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Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

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Re: Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

#61

Post by mhd »

rrrx3 wrote: post #37
whizzkid wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think the opposite. The way it is built is just perfect to get used to automation of hands. You have the feeling right away that you can use "tab" and "space" to change/fill/move things in those. Putting more fancy things and making it not "boring" is not an easy job and most of the time fails i think. "make users feel more at home" will lead users to be focusing less time on the actual task and more time…

The research shows that there should be a greater convergence because of the cognitive dissonance that occurs otherwise. It is an inarguable fact that people are using software in all aspects of their lives - to have a simplified, straightforward experience in one instance and not the other is a huge source of frustration. I'm not trying to insinuate that making things "not boring" and simplifying is in any way easy.…

> to have a simplified, straightforward experience in one instance and not the other is a huge source of frustration

I fail to see how "simplified" and "bland" relate to each other here in opposing ways. Leaflets to join a gym and tax forms don't really have to share the same design goals, and anything beyond a landing page on the "home" interwebs tends to gravitate towards a more unified, "boring" appearance, too (standard desktop GUIs for the longest time, facebook, almost anything by Google -- or, well, this site).

It would seem that having less colorful, unique splashes would actually run contrary to that, culminating in the abominations we've seen done with Flash in the past (or game GUIs, "unique" and/or cross-platform mobile app). Or the dreaded skeuomorphims we're just growing out of.

Could you give any examples of common webapps that would be the right way to approach e.g. a corporate CRM?

Re: Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

#62

Post by gfodor »

languagehacker wrote: post #52

Lots of nice work put into this, but I think some of the fundamental architectural assumptions are a little regressive. For instance, it looks like the boilerplate expects a lot of server-side template rendering, or minimal dynamic rendering on the front-end. Also, using jQuery and event-oriented JS in general is nice and stable and easy to grok, but in my opinion not forward-looking. I think the front-end world is g…

One man's "forward looking" is another man's "swept up in the latest trends." This framework seems to be pushing back against trends on the design front, so unsurprising it's pushing back on trends in the architecture front as well.

Re: Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

#63

Post by mhd »

tracker1 wrote: post #33
mhd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to work in that progressive sector of the enterprise, mine is still full of Swing, extjs and even Tk.

extjs isn't so bad.. My only complaints would be all the themes look a bit dated (and squashed on a large display), and I don't like OO paradigms in JS so much and ext is really heavy OO.

I'm generally putting extjs in the swing/MFC/Qt corner, no the angular/dojo/react/etc one, and yes, compared to that in a client/server setup it's not that bad -- at least it suggest a more sane communication setup and is only godawful when it comes to deploying, not outright hostile.

But quite often, some corporations would've fared better keeping their old mainframe terminal apps. With mobile apps, both setups don't really fare too well, although with the recent influx of Windows tablets and styluses, I fear that we could be regressing to shoddy Visual Basic-ish apps with homegrown comm/sync protocols again.

Re: Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

#67

Post by rrrx3 »

forgottenpass wrote: post #50
rrrx3 wrote: post #5

I'd like to understand more about the rationale that led you down the path of creating this. In my years in enterprise, user and market research has driven the push to create UIs that are more compelling, that make users feel more at home and comfortable (as they would be with mobile and consumer products), while maintaining a more narrow focus on tasks instead of providing a generic one-size fits all paradigm. This…

How can something be both compelling and at home/comfortable? If you're using the definition of compelling that you appear to be, they're concepts on opposite sides of the same spectrum. This framework stands in contrast to that, making things dull and boring. Dull and boring sounds UI to me exactly like at home and comfortable. Compelling sounds like the day to day trend hopping that we see all the time. The frantic…

"Compelling" refers to aesthetics and feeling of reward when using the application - "This is an attractive application that makes me feel good when i use it", while "at home & comfortable" means supporting the perpetual novice, allowing easy correction of errors, and lessening complexity - "I can make changes confidently without fear of fucking up because I know what all of these controls do and how they work." The two ideas are most certainly not at odds with each other. To put it bluntly, this framework does neither. It's a plain "business skin" on some well-worn but generally unusable interaction patterns, as I mentioned in an earlier comment.

Re: Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

#68

Post by rrrx3 »

mhd wrote: post #61
rrrx3 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The research shows that there should be a greater convergence because of the cognitive dissonance that occurs otherwise. It is an inarguable fact that people are using software in all aspects of their lives - to have a simplified, straightforward experience in one instance and not the other is a huge source of frustration. I'm not trying to insinuate that making things "not boring" and simplifying is in any way easy.…

> to have a simplified, straightforward experience in one instance and not the other is a huge source of frustration I fail to see how "simplified" and "bland" relate to each other here in opposing ways. Leaflets to join a gym and tax forms don't really have to share the same design goals, and anything beyond a landing page on the "home" interwebs tends to gravitate towards a more unified, "boring" appearance, too (s…

Honestly, Google Docs is a prime example of how to accurately build a cross-functional Business vs Personal needs application.

Re: Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

#69

Post by nnnnni »

teknologist wrote: post #39

I feel internal business applications can be visually appealing too. People have to look at these things all day, so why are we so quick to assert that these people are practically robots who can't appreciate comfortable interfaces when we design and build boring apps? Life can look good all over. Don't succumb to this "business is serious and should therefore be dull and boring" stuff.

I think that it looks clean and like it'd be easy to look at all day than something that's flashy.

Re: Show HN: Front-end framework optimized for internal apps

#70

Post by ricardobeat »

JelteF wrote: post #20

I think it's strange that they use Morris.js[1] for their graphs on the main pages, but don't mention it anywhere. [1] https://morrisjs.github.io/morris.js/

The graphs don't appear to be part of the framework, just example content.
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