custom fields.

      That being said, I tried Divi once and quickly realized you can't achieve as much with an out-of-the-box drag-and-drop theme. However if you can't code your own custom theme, Semplice looks promising.

      0 points
  • Stephen Weir, 6 years ago

    its a wordpress theme, chill out

    2 points
  • Guilherme SchmittGuilherme Schmitt, 6 years ago

    I bought this a couple of weeks ago, loved it. Their web tools are very powerful and flexible, I'd highly recommend it for anyone that's looking for a simple and good looking solution for their portfolios.

    2 points
  • Judah GuttmannJudah Guttmann, 6 years ago

    Loved Semplice 3, will definitely be upgrading to Semplice 4

    2 points
    • Adam Hayman, 6 years ago

      Agreed. I made my site with Semplice 3, but I've gotten lazy and let the hosting on it expire. I had intentions of putting it up again someday from a backup, but I may just go ahead and buy Semplice 4 and redesign the whole thing.

      1 point
  • Jon LehmanJon Lehman, 6 years ago

    Never realized that v4 came out.. and a little salty because my purchase was literally a week before April 1.

    2 points
    • Powers Gray, 6 years ago

      I'm sure they'll help you out. Try communicating with them before a thorough brining.

      1 point
      • Jon LehmanJon Lehman, 6 years ago

        Yesterday I was in the middle of replying to this comment when I checked my email and saw that Tobias had already emailed me based on the comment I left above, he helped me out big time! Not only is it a great product, but they obviously have great service as well! ... does that make me a fanboy? whatever, dont care!

        2 points
  • William RileyWilliam Riley, 6 years ago

    At first I was confused - did this get an update? Because version 4 came out in April.

    But, turns out, this never got submitted to Designer News! I got excited that this was another update haha.

    Semplice rocks.

    2 points
  • Aaron MoodyAaron Moody, 6 years ago

    Long time Semplice user. V4 adds onto an already solid product People really shouldn't compare this to a "theme" it's a tool to speed up process, everything can be customised and taken as far as you like, but the basics are all there to help you get something up and running quickly.

    The support is amazing and the price is great for what you're getting. Can't praise Semplice enough....if you can't tell.

    1 point
    • Judah GuttmannJudah Guttmann, 6 years ago

      Would you say the upgraded features in the Studio Edition is worth the extra cash?

      0 points
      • Aaron MoodyAaron Moody, 6 years ago

        It's been a while since I used v3 as I've had early access to the beta.. but from what I remember yes, the whole system is even more easy to use, there's a built in animation tool which is awesome, pre built "blocks" to speed things up, faster and leaner...etc

        I'd say if you're going to rebuild your portfolio then its a definite yes, but if you're happy with your current one, you don't need to upgrade right away

        1 point
  • Kris KimKris Kim, 6 years ago

    I was a bit confused because I bought this about a month ago and the new features are what I already have. Turns out I have this new v4. Besides that, this can be just another wordpress theme, but it indeed helped me greatly save time and the tool is super easy to use, nothing like all other themes that I've used before.

    1 point
  • Ian BlackfordIan Blackford, 6 years ago

    I like the Semplice product, it's accessible and easy to use and v3 helped me get my first personal site out there (www.ianblackford.co) (I'm not a web designer/developer, so other peoples mileage/experience may vary...)

    Majority of the promotional material seems to be heavily biased towards personal sites and possibly Semplice are geared towards this and targeting that particular market? Expect if people have a wide range and scope of clients and projects that it may perhaps not be as suitable solution? idk

    Will purchase v4 for an upcoming project for sure.

    0 points
  • Rob WoottenRob Wootten, 6 years ago

    Any better alternatives?

    0 points