Why We Use Client-First in Webflow Development
Why Graceful Web Studio Uses the Client-First Naming Convention
At Graceful Web Studio, clarity, accessibility, and long-term maintainability are at the core of everything we build. That’s why we use the Client-First naming convention for every Webflow project we touch.
Client-First isn't just a trend—it's a system that supports collaboration, scalability, and non-technical clients who want control over their content without digging through mystery classes or cryptic shorthand.
What Is Client-First?
"Client-First" is a widely used framework for Webflow development created by Finsweet. It’s a collection of naming conventions, HTML structure strategies, and organizational principles designed to make websites easy to scale, manage, and understand—especially for non-technical stakeholders.
Key Features:
- Clear and Descriptive Class Naming: All class names describe their visual or functional purpose clearly—no abbreviations, no jargon.
- Core Structure: A standardized HTML structure that's applied site-wide for consistency.
- Organized System: Classes follow a predictable prefix-keyword pattern that helps with reuse, inspection, and auditing.
- Scalability: The system is easy to expand, making updates seamless.
- Team Collaboration: Everyone—from designer to developer to client—speaks the same structural language.
- Well-Documented: The framework is supported by detailed documentation and real-world examples.
Benefits:
- Improved Developer Efficiency
- Better Client Understanding
- Reduced Learning Curve
- Enhanced Maintainability
Client-First is more than a naming convention—it’s a philosophy of clarity, ownership, and long-term thinking.
Built for Clients, Not Coders
Webflow empowers visual development—but what happens after launch? Too often, websites become unmanageable for clients because of confusing class structures. Client-First flips that script.
The goal is in the name:
- Empower a non-technical person to manage their own site
- Eliminate the need to “translate” class names to understand layout or styling
- Reduce dependencies on developers for every text or image change
With Client-First, our clients aren’t left guessing—they’re confident and capable.
Descriptive. Predictable. Maintainable.
Class Strategy: Custom vs. Utility
In Client-First, we organize classes by two main categories—custom classes and utility classes—using the underscore (_) as our visual delimiter.
- Custom classes contain an underscore and describe component-specific structure or purpose. Example:
header-primary_content - Utility classes do not contain underscores and are reusable styling helpers. Example:
text-color-primary
This distinction makes it incredibly easy to scan, manage, and distinguish between global utilities and unique structural classes.
Client-First naming uses a consistent, scalable structure based on prefixes and keywords that explain both purpose and layout relationships:
- No abbreviations. You’ll never see
.hdng-smor.cntnr-main. Instead, we write.heading-smallor.container-main. - No guessing. When you see
.section-home-hero, you know exactly what it’s for. - No chaos. We use structured hierarchies like:
section-container-heading-text-button-padding-,margin-, etc.
These naming conventions make class purposes immediately obvious.
Accessible by Design: Why We Use rem
In every Client-First build—including those at Graceful Web Studio—we follow Finsweet’s recommendation to use rem units instead of pixels. rem stands for root em, and it references the root <html> element’s font size.
This isn’t just a developer preference. It’s an accessibility win.
When users adjust their browser’s font size or use zoom functionality, a rem-based layout responds gracefully. Text remains readable. Layouts don’t break. People with low vision or cognitive challenges can scale content the way they need to.
And it’s not just us—Client-First was built around rem for this exact reason.
So when we say accessibility is baked into every line of code, we mean it—even down to how we measure margins and text.
Need a handy tool while developing? We love using the NekoCalc REM Converter to quickly convert px to rem and keep things consistent.
Why It Works for Our Studio and Yours
Client-First isn’t just for our internal team. It works across the board:
- For clients: It puts power back in their hands, reducing hand-holding and long wait times.
- For designers: It keeps the build organized, clean, and reusable.
- For developers: It removes ambiguity and accelerates onboarding.
- For accessibility experts (like us): It improves inspection, testing, and remediation workflows.
Future-Proof by Design
When your site evolves, your class structure shouldn’t collapse. Client-First supports scalability:
- Add sections or pages without refactoring
- Delegate tasks to new teammates with zero confusion
- Avoid “div hell” when debugging or expanding the layout
We treat class naming as part of your content strategy and long-term success—not an afterthought.
Want to Learn More?
If you're ready to learn Client-First for yourself, we highly recommend Finsweet’s Client-First 7-Day Learning Path. It’s a focused, week-long program packed with everything you need to understand the framework from the ground up—perfect for designers, developers, and teams who want to build better in Webflow.
Client-First is developed by Finsweet, and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve made for our builds. Want to learn how we implement it on your next project?
📩 Let’s talk about how a well-structured Webflow site makes accessibility, growth, and ownership easier—for everyone involved.
At Graceful Web Studio, we build with our clients and their clients in mind.
