Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative • Hacker News Board

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#181

Post by fakedang » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 8:31 AM UTC

somery wrote: post #11

Hi everyone, my name is Alex and I'm the creator of DocuSeal. I was not happy with the existing mainstream document signing solutions so I decided to create an open-source alternative. I've been working on this project since the middle of May and here is what the tool can do so far: - PDF form fields builder - 10 field types available (Signature/Date/File/Checkbox etc) - Multiple submitters per document - Automated e…

> DocuSeal can be self-hosted on-premises or used in the Cloud for free.

Charge something for the cloud product. If you feel your product is good, then don't give it away for free. Your product charges will help sustain future development down the road.

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#182

Post by sandGorgon » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 9:06 AM UTC

somery wrote: post #98

sandGorgon wrote: post #86

any chance you want to include docsend functionality ? it is VERY incremental to what you are doing. And a bunch of us would totally pay for it.

can you please elaborate what exactly from docsend you'd love to see available in docuseal?

"who saw my document and how much time" on a page level. thats basically the only incremental value of docsend over docuseal. most other features overlap.

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#183

Post by lomase » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 9:10 AM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #55

dtx1 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not entirely true, cryptographic signatures exist. For example the EU eIDAS Law allows Advanced Cryptographic Signatures to basically just be PGP Signed Emails

Which unfortunately nobody uses because non-cryptographic signatures (such as Docusign or this but hosted by an independent third-party) are considered good enough in practice. Hell, nobody even has a smartcard reader, and as far as I know none of the eID cards have contactless capability that phones (who all have NFC readers nowadays) can use. I wish smartcards took off and computers included readers as standard. Th…

I can sign documents with my goverment ID card, I use my phone NFC as card reader in my computer with an goverment app, it is kind of clunky but it works.

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#184

Post by sandGorgon » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 10:36 AM UTC

one more point i want to mention - if u intend this to be used for genuine document signing, you may want to switch to a .com domain and do a registry lock[1]. I mean these are legal documents at the end of the day.

If u ever want to do enterprise contracts, they will insist on this. Might as well do it now, while ur still early.

registry lock is only possible for a limited set of TLD AFAIK.

https://www.nameshield.com/en/cybersecurity/registry-lock/

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#185

Post by jjfoooo4 » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

jazzyjackson wrote: post #9

reisr3 wrote: post #5

What is the bar for a "legally binding digital signature"? Is this a very complicated topic - or is it quite simple? I can sign a PDF with OSX Preview for free. I can pay a bunch of money to sign with Docusign. Both produce a PDF with a digital image of my signature. I assume both documents constitute a legally binding agreement, so long as I actually preformed the digital signature. What justification do the e-signa…

> What justification do the e-signature SaaS companies have for their exorbitant prices? They will defend their digital signature in court. I was shocked to find these "click here to sign" contracts manage to do it all without an ounce of cryptography, but the fact is lawyers don't need cold hard math, they need a warm body to be a subject matter expert to explain to a jury that unless you're claiming someone else ha…

They would need the warm body to explain the cold hard math anyways

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#186

Post by Semaphor » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 4:21 PM UTC

somery wrote: post #11

Hi everyone, my name is Alex and I'm the creator of DocuSeal. I was not happy with the existing mainstream document signing solutions so I decided to create an open-source alternative. I've been working on this project since the middle of May and here is what the tool can do so far: - PDF form fields builder - 10 field types available (Signature/Date/File/Checkbox etc) - Multiple submitters per document - Automated e…

It's not perfect for a single person just using it for themselves (a lot of workflows seems very company/team oriented), but it's still better than nothing which is what I had before. Thank you for open sourcing it, this will absolutely help me :)

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#187

Post by mycall » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 5:40 PM UTC

somery wrote: post #149

btown wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is amazing work, and this space desperately needs an open-source solution! The signing experience could use some polish, but it's well on its way. A few things: clicking a signature field immediately opens a file upload despite the very functional draw-your-signature canvas. Focusing to type into a field scrolls the page not so the field is in view, but so it's at the top of the viewport, which prevents the read…

Thanks for the feedback! All your UI suggestions/fixes make sense and will definitely be brought into the the tool soon! Also I like the idea of using some 'fake' legal document for the demo. Regarding the iframe - i've been thinking about creating an npm package for better integration with the host app - but maybe giving an option to use iframe should be available as well for companies that don't have developers to…

iframes generators are great so IT departments can hand off the html to their web support vendors (it is just a blob of text to some IT teams).

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#188

Post by Canada » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 5:43 PM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #71

Canada wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DocuSign doesn't really do anything to reasonably guarantee that it was any particular person who signed the PDF. Not that it really matters. If there was something worth suing over then usually there will be plenty of other evidence as to who signed the agreement. Really the only thing that DocuSign does is timestamp the actions on the document. In order to get that a self hosted implementation would need some kind…

Do you know what DocuSign is doing on the backend, what logs they're keeping and data they're tracking?

I know that I can sign things on a brand new device without making an account. They can log what any web site can log. None of it really proves anything, except as other commenters pointed out - if I sign tons of stuff with the same browser/session, with an account I made, or if I used some premium ID verification they offer. (which I've never done)

My point that it doesn't really matter that much. If I DocuSigned some contract, delivered work described in the contract, maybe got paid for some of that, and then later some dispute comes up.. at that point we're arguing about terms or other facts.. Neither party is going to be in any position to argue "oh I never DocuSigned that agreement" because all of the other work and communication and transactions are enough to prove that's not true.

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#189

Post by btown » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

mycall wrote: post #187

somery wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback! All your UI suggestions/fixes make sense and will definitely be brought into the the tool soon! Also I like the idea of using some 'fake' legal document for the demo. Regarding the iframe - i've been thinking about creating an npm package for better integration with the host app - but maybe giving an option to use iframe should be available as well for companies that don't have developers to…

iframes generators are great so IT departments can hand off the html to their web support vendors (it is just a blob of text to some IT teams).

Not to mention making this system usable by folks who haven't ever used modern JS tooling, but who are trying to string together no-code/low-code tools/form builders/Wordpress plugins to automate their workflows and be able to do more creative things with their time!

Re: Docuseal: Open-source DocuSign alternative

#190

Post by logiczilla » Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 6:55 PM UTC

somery wrote: post #11

Hi everyone, my name is Alex and I'm the creator of DocuSeal. I was not happy with the existing mainstream document signing solutions so I decided to create an open-source alternative. I've been working on this project since the middle of May and here is what the tool can do so far: - PDF form fields builder - 10 field types available (Signature/Date/File/Checkbox etc) - Multiple submitters per document - Automated e…

I love the fact that this exists, however my major concern is that because this is self-hosted, in the event of a dispute, the other party can claim that I forged the document. In such a scenario, how would I ever prove that I didn't?