Jeff is the founder of The.com, a company that offers a revolutionary new way to create, build, own and manage IP through the use and remix of Blocks. The.com was founded in 2019 by a team of serial founders and leading web developers in Boulder, Colorado.
In this slogging AMA, Jeff shares the origins of The.com, web3 design, programming and much more.
This Slogging thread by Mónica Freitas, Jeff McKinnon, Jack Boreham, Jane Sorkin, Riley, Clarke McKinnon, Sara Pinto and Abeer occurred in slogging's official #amas channel, and has been edited for readability.
Hey @channel, please join me in welcoming our next AMA guest, Jeff McKinnon. Jeff is the founder of http://The.com, a company that offers a revolutionary new way to create, build, own and manage IP through the use and remix of Blocks. http://The.com was founded in 2019 by a team of serial founders and leading web developers in Boulder, Colorado.
Please feel free to ask Jeff anything about:
Please feel free to ask Jeff anything about:
- http://The.com
- The evolution in design as web3 approaches
- Introducing “show-code” (movement away from both no-code, hidden low-code, and full-code)
- How and why increased collaboration between creatives can evolve designs over time
- How and why collaboration creates more experimental designs
- “How-To” advice on web design topics such as portfolios, website migration plans, user journey maps, cloning design systems, and other topics on building a website from scratch
- How new websites incorporate cyber security as the web evolves and why it’s so important in 2022 and beyond.
- Misconceptions about low-code
- Website redesign essential skills and tools
- The future of web design and online collaboration
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Hi Jeff McKinnon! It's great to have you with us! Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself, your background and http://The.com?
Jeff McKinnon
Absolutely! Hi everyone! thanks for having me and http://The.com team here for the ama today! I'm Jeff one of the founders of http://The.com along with my brother Clarke.
Jeff McKinnon
It is an exciting time for http://The.com right now as we just launched some really cool features and our $4.4m Seed round led by NFX on https://tcrn.ch/32CrdTT
- We just passed the 10k sites live mark
- have thousands of customers
- Are introducing our new automated site creation product, SiteGen
Jeff McKinnon
To give everyone the formal description of the platform:
- http://The.com is a low-code website building platform with community-created components that you can share and own. Our cell-based platform speeds up development, hand-off, and reusability. The platform is shifting the web development world by prioritizing creator ownership in a community-first ecosystem.
Hi Jeff McKinnon, so is http://The.com built on the blockchain?
Jeff McKinnon
Hi Jack Boreham!
It actually is not built on-chain, We are built using some cool technology, classified as Serverless technology and the sites are deployed statically.
We do have Web3 ethos built into the platform though.
We have ownership and composability built into this concept called Blocks.
Jeff McKinnon
Blocks reusable sections of websites like headers, footers, galleries etc. These are all owned by the original creators. Those peoples creations always are attributed for every use of it
Jane Sorkin
Do you have any build sessions I can attend or a community to network with others?
Jeff McKinnon
Hey Jane Sorkin!
Yes, we do live-build sessions twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays!
Jane Sorkin
What's the link?
Is it http://the.com/community haha?
Jeff McKinnon
Ding ding ding!
Jane Sorkin why don't you introduce yourself and the community side.
Jane Sorkin
Haha hi everyone! I'm the community lead at http://the.com!
We got some cool events happening this week (come join).
https://join.slack.com/t/thecom-community/shared_invite/zt-b43kkovl-bMP5JNHhO3NJ2npQ_Sfz_w!
Events for the week
We got some cool events happening this week (come join).
https://join.slack.com/t/thecom-community/shared_invite/zt-b43kkovl-bMP5JNHhO3NJ2npQ_Sfz_w!
Events for the week
Tuesday -https://twitter.com/JaneSorkin/status/1502405792254681088
Wednesday - http://evt.to/aehaeioow
Thursday - Web3 and NoCode/LowCode with Riley (link will be posted)
Friday - http://evt.to/aehaeioswhttp://The.com
Wednesday - http://evt.to/aehaeioow
Thursday - Web3 and NoCode/LowCode with Riley (link will be posted)
Friday - http://evt.to/aehaeioswhttp://The.com
Jeff McKinnon, so what made you want to start The.com? Were you already involved in programming?
Jeff McKinnon
Actually, Clarke and I build and scale a web development agency (by accident). After 7 years of building on legacy platforms, we had to build a tool that would let us systemize our builds and use data are our main structure to build, import content, and handoff to the customer.
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Riley
When it comes to the colorful field of no-code web building tools (e.g. Editor X, Webflow, Bubble), what did you see lacking that inspired the need for something like The.com?
Jeff McKinnon
Riley great question, We literally used every other tool back at our agency, and thought, every website is just a complex data system. So why aren't editors built around that? That is what led to The.com and the spreadsheet/table style interface. It unlocked the ability to link, send, collab, and import data in new and powerful ways.
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Jeff McKinnon
Jeff McKinnon
- Headless Ecomm
- Automatic Site generation
- Landing page gen
- In-app customer chat
- Customer google sheet/airtable handoff
- Create new revenue streams with the marketplace
- Pick up paying projects with the marketplace
Hi Jeff McKinnon, great to have you here! I'm a newbie in this subject, so I have to ask: what's "show-code" and what makes it stand out?
Jeff McKinnon
Hi Sara Pinto!
Jeff McKinnon
One of the cool pieces that http://The.com offers is the ability to directly manipulate websites code while still operating inside a "builder".
Clarke McKinnon
Hey all, I'm Clarke the other Co-founder. Fun to see the questions in here! I've got a good question for you all - what's your favorite resource for learning html/css/js?
Hey Clarke McKinnon. I’ve used FreeCodeCamp since the beginning of my career and I’m using it to this day. As for YouTube channels, FireShip has been a very cool resource.
Clarke McKinnon
Thanks, Abeer haven't seen that youtube channel yet, nice find!
Hey Jeff McKinnon. Great having you here. Also, hello to the rest of The.com team here. This is a very cool concept. As a developer, I’m trying to grok how this platform works. How does the developer experience differ in The.com versus competitors such as WordPress with Elementor or Webflow?
Jeff McKinnon
Abeer great question! http://The.com is built with some very unique things that are highly differentiated from legacy platforms.
Jeff McKinnon
Most importantly our editing experience exposed html and css in a table/spreadsheet format. That gives the users superpowers to manipulate the site at the deepest level. It also unlocks the ability to link and connect data in new ways.
Jeff McKinnon
Jeff McKinnon
Here is the youtube channel that helps explain tons of features.
Jeff McKinnon that's awesome!
So how does collaboration plays a part in your company?
I've noticed you put a lot of value into it.
So how does collaboration plays a part in your company?
I've noticed you put a lot of value into it.
Jeff McKinnon
Mónica Freitas collaboration is 🔑 when building and launching websites. The.com focuses heavily on collab. We have built-in live view, in-app chat, and more to support that vision.
All these features support teams working on projects together!
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Jeff McKinnon, thank you for the Abeer and the resource. If you don't mind me asking another question, I’m curious, how will new websites incorporate cyber security as the web evolves?
Jeff McKinnon
Abeer From a security perspective, The.com is built using serverless technology and produces static sites. Both of those allow for enhanced security far and above from legacy platforms.
Jeff McKinnon, what's next for http://The.com? What is the next milestone?
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Jeff McKinnon
Mónica Freitas, we have an exciting release coming up that will let companies automate the creation of websites 🚀
Jeff McKinnon, do keep us updated! I'm sure our community will be very excited to hear about your new releases.
Jeff McKinnon, thank you for your insightful answers! It's been so great to have you on, but unfortunately, we will have to wrap up this AMA. Do you have any final thoughts for our readers or something you'd like to promote?
Jeff McKinnon
Thanks for having us!
Jeff McKinnon
Final note is that http://The.com offers 6 websites for free! so go signup start building and join the community.
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