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Show HN: Use Easel to style and build Bootstrap interfaces

easel.io

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Re: Show HN: Use Easel to style and build Bootstrap interfaces

#2

Post by mrchess »

It's a cool piece of engineering, but feels feature bloated to me. I am genuinely confused with the interface.

My only feedback would be to make it simpler by removing or hiding some of the advanced functionality. Shoving options in my face is just so overwhelming. Like, what am I even looking at here? http://i.imgur.com/baoGV.png

The canvas isn't really in focus. For some reason a textarea is highlighted in red, I have all these options on the right... so many numbers. I can edit position (isn't part of the beauty of bootstrap a locked grid system?), anyway, you get the idea.

Re: Show HN: Use Easel to style and build Bootstrap interfaces

#4

Post by mcolyer »

mrchess wrote: post #2

It's a cool piece of engineering, but feels feature bloated to me. I am genuinely confused with the interface. My only feedback would be to make it simpler by removing or hiding some of the advanced functionality. Shoving options in my face is just so overwhelming. Like, what am I even looking at here? http://i.imgur.com/baoGV.png The canvas isn't really in focus. For some reason a textarea is highlighted in red, I h…

Thanks for the feedback mrchess. It's true that there are many options that appear all at once. Do you think having a tour that highlighted specific next actions would address some of your concerns?

Re: Show HN: Use Easel to style and build Bootstrap interfaces

#6

Post by hnwh »

mrchess wrote: post #2

It's a cool piece of engineering, but feels feature bloated to me. I am genuinely confused with the interface. My only feedback would be to make it simpler by removing or hiding some of the advanced functionality. Shoving options in my face is just so overwhelming. Like, what am I even looking at here? http://i.imgur.com/baoGV.png The canvas isn't really in focus. For some reason a textarea is highlighted in red, I h…

agreed..i really want this to work, but just got mind-wtf'd when loading the page..

Re: Show HN: Use Easel to style and build Bootstrap interfaces

#7

Post by mrchess »

mcolyer wrote: post #4
mrchess wrote: post #2

It's a cool piece of engineering, but feels feature bloated to me. I am genuinely confused with the interface. My only feedback would be to make it simpler by removing or hiding some of the advanced functionality. Shoving options in my face is just so overwhelming. Like, what am I even looking at here? http://i.imgur.com/baoGV.png The canvas isn't really in focus. For some reason a textarea is highlighted in red, I h…

Thanks for the feedback mrchess. It's true that there are many options that appear all at once. Do you think having a tour that highlighted specific next actions would address some of your concerns?

I don't think a tutorial would help. The feeling is similar is that of being thrown into Photoshop. Here's a couple initial thoughts after playing for 30 minutes:

1. Not sure what monitor size you are using, but the right menu blends with the editing area. Would be nice to add a shadow to give me clarity on the division of the right menu.

2. Resize handles on a lot of objects yet I can't resize them.

3. Clicking on the items on the left menu for a preview throws me off. Makes me think that the descriptions are options eg. Page Heading (I tried to drag some of them out a few times).

4. How do I zoom out?

I guess in the context of a Bootstrap toolkit, less is more. I just want to be able to drag stuff and have it all "work". I don't really care about the extra options because the padding, typography, is already taken care of with Bootstrap. That being said I'd want Advanced features to be opt-in.

My 2c.

Re: Show HN: Use Easel to style and build Bootstrap interfaces

#9

Post by mrgreenfur »

Pretty awesome app. The interface is a little confusing and it's annoying to see a welcome note on every visit.

Consider adding tips to give new users a quick overview of how it works? Something like what tutorialize.me offers would be really useful. (I'm a co-founder of tutorialize.me).

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