Slightly unrelated, but anyone know why they put chalkboards in their offices and not whiteboards?
37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#22Seems to me like a free version of 37signal's iPad app Draft. Much simplier idea but still awesome.
> Much simplier idea but still awesome. Why is this "awesome"? I don't have an iPad, so I haven't tried it first hand, but it seems to be a simple drawing tool disguised as chalk instead of a solid line. They're a dime a dozen. I went back and re-checked it out to ensure that I didn't miss anything. This would certainly have been more noteworthy if it was collaborative in real time amongst multiple iPads (e.g. etherp…
Its awesome because its a neat little ipad webapp, its free and it took 3 days. Its not the Sistine chapel or anything but personally i like little things like this.
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#23Seems like a remake of their Draft app with a chalky UI. To really make a mobile web app be cool, it's still gotta work on the web. Otherwise, it's not cool. I'm making that a rule right now. Visiting a URL that says I have to be on an iPad is not cool. It's like saying I need to install a plugin that costs $500.
Its still a work in progress, but check out my project http://blotjot.com Its a collaborative whiteboard that works in any browser that supports canvas, including mobile safari on the iPhone and iPad. Runs on node.js + socket.io Example: http://blotjot.com/heyhn
This is pretty neat, but you should make it so that if you click, you create a small dot. Right now it looks like you only render when the mouse moves, but not on the initial mouse down event. (tested with latest safari and chrome).
I've been working on a similar idea with canvas, node.js and socket.io - it's amazing how many people are taking these same technologies and solving similar problems.
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#24Slightly unrelated, but anyone know why they put chalkboards in their offices and not whiteboards?
See http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662465/for-a-company-that-sells... and find the part starting '"I can't stand whiteboards," says Fried.'
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#25Seems like a remake of their Draft app with a chalky UI. To really make a mobile web app be cool, it's still gotta work on the web. Otherwise, it's not cool. I'm making that a rule right now. Visiting a URL that says I have to be on an iPad is not cool. It's like saying I need to install a plugin that costs $500.
I have to agree, especially since it’s pretty easy to make this kind of app work in modern desktop browsers too.
Here’s a preview for a drawing app I made this summer for the iPad and iPhone that also works fine on the desktop in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox: http://stuff.vandervossen.net/temporary/sketch.html
On the iPad it supports up to 11 touch points (don’t ask) and it has some pretty neat curve smoothing to deal with the rather low resolution of the touch events compared to a native app.
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#26If you're wondering if this still works in a non-iPad browser... it doesn't. I was curious if I could still draw with the mouse.
I was hoping to swoop in with a "User Agent Switcher to the rescue!" message. However: switching user agents works in Firefox but the app layout looks broken [1] and it doesn't do anything; and switching user agents doesn't seem to work in Chrome. [1] http://postimage.org/image/1z21v9nhg/
The events are touch-specific. Would be pretty easy to add in support for mouse events too, but they've clearly no immediate interest in that.
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#27Seems like a remake of their Draft app with a chalky UI. To really make a mobile web app be cool, it's still gotta work on the web. Otherwise, it's not cool. I'm making that a rule right now. Visiting a URL that says I have to be on an iPad is not cool. It's like saying I need to install a plugin that costs $500.
I understand where you're coming from, but touch changes how you interact with a device. I personally wouldn't want people judging my work based on their experience dealing with an interface I never designed for. Everything about the project screams fast and easy, and I'm cool with people doing fast and easy things for fun that don't work on all platforms. edited to add - and I don't own an iPad.
I disagree for two reasons:
1) Chalk is a paint app that uses touch (finger painting you might say). We've had paint apps that use mice for as long as I can remember (which is the Apple IIC). The translation between dragging your finger on a surface and clicking a mouse and moving it across the screen is very similar.
2) I wrote a little tutorial on this thread that shows how easy it would be to add mouse event support using the exact same jQuery event binding they are using for the touch events.
I actually suspect now that making the app iPad only is just to get more attention for 37Signals. There isn't a compelling technical reason for doing that other than marketing ploy.
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#28Seems like a remake of their Draft app with a chalky UI. To really make a mobile web app be cool, it's still gotta work on the web. Otherwise, it's not cool. I'm making that a rule right now. Visiting a URL that says I have to be on an iPad is not cool. It's like saying I need to install a plugin that costs $500.
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#29Seems like a remake of their Draft app with a chalky UI. To really make a mobile web app be cool, it's still gotta work on the web. Otherwise, it's not cool. I'm making that a rule right now. Visiting a URL that says I have to be on an iPad is not cool. It's like saying I need to install a plugin that costs $500.
Agreed, this is exactly like the old "you need Netscape 3.7.5.1 to view this page", except this time you need to shell out $500 for a whole new device.
Re: 37signals' Chalk: a fun little browser-based app for iPad
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand where you're coming from, but touch changes how you interact with a device. I personally wouldn't want people judging my work based on their experience dealing with an interface I never designed for. Everything about the project screams fast and easy, and I'm cool with people doing fast and easy things for fun that don't work on all platforms. edited to add - and I don't own an iPad.
I disagree for two reasons: 1) Chalk is a paint app that uses touch (finger painting you might say). We've had paint apps that use mice for as long as I can remember (which is the Apple IIC). The translation between dragging your finger on a surface and clicking a mouse and moving it across the screen is very similar. 2) I wrote a little tutorial on this thread that shows how easy it would be to add mouse event suppo…
"I actually suspect now that making the app iPad only is just to get more attention for 37Signals. There isn't a compelling technical reason for doing that other than marketing ploy."
Cynical. There's no ploy here, there's no big picture plan here re: releasing this just for the iPad. It was just easier. For a proof of concept, easy was the goal.
A couple of guys spent a few days messing around and this is what came out. We're really happy with it so we figured we'd share it with everyone else too.
We just went with the iPad because it was a lot easier to build it for a specific use case. We knew the exact dimensions, for example. We didn't have to think about how it would scale if the browser was wider or narrower. We could put everything exactly where we wanted it. It just works all the time since the iPad browser size is the same all the time.
We also didn't think it would be that fun to use with a mouse. Finger painting is more fun.