Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#21

Post by Mononokay » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:11 PM UTC

akx wrote: post #5

This is not the sort of repo I would present to the public. * There are no instructions on how to actually run the thing. * There is no requirements.txt or similar, so I have no idea which version of dependencies I'd need. * The repository is strewn with unnecessary files (.pyc/.ds_store/.so...), random-looking images with names like "plswork.png", a HTML file from some "starter kit"... * I can't seem to find the Rea…

Stop. Just because you refuse to do basic troubleshooting doesn't mean this person shouldn't have showed it off.

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#22

Post by GijsjanB » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:15 PM UTC

I think this is great. I see a future where designers can draw and create an interactive prototype. Anything beyond that is, my (educated) guess, long way off. Anybody hoping this will remove the need for designers or front end devs will be disappointed.

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#23

Post by mcbutterbunz » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:18 PM UTC

nebulous1 wrote: post #13

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure I see any advantage over dragging movable/resizable components from a toolbar, but there are several obvious disadvantages.

What if you could sketch your UI with a stencil, paper, and pencil. Then take a picture of it and have it translated into native components?

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#24

Post by karanchahal » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:19 PM UTC

akx wrote: post #5

This is not the sort of repo I would present to the public. * There are no instructions on how to actually run the thing. * There is no requirements.txt or similar, so I have no idea which version of dependencies I'd need. * The repository is strewn with unnecessary files (.pyc/.ds_store/.so...), random-looking images with names like "plswork.png", a HTML file from some "starter kit"... * I can't seem to find the Rea…

Hello ! Thank you for your comments, it is true that this repository is not in ideal shape. I shall work on making this much more user friendly by tomorrow. I had no idea that this would be seen by this many people. The react frontend is currently not in this repo, I shall add that along with documentation soon :) Thank you for your comments and your review.

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#25

Post by jfolkins » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

mcbutterbunz wrote: post #23

nebulous1 wrote: post #13

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure I see any advantage over dragging movable/resizable components from a toolbar, but there are several obvious disadvantages.

What if you could sketch your UI with a stencil, paper, and pencil. Then take a picture of it and have it translated into native components?

Now that is a super interesting idea. Create a flow scheme too so you can process transitions?

flow:success f1:s1->f1:s2->f1:s3

flow:error f1:e1->f1:e2

edit: another thought is that this concept could encourage people in your org who struggle with wireframe technology to express their ideas. Generationally and across culture, smartphone use is now accepted. People also know how to draw on pencil and paper. Now all you are asking them is a final DSL to express their thoughts. Lower barrier?

edit2: there is also something to be said for having someone step through their wireframe and flow control by taking pictures. It may take the abstract and create something tangible as they can logically piece their work together with actual pieces of paper?

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#26

Post by rglover » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

This is a fun idea! Congrats on getting it working.

It may not seem like much right now, but the fundamental idea behind this sort of stuff is the future, especially for front-end code.

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#27

Post by taeric » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

mcbutterbunz wrote: post #23

nebulous1 wrote: post #13

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure I see any advantage over dragging movable/resizable components from a toolbar, but there are several obvious disadvantages.

What if you could sketch your UI with a stencil, paper, and pencil. Then take a picture of it and have it translated into native components?

Odds are high, mine would look worse. I'm not exactly an artist.

Unless you mean just sketch using graph paper and translating coordinates. Not sure why I need a camera for that. :(

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#28

Post by alangpierce » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:36 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #15

senthil_rajasek wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the readme, "This is not a prodution worthy piece of software,it is only meant for demo purposes"

It’s not that the code is not production ready. It’s more about first impressions. There are some really fundamental issues with the presentation. The first thing you do when starting a new git repo is create your .gitignore. I’m also not a Pythonista and I’ve only been working with Python for about a year, but including required packages in the requirements.txt is like Python 102.

I think it's probably best to interpret it as something like a blog post presenting an idea than an actual usable project, and maybe in its current state it should have just been a blog post.

Certainly there's a lot to be improved in terms of git hygiene and publishing an easy-to-try-out project, but it seems a bit excessive to say that the author shouldn't have posted it at all.

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#29

Post by mcbutterbunz » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:37 PM UTC

taeric wrote: post #27

mcbutterbunz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you could sketch your UI with a stencil, paper, and pencil. Then take a picture of it and have it translated into native components?

Odds are high, mine would look worse. I'm not exactly an artist. Unless you mean just sketch using graph paper and translating coordinates. Not sure why I need a camera for that. :(

I was thinking of using something like this: https://www.uistencils.com/products/website-stencil-kit

Re: Show HN: Don't code your UI, draw it

#30

Post by vogt » Sun, Nov 18, 2018, 5:38 PM UTC

GijsjanB wrote: post #22

I think this is great. I see a future where designers can draw and create an interactive prototype. Anything beyond that is, my (educated) guess, long way off. Anybody hoping this will remove the need for designers or front end devs will be disappointed.

>I think this is great. I see a future where designers can draw and create an interactive prototype.

We are already there with Framer X and competitors pending launch in the near future. There is a learning curve that most designers are not super comfortable with yet, but I expect that will improve quickly. We also are limited currently to React for Framer X but I think opening it up to other front-end frameworks is on the horizon. Exciting times!