Building with Framer is exciting — but starting off with a few bad habits can slow you down fast.
This isn’t a list to make you feel bad. It’s a quick, practical guide to help you learn smarter, avoid frustration, and get better results right from the start.
Here are some common beginner mistakes — and how to skip them.
Layout chaos starts here.
What happens: New users often drop everything into one giant Frame — header, content, footer, modals, all in one place.
Why it’s a problem: Your layout quickly becomes impossible to manage. Elements overlap, responsiveness breaks, and editing anything gets frustrating.
How to avoid it:
Use Sections and Auto Layout to structure your content clearly. Keep repeated parts like headers or footers as separate components. Nest where it makes sense — not by default.
💡 Pro tip: One structure I often use looks like this
Section → Wrapper → Content
The Section handles top and bottom spacing.
The Container acts as a clean middle layer — usually with no padding.
The Wrapper adds left and right padding to keep content aligned.
This setup lets you apply styles at the right level, duplicate sections easily, and just swap the content inside — without starting from scratch every time.
Don’t wait until it breaks.
🧭 This topic could be a full tutorial on its own. For now, keep it simple: test responsiveness as you build — not after.
What happens: You build everything at one breakpoint (usually desktop), then realize mobile looks completely broken.
Why it’s a problem: Fixing responsiveness at the end takes more time than planning for it early. You end up rebuilding sections instead of adjusting them.
How to avoid it:
Start with a layout that adapts. Use Stacks, auto-sizing, and relative paddings/margins. Set width and height using “Fit” or “Fill”, or even percentages (relative**)** when needed. Position elements using relative positioning by default — absolute should be a last resort.
Styles save you time later.
What happens: You manually style every text, every color, every icon. No styles, no consistency.
Why it’s a problem: When the client asks to “make all headings 4px smaller,” you’ll cry. Also: you break design consistency.
How to avoid it:
Use Text Styles and Color Styles from the start — this makes it easier to update globally.
Group icons into Icon Sets so they scale and stay consistent.
Think like a design system — even if it’s a small one.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
What happens: Every element slides, fades, rotates… and repeats. You animate because you can — not because it helps.
Why it’s a problem: Over-animation feels chaotic, especially on slower devices. It distracts from your content.
How to avoid it:
Use animation to support actions (e.g. modals, menus, hover states).
Keep durations short (under 400ms for most cases).
Ask yourself: does this animation add clarity, meaning, or story?
When used with intention, animation becomes a powerful tool — not just decoration.
Stop copy-pasting the same layout.
What happens: You hardcode repeated elements like blog posts, products, or testimonials — even though Framer’s CMS is right there.
Why it’s a problem: You waste time duplicating layouts and make updates harder later.
When to use CMS:
If you have content that repeats (testimonials, team, FAQs, etc.)
If the client will update things on their own
If you want to future-proof the content and scale it easily later
How to avoid it:
Start simple: create a Collection, define fields (title, image, description) and connect it. You don’t need complex filters to get value.
Don’t be afraid to rebuild. Half of learning Framer is realizing how fast you can start over — and make it better each time.
Mistakes are normal — but learning to spot them early is what makes you faster, sharper, and more confident.
A smooth build starts with good habits. Keep iterating — that’s how Framer starts to feel like second nature.