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Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

insomnia.rest

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Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#111

Post by eloisant »

imron wrote: post #57
cavemanklaus wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add that when I see no Pricing page it causes me suspicion, what's the catch? how am I being dataminded? I'd at the least explain somewhere on the page how pricing works or how this is free and funded.

Yep. Developers need to earn money. If I don't see a pricing page I start to wonder about how they are making their money, and more importantly if they have a sustainable business model. I don't want to rely on a tool that then goes out of business.

Yes, developers need to earn money. I know, I'm one (like probably most users of this software). Sometimes developers release open source software, earn money with a different job and the project doesn't go out of business (because it's not a business). This is something I was used to explain in the 90's, I didn't expect to have to explain it again in 2016.

No back to "businesses". When I see a free version and a paid version, and I know the difference, I can decide whether I want to use the free version, pay for the paid version or use neither.

However when I see "everything free for now but paid version later, the difference between the 2 unclear", it worries me that there will be some bait-and-switch, and the free version will be gimped or will get ads.

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#112

Post by vfaronov »

Since everybody's piling on their favorite alternatives, I have to mention HTTP Prompt [1]. It's obviously in another league than Insomnia and such, but I find that it strikes a sweet spot: much more convenient than curl or HTTPie, yet not a big mouse-driven GUI tool.

[1] https://github.com/eliangcs/http-prompt

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#113

Post by vsakos »

danellis wrote: post #86
gschier wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the question! Insomnia is an Electron app built with with a mix of React and Elm. As an independent developer wanting to reach all platforms, Electron was basically the only option for me. And, as a web developer, it's been a super productive development environment. The goal for Insomnia is to build a REST client that's easy to learn and a joy to use. I looked into other REST clients before starting Insom…

> As an independent developer wanting to reach all platforms, Electron was basically the only option for me. I'm not saying you made the wrong choice, but why do you say that, given the various options for cross-platform development (Qt, Mono, etc)?

I think he meant the only option as a web developer. Maybe he doesn't know C++ and C#, and it's not that easy with a web-oriented mindset to start writing desktop apps in C++ (it's not easy the other way either, I had a friend who after years of programming in Delphi started with the web by absolutely positioning every single HTML element).

When someone asks in which lang should he implement a webapp/SaaS/whatever, the first comment is to use the tech he knows the most. Why so much hate when the same principle is used for desktop app development?

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#114

Post by rasapetter »

This seems great. I used Postman for a while but I never got along with the UI, found it poorly structured and cluttered. While this is obviously still very young, it shows a lot of promise.

Using environment variables in headers or request params was a bit disappointing though. The UI keeps replacing the reference with a copy of the current value when input field is moved out of view. Is this the intended behavior?

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#115

Post by tokenizerrr »

cavemanklaus wrote: post #50
gschier wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great feedback. The app is (and always will be) free so de-prioritizing the pricing page is probably a good idea :)

I'll add that when I see no Pricing page it causes me suspicion, what's the catch? how am I being dataminded? I'd at the least explain somewhere on the page how pricing works or how this is free and funded.

The catch is that it's free and open source? At least that's how I usually interpret it, even though Insomnia doesn't seem to be open source (disappointing).

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#116

Post by joelthelion »

vfaronov wrote: post #112

Since everybody's piling on their favorite alternatives, I have to mention HTTP Prompt [1]. It's obviously in another league than Insomnia and such, but I find that it strikes a sweet spot: much more convenient than curl or HTTPie, yet not a big mouse-driven GUI tool. [1] https://github.com/eliangcs/http-prompt

Pretty cool, but I wonder why it doesn't preserve history by default between sessions.

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#118

Post by imron »

eloisant wrote: post #111
imron wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Developers need to earn money. If I don't see a pricing page I start to wonder about how they are making their money, and more importantly if they have a sustainable business model. I don't want to rely on a tool that then goes out of business.

Yes, developers need to earn money. I know, I'm one (like probably most users of this software). Sometimes developers release open source software, earn money with a different job and the project doesn't go out of business (because it's not a business). This is something I was used to explain in the 90's, I didn't expect to have to explain it again in 2016. No back to "businesses". When I see a free version and a pai…

> This is something I was used to explain in the 90's, I didn't expect to have to explain it again in 2016.

The world, the Internet, and in particular revenue models for software and services have changed significantly since the 90's.

If I land on some project's Github page I'm not going to be looking for pricing.

If I land on the marketing site for an app I'm going to assume it's a business and look for pricing first.

I remember the 90's too. You didn't have half the dark pattern/bait-and-switch/datamining revenue models that are commonly seen these days (and there are enough companies that have left users high and dry at the end of their "incredible journey" that app/business longevity is also a valid concern).

And so now, in 2016 I'm more cynical and one of the first things I want to know when I come across a potentially interesting app/product is how they plan to make money off me.

If it's all open source, great, say it up front. If it's free with various premium options, fine, say it up front. If it's subscription based service, no problem, say it up front.

Just don't hide the pricing page (or the open source branding) from the front of your site, which is the context in which I made my comment.

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#119

Post by arafalov »

dagss wrote: post #110
arafalov wrote: post #54

I keep hoping one of these clients will add IPython/Jupyter style notebook specifically for REST calls. I would love to produce a tutorial that has well formatted URLs with params, bodies, headers and pre-saved results that could also be rerun against local server.

I think you should be able to get pretty far by just writing Python code that uses the API; using requests that should be as readable as anything else? Which brings me to: I just use Python snippets if I want to test a REST API quickly. What am I missing out of by not using these tools?

Yes and no.

If I am writing a tutorial using REST calls, wrapping them in Python syntax is less than effective as a presentation. It also requires Jupiter backend running, which could be a burden to host for a popular multi-user tutorial.

It is something that O'Reilly is experimenting right now with their interactive tutorials, but even for them, it is early days.

Re: Insomnia 3.0 – A simple and beautiful REST API client

#120

Post by mrmondo »

danellis wrote: post #86
gschier wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the question! Insomnia is an Electron app built with with a mix of React and Elm. As an independent developer wanting to reach all platforms, Electron was basically the only option for me. And, as a web developer, it's been a super productive development environment. The goal for Insomnia is to build a REST client that's easy to learn and a joy to use. I looked into other REST clients before starting Insom…

> As an independent developer wanting to reach all platforms, Electron was basically the only option for me. I'm not saying you made the wrong choice, but why do you say that, given the various options for cross-platform development (Qt, Mono, etc)?

heh, yeah I think he meant that as in that's where his experience is. For me it would be 'As a ops engineer, I wouldn't generally host Javascript apps' to spin it around the other way you know?
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