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Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

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Re: Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

#11

Post by jimmyechan »

twism wrote: post #6

why the internal moniker ...what stops this from being "external" facing?

I think it requires a lot more UI components, more flexible layouts, and customization options to be able to build something externally facing. Building for end-users, especially on the consumer side, tends to require a lot of flexibility on all 3 aspects. Our product could handle it, but the resulting apps will feel quite limited.

For example, one of the limitations is that we have a highly opinionated app layout, with a data (table view) on the left, and a sidebar on the right to perform actions. Only a small fraction of all external apps have this layout (e.g. database lookup tools, CRMs, data editing tools) but on the other hand, almost all internal apps look this way.

Re: Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

#13

Post by djangelic »

jstummbillig wrote: post #8
twism wrote: post #6

why the internal moniker ...what stops this from being "external" facing?

I am so confused about this too. retool, tooljet, budibase - why is everyone doing this? Best I can figure out is that no one has found a pricing structure that works otherwise, which would be rather sad if true.

I assumed this was because it’s internal devs that are actively looking for platforms to build on, while external devs might already have stacks they prefer to work on due to how it interacts with their security postures. Pure speculation, but it’s been my anecdotal experience.

Re: Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

#14

Post by ayazhan »

slig wrote: post #7

Congrats on launching! > a backend API for app/component definitions hosted by us to simplify pushing feature updates Any plans to open-source that part as well?

frankly we're new to open source. and technically we're not really open source. we wanted to take advantage of the self hosted nature of data processing worker, which are safety, extensibility, and developer trust. that's why the worker is under the source-available model.

as we grow and learn, if we get interest from the community to contribute, we'll definitely consider opening more of the codebase.

Re: Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

#16

Post by jimmyechan »

jstummbillig wrote: post #8
twism wrote: post #6

why the internal moniker ...what stops this from being "external" facing?

I am so confused about this too. retool, tooljet, budibase - why is everyone doing this? Best I can figure out is that no one has found a pricing structure that works otherwise, which would be rather sad if true.

It's just how we try to narrow down the uses cases that the product would be better suited for. I'd love to come up with a better name for it. At the end of the day, I think we're all just different approaches to a similar problem/use case

Re: Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

#17

Post by karl11 »

jstummbillig wrote: post #8
twism wrote: post #6

why the internal moniker ...what stops this from being "external" facing?

I am so confused about this too. retool, tooljet, budibase - why is everyone doing this? Best I can figure out is that no one has found a pricing structure that works otherwise, which would be rather sad if true.

It's because every small business has this problem and need, and there are a lot of small businesses. But selling technology to small businesses is extremely hard.

Re: Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

#19

Post by throwaway81523 »

I've done plenty of internal web apps with Python's old cgi module and it's really about the simplest approach. Too bad the cgi module has recently been removed from Python due to some weird neurosis about underused modules. It's still possible to side-load it from someplace though.
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