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Monodraw: ASCII art editor for the Mac

monodraw.helftone.com

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Re: Monodraw: ASCII art editor for the Mac

#31

Post by sudobash1 »

jshier wrote: post #8

Unfortunately in minimal maintenance mode for the last 3 years. https://blog.helftone.com/monodraw-maintenance-mode/ Still works well though.

An implicit assumption in software seems to be that for it to stay relevant, it must be perpetually evolving. But there is something to be said for deciding a piece of software has reached it's intended potential and simply maintaining it.

Granted, it sounds like the author feels like there are more meaningful things to add or change, but that doesn't mean the software is any less relevant than it was 3 years back.

Re: Monodraw: ASCII art editor for the Mac

#35

Post by rbanffy »

whoisjuan wrote: post #28
jibbers wrote: post #11

What an amazingly polished app! It's refreshing to see a new app feel perfectly at home on macOS. $10 to support these folks is worth it.

This app is not new...I have used Monodraw for as long as I can remember.

I wonder if it's old enough to compile against GNUStep...

Re: Monodraw: ASCII art editor for the Mac

#38

Post by jacobr1 »

ajford wrote: post #9
GekkePrutser wrote: post #2

This looks really cool. Well done! And no electron. Will definitely try it out

I get the hate that Electron gets for it's weight and overhead, but this is a perfect example of why Electron has value. This app has no dependency on native OS for anything beyond writing data. It doesn't need to compile heavy code bases, it doesn't need fast GPU or other access. It could have very well been an electron app, and it would have the benefit of being widely available on many platforms. I'd love to be ab…

This is why Qt or Flutter are interesting.

Re: Monodraw: ASCII art editor for the Mac

#39

Post by Zababa »

JaggerJo wrote: post #14
ajford wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the hate that Electron gets for it's weight and overhead, but this is a perfect example of why Electron has value. This app has no dependency on native OS for anything beyond writing data. It doesn't need to compile heavy code bases, it doesn't need fast GPU or other access. It could have very well been an electron app, and it would have the benefit of being widely available on many platforms. I'd love to be ab…

It would not be possible to do this in electron. To have the same great native feeling UI you’d need to use AppKit - not HTML. Don’t get me started at the usual shortcuts and general platform behavior most electron apps get wrong.

The insistance on native feeling UI and shortcuts is something I only see from Mac users. I think the app would work perfectly well in Electron but would just attract the usual complaints from Mac users.

Re: Monodraw: ASCII art editor for the Mac

#40

Post by ajford »

JaggerJo wrote: post #14
ajford wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the hate that Electron gets for it's weight and overhead, but this is a perfect example of why Electron has value. This app has no dependency on native OS for anything beyond writing data. It doesn't need to compile heavy code bases, it doesn't need fast GPU or other access. It could have very well been an electron app, and it would have the benefit of being widely available on many platforms. I'd love to be ab…

It would not be possible to do this in electron. To have the same great native feeling UI you’d need to use AppKit - not HTML. Don’t get me started at the usual shortcuts and general platform behavior most electron apps get wrong.

I'd be interested to hear as to why you couldn't achieve the functionality of this app in Electron.

I agree with you that it's almost impossible to get a native UI feel in electron, but that's not always the first priority.

If the end goal of the application is to present a custom interface for drawing on a monospace grid for ASCII art, I'm not sure I see the argument that a native UI is necessary over any cross-platform kit like QT or even an html based UI. I totally agree on shortcuts being a problem. Dealing with those cross-platform can be a headache when sufficient care is not being taken. Especially from an outsider to the platform.

As a long-time linux user, most of the interactions on OSX feel wrong to me, but I know it's me that's the problem. If I were to write shortcuts for the OSX platform, I'm sure I'd get most of them wrong. Conversely, if an OSX developer was writing shortcuts for a linux or windows platform, I'm sure they'd face the same issue. It really benefits to have a platform expert you can consult for testing.

I'm not trying to eschew the need and benefits of native apps here, I was trying to point out the fact that the large amount of hate for Electron (and similar web UI on desktop solutions) have their place.

Heck, this entire app could have been a web app. I'm sure a few out there exist to do very similar things.

There's dozens of ways to accomplish things in the wonderful field that is software development, and the whole "this tech is bad" cargo-cult is more a disservice than anything. There are pros and cons to every decision that goes into an application, and taking a stance against one method without considering the use cases and how it could benefit or hinder runs the risk of loosing out on promising tech or excluding people from using your project.

I've seen Monodraw a few times over the years, and I've lamented the fact that I haven't been able to use it, which is what drew me to make my original comment.

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