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Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

blocks.md

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Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#41

Post by breck »

turnsout wrote: post #40
breck wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> uncanny valley Yes, but he's very close to the obvious solution that will spark web 4.0. Closest I've seen yet.

Say more!

Any and ever form submission, no matter how simple or complex, can be represented as a single file encoded in Particle Syntax with semantics provided by the Parsers programming language.

Thus, any one filling out any form, no matter how complicated the form (tax returns, electronic medical records, mortgage applications, LSATs, et cetera), could in theory type the form in a single plain text document encoded in Particle Syntax, OR use an HTML multi input form which generates that text document under the hood, or a hybrid of both, since they are isomorphic to each other.

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#42

Post by codersfocus »

breadwinner wrote: post #27
codersfocus wrote: post #17

Why are you using Paddle? Using a MoR for a product like this is really dumb. MoRs are common in very shady areas (gambling, adult, etc.) where getting credit card processing approval is difficult. Yet some marketing genius has decided he can hoodwink indiehackers into giving him 12% of his revenue, while also hurting the indiehacker's sales.

What are you talking about? Paddle charges 5% + $0.50, see https://www.paddle.com/pricing They handle chargeback, taxes in various states, etc., etc.

I was mistaken on their pricing, but making your customers pay 5-25% more even though you have no nexus in 99% of jurisdictions will still hurt sales to a significant degree.

And you think they’ll keep you as a customer if chargebacks are at all an issue for you?

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#43

Post by compootr »

Jonovono wrote: post #25

Looks nice! I was using typeform to collect surveys but found the UX weird so I switched to Google Forms. Found we got more conversions too, it's just simpler to use. The one thing missing was I wanted a way to redirect someone after they completed the form. That wasn't supported so if there is anyone else in a similar boat, I made this (free) service: https://www.gfrdr.com .

cool! using an iframe & whatever their JS API has I assume?

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#44

Post by nikolayasdf123 »

nice product. but prohibitively expensive. 60$ and even more concerning "Varies" price for actual use is pretty much no-go for this product.

if you are small startup this is too expensive, if you are big company, you might as well built it yourself. got to be cheaper!

UPD: typeform charge more but they provide hosting and analytics, very convenient for people who don't want/cant to code anything. this library is "bring your own backend, analytics, etc.", need coding too, but prices are nearly same ballpark. too expensive.

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#45

Post by oefrha »

I don’t understand the license here https://github.com/blocksmd/blocksmd?tab=License-1-ov-file#r...

It says Business Source License 1.1 which basically means I’m free to use as long as I don’t use it to build a competitive offering. Fair enough.

But it changes to AGPL-3.0 on 2028-07-01, what? Basically now I need to open source my entire stack that has any connection to the form? Why would you change it to a more restrictive license (for anyone not looking to build a competitive offering) after a few years?

---

Unrelated, I find the DSL increasingly unwieldy as you get to more advanced features (especially styling). Might want to consider offering a JSX/TSX alternative for more advanced use cases.

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#46

Post by darkhorse13 »

Hey builder of this thing here. This blew up like crazy! Thanks for all of the feedback everyone. I'll try to reply to all of them, I think most of it is very valid. In case someone wants to reach out for questions, my email is tahmid(dot)hm(dot)dev(at)gmail.com.

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#47

Post by uneekname »

oefrha wrote: post #45

I don’t understand the license here https://github.com/blocksmd/blocksmd?tab=License-1-ov-file#r... It says Business Source License 1.1 which basically means I’m free to use as long as I don’t use it to build a competitive offering. Fair enough. But it changes to AGPL-3.0 on 2028-07-01, what? Basically now I need to open source my entire stack that has any connection to the form? Why would you change it to a more res…

IANAL but from what I understand, folks will be able to use the current version of the software as it is currently licensed, forever. The author is making clear their intent to change the license on a certain date, at which point new versions of the software will only be available under AGPL.

I agree it's odd that folks who use this software something that isn't a "competitive offering" may have to open-source their software stack if they upgrade to a new version in 2028. But, they will always have the option to use an older version of the software that is still covered by the BSL.

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#48

Post by uneekname »

breck wrote: post #41
turnsout wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say more!

Any and ever form submission, no matter how simple or complex, can be represented as a single file encoded in Particle Syntax with semantics provided by the Parsers programming language. Thus, any one filling out any form, no matter how complicated the form (tax returns, electronic medical records, mortgage applications, LSATs, et cetera), could in theory type the form in a single plain text document encoded in Parti…

If web 4.0 is better forms, count me in.

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#49

Post by darkhorse13 »

oefrha wrote: post #45

I don’t understand the license here https://github.com/blocksmd/blocksmd?tab=License-1-ov-file#r... It says Business Source License 1.1 which basically means I’m free to use as long as I don’t use it to build a competitive offering. Fair enough. But it changes to AGPL-3.0 on 2028-07-01, what? Basically now I need to open source my entire stack that has any connection to the form? Why would you change it to a more res…

So I did not want to open-source yet, which is why I picked BUSL-1.1, and from what I can tell, the other BUSL-1.1 I've looked at had this clause to open-source at a later date (AGPL3 is an open-source license after all).

I'm still trying to figure out the licensing around this whole thing, so this is temporary I believe.

Re: Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

#50

Post by darkhorse13 »

aimazon wrote: post #24

Very good work, especially for a solo developer. Feedback: 1. Design language of the forms feels too much like Typeform, you're a talented designer: differentiate the design to establish your own identity. If the forms look like Typeform, form-fillers are not going to investigate what form software it is and use it -- which was a big part of why Typeform grew. 2. The name is terrible. Blocks? The name sounds like you…

Thank you!

1. Yeah I would say this was intentional. Typeforms are almost instantly recognizable, which is a good thing for a new product I think. I actually want to offer more than one form style though. If you look at the CSS file, everything is a variable so that I can add more styles/themes.

2. Haha you're right actually, the idea was slightly different and the name sort of stuck (it was originally blocksdb, which is worse). I don't mind blocks.md though, but marketing is definitely not my best skill.

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