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Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

polypane.app

101–110 of 141 posts

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#101
post #97

I just spent several long days implementing my first modern CSS responsive web design, learning flexboxes and grids and what-can-I-use along the way. I currently have three different browser windows and two device emulators open across two monitors. So what I'm saying is, I have an appreciation for how this app could probably have saved me a lot of trouble if I'd known about it last week.

You basically reproduced the product by opening a couple of browser instances, right? What would polypane do for you?

Maybe I am not getting it. I am probably not getting it.

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#102
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that when people usually talk about paid browsers, they talk about separate web engines not chromium forks. If this will help with the battle against Google's dominance.

Dominance comes from owning the product (the browser), it didn't come from the browser engine.

If dominance wasn't at least enhanced or supported by owning the browser engine, Google wouldn't be doing Chromium.

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#103
post #6

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!

You have the Google logo on your landing page above the fold - what's the connection?

That was the first thing I noticed as well. OP can you answer?

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#104
post #97

I just spent several long days implementing my first modern CSS responsive web design, learning flexboxes and grids and what-can-I-use along the way. I currently have three different browser windows and two device emulators open across two monitors. So what I'm saying is, I have an appreciation for how this app could probably have saved me a lot of trouble if I'd known about it last week.

You basically reproduced the product by opening a couple of browser instances, right? What would polypane do for you? Maybe I am not getting it. I am probably not getting it.

polypane lets you see everything happen simultaneously, which is way less tedious than just like refreshing and changing your viewport and whotnot for however many permutations you're testing, is my understanding. as a general example if you make an inline CSS change in a browser tab that generally only affects the one you're currently in.

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#105
post #30

I 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.

Maybe it could work similar to how Bitwig licenses work – you buy a license with a year of updates and it's yours – after the year expires you can download binaries for the latest version you're entitled to. Later you can buy access to the current version with an another year of updates (at a lower price) when you've decided that they've added something new you want.

Interestingly, this didn't work for Jetbrains. They found people often skipped a year and decided they wanted the "missing" revenue. There answer is to sell the version you "own" as of the date they process your order. You're allowed a full year of updates. However, if you don't continue the subscription then your version automatically rolls back to the version as of your purchase. You lose all the fixes and updates you've been using during the year.

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#106

I read the website, but I still don't get what value it's offering over Chrome? Better viewport sizing?

Here's a comment from the creator with a host of things that are mostly not available in Chrome: There's a huge list of things Polypane emulates beyond the screen size. For devices: - user agent - reported platform - device pixel ratio - rendering mode (mobile rendering and desktop rendering respond differently depending on your viewport meta tag) - default input device - orientation APIs Beyond that it can also emul…

But chrome already supports all of that?

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#107
post #97

I just spent several long days implementing my first modern CSS responsive web design, learning flexboxes and grids and what-can-I-use along the way. I currently have three different browser windows and two device emulators open across two monitors. So what I'm saying is, I have an appreciation for how this app could probably have saved me a lot of trouble if I'd known about it last week.

You basically reproduced the product by opening a couple of browser instances, right? What would polypane do for you? Maybe I am not getting it. I am probably not getting it.

As a purpose-built tool, it improves on the experience of having multiple windows open. While the headline feature is keeping them all in sync, for my particular app, that's not as big a deal (though it's pretty cool that it will even do that for stuff like tweaking CSS styles in the inspector).

I've been playing around with it for a few minutes and I think what I'm really appreciating is that it's filled with dev tools of all kinds and it's really optimized for working on web sites rather than browsing. It can automatically open panes based on CSS breakpoints, and it has presets for many devices. Some of it is things I had in Chrome, but better, like rulers and guides and grids. Even the way screenshots are implemented shows they put thought into saving time and hassle over a thing you could of course do before with a few more steps. And it's not all related to layout: it shows meta tags and icons and previews for social media sharing.

Anyway, it's pretty cool IMO and I'll probably end up buying it if I keep working on web apps. The only downside I've noticed is that it feels a little sluggish, even when not heavily loaded down (e.g. just 3 panes). I'm using this monster M2 Ultra Mac Studio so it's a bit unusual for a browser to lag.

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#108
post #13

A 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

They are making lots of money with a very useful and nice-looking tool.

What's your excuse?

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#109
post #6

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!

You have the Google logo on your landing page above the fold - what's the connection?

Those are customers. Just like for example on netlify.com.

I had a title stating that for the longest time, then I noticed nearly all other landing pages simply have it without title and just a clean list of logos, so I changed it to that as well.

Re: Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

#110

I really wish the pricing model offered some sort of lifetime purchase. This seems great but I don’t think I could justify the monthly/yearly cost.

I would be OK with payed upgrades but a subscription is a big no-no.

I explain my reasoning elsewhere in the thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43472234
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