Hey, I'm Kilian, the creator and solo developer of Polypane. Exciting to see this on the homepage again. Happy to answer any questions folks have!
I like your pricing model.
Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
31–40 of 141 posts
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#32The question is that it seems to emulate many things, but what doesn't it emulate well?
It looks like it's built off chromium, so I'm assuming it wouldn't be able to show an issue that only appears in safari or maybe Mozilla?
Perhaps this is in the docs.
edit: It's in the FAQ at the bottom. Still, beyond the actual browser engine, are there other known limitations?
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#33I totally get why you do subscription. I totally get why I don't do subscription. Is there some sort of middle ground? Say, minimum purchase cost is the same price as six months, but it keeps on working afterwards sans updates. When the dev realizes that such a tool is only 80% effective unless it is totally updated, they can subscribe.
Why don't you do subscription?
I've heard plenty of arguments on the 'financial tools to manage them are bad' (forget about them, hard to cancel) but few against 'paying money proportional to how much I use the product'. As a general concept that seems reasonable to me - if you use a product for 10 years, it's fair to pay more than somebody who uses it for a couple of months.
In a world where finance improves (more subs via Apple Pay et al, more banks like Revolut that show & allow unilaterally blocking any given recurring charge) would you still avoid them?
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#34I've been using it for a while now. It is an excellent tool in the tool belt, making me a much better developer and more productive, a lot less messing around.
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#35The question is that it seems to emulate many things, but what doesn't it emulate well? It looks like it's built off chromium, so I'm assuming it wouldn't be able to show an issue that only appears in safari or maybe Mozilla? Perhaps this is in the docs. edit: It's in the FAQ at the bottom. Still, beyond the actual browser engine, are there other known limitations?
This feels like a lay-up, but here you go :) https://polypane.app/docs/emulation/#emulation-or-simulation
Polypane doesn't simulate the specific rendering engine of other browsers, it just pretends to be another browser (which is what emulation is) so you can test that the code you wrote for those browsers (for example, a polyfill) responds well. You'll still need to test in those real browsers to check against their rendering bugs or support gaps. (but something like Polypane portal[1] can make that step much easier)
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#36Seems quite similar to https://sizzy.co/
True! I’d love to hear from someone who tried out both and settled on one.
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
The top comment from the last time this was submitted pointed to an open source (AGPLv3) implementation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29340887 > but I don't know how they compare feature-wise
Wow this is great! > Responsively App is built on top of Electron and uses Chromium as its rendering engine. Now I want an app that shows Firefox, Chrome, and Safari side-by-side (besides manually opening them all side-by-side of course).
How could one make an app that could host those multiple engines? I've heard that Firefox doesn't embed well, maybe WebKit would be easier? What about Servo or the engine from LadyBird? Is it even possible?
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#38A browser with a subscription. I have no words. People try to make money out of anything. And they succeed in this. The world is an insane place, really.
> People try to make money out of anything.
So...software developers who mimic the real world. If I walk by a fruit stand, a grocery store, or a booth at a fair selling homemade crafts; I don't expect anything to be free. It is the exception when they are handing out free samples.
In the software world, too many expect everything in the store to be free (as in beer). Each software product represents real effort on someone's part, so it is not insane to expect them to want some compensation for that.
Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
#39I totally get why you do subscription. I totally get why I don't do subscription. Is there some sort of middle ground? Say, minimum purchase cost is the same price as six months, but it keeps on working afterwards sans updates. When the dev realizes that such a tool is only 80% effective unless it is totally updated, they can subscribe.
I liked the old "pay for updates" model. Nowadays, that seems less viable because security updates are so important[0]. I think the middle ground model would be something like security updates are free, feature updates cost money. Something like pay $x for version n+1 or a discounted rate for a subscription. Sounds like a bit of a hassle on the logistics/release engineering side, though. That would need to be handled…
You admit this, but yeah, it's a big headache that has its own trade-offs.
By design, you'll have users spread across any number of versions. And you have to decide how far back you're going to issue updates. And instead of having nice in-app updates and a policy of "just upgrade to the latest version", you have a system that's complicated for you and your users. And you have to decide if you're okay letting users use (by design) releases with issues that have long been fixed.
I can see how Adobe and Jetbrains have the manpower to do it, but a solo dev or a small team, you should spend your time building the dang product rather than appeasing people who don't think your product is worth $9/mo.