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Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

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Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#231

Post by dang »

joshdavham wrote: post #227
dang wrote: post #203

Related ongoing thread: I switched from Htmx to Datastar - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45536000 - Oct 2025 (223 comments) There is also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45537372 , which I'm trying to figure out what to do with (bear with me... edit: ok, I found a place to merge it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45536535 ) Previously: Datastar: Web Framework for the Future? - https://news.ycombinat…

Thanks dang! Question also: do you somehow keep a "mental catalogue" of related articles or do you use some tool to find these?

Mostly I just use HN Search but in a sped-up way that relies on a browser extension.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44861185 (and the other stuff linked from there) has more details

Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#232

Post by jopicornell »

sudodevnull wrote: post #174
chuckadams wrote: post #164

Datastar's ideas look wonderful, and I've thought of adopting it myself, but hobbling the open source version to not compete with pro this early on sounds like a fast ticket to a hard fork. It's not like they command a vast ecosystem that would be reluctant to switch. [edit: Seems like the model with an open core and some closed plugins could work out fine. If not, everyone's got options. Wishing success for both the…

Please do! I highly recommend doing that, PLEASE FORK

I have already seen a few of your responses to criticism coming up toxic like this. They don't need to fork it, but some of your potential customers could. They are explaining to you their opinions, and in HN, this is very valuable.

Most of us have some decision at companies, which are your real customers, and criticism like I've seen you respond boldly and badly, is the criticism I think you should review and take into account.

Personally, I like everything of the pro, except the features that you decided to exclude. Doesn't seem pro features, but features you ramdomly decided not to open source them, and that could be ok. But instead of doing it like this, maybe put a restrictive license so that companies with more than 5 people have to pay.

But I think you should focus on premium/pro features that are really a plus, like your debugger, the bundler, etc. And find features that aren't common and give a plus.

And it is an opinion which you may disagree with, but if you respond to me, don't do it like that, because to me, it is not professional and I'll tend to avoid doing business with people that respond like that

Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#234

Post by jopicornell »

nchmy wrote: post #172
chuckadams wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were I so inclined, I'd make them compatible with non-pro. And more likely just take my fork in whatever direction I cared to, just keeping the wire format compatible (and likely negotiable). But it's a project best left for people actually using Datastar, not curious onlookers like me.

Given the simplicity of doing such a fork, and that no one has done it yet, perhaps this is a non-issue?

Same as my other comment, it seems like you are involved in the project. Stop responding like this is facebook or reddit. Here we offer our expertise with all good intentions. They haven't said it is a simple task, you are assuming that they said that.

If you can't take constructive criticism or even respond to opinions you disagree, then it is better to not respond at all, because it is bad PR.

I understand that maintaining a project like this is hard, that you need to be compensated and that open source corporate usage tends to be disgraceful. But that's not what they are telling you. They are just shating their opinion, which is part of your potential customer opinions.

Share the rationale behind paywalling common features. Give us, if you have to respond, why you hide the pro features off the homepage, etc. Instead of this kind of childish reaction that adds nothing

Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#235

Post by replwoacause »

didip wrote: post #215

Anything that’s using server side rendering gets my vote. But isn’t HTMX+Websocket basically the same as datastar?

Mine too. I’ve been playing with this lately

https://www.zjax.dev/

And I like what the author is doing

Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#236

Post by replwoacause »

nchmy wrote: post #146
basro wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, I'm curious about the web component framework and css framework you mentioned. I was unable to find info about it, could you link me?

THeres not much on the site yet, as he's still baking it. https://data-star.dev/reference/datastar_pro#stellar-css But theres rocket and stellar channels in their discord where there's sneak peeks. VERY cool stuff https://discord.gg/bnRNgZjgPh

Too bad it will only be available as a Pro feature. I’m not against supporting hard work by any means but framing it as an alternative to free options set me up for a bit of disappointment. But I agree with everything else you said that this seems very impressive.

Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#237

Post by esperent »

JSR_FDED wrote: post #223

Datastar is run by some principled (and opinionated) guys who are immensely generous with their time and supportive to newcomers. What’s getting lost in the whole kerfufflw over the Pro version is that this is NOT a monetization strategy. There is no intent to hook you - in fact they go out of their way to tell your you don’t need it. And the company is a registered non-profit. Based on their own extensive experience…

    data-animate - Animates element attributes over time.

    data-on-resize - Runs an expression on element resize.
    
    data-scroll-into-view - Scrolls an element into view.
If these are footguns then they can't be designed very well. I also don't think you can say that they'd only appeal to a small group.

I don't have any problem with them charging for whatever they want to. But let's not make up excuses.

Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#239

Post by contrast »

JSR_FDED wrote: post #223

Datastar is run by some principled (and opinionated) guys who are immensely generous with their time and supportive to newcomers. What’s getting lost in the whole kerfufflw over the Pro version is that this is NOT a monetization strategy. There is no intent to hook you - in fact they go out of their way to tell your you don’t need it. And the company is a registered non-profit. Based on their own extensive experience…

Copy-to-clipboard is a support heavy feature?

Do you really think Datastar is of such ridiculously bad quality that even simple features require a lot of support to get working?

Re: Datastar: Lightweight hypermedia framework for building interactive web apps

#240

Post by contrast »

nchmy wrote: post #100
Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #86

Not sure why the community is being so hostile like use phoenix or it charges or its hostile Like no its not. This is a genuinely cool project and most parts of it is open source and it can run on any language and its interesting that they are looking at a way so that they can fund the development of it in the process as well Its their project and they are the only ones entitled to really push things the way they wan…

This is the only valid and reasonable criticism I've seen here so far, kudos to you. 299 is, indeed, inaccessible for many people. But, the devs live in places where things cost more, so its also a tiny price compared to the relative value that they provide. I do think that some sort of geo-relative pricing structure would be worth looking into, but how does one even implement something like that? Is there something…

I pay for a lot of software eg I used Screen Studio a couple of times, liked it, dropped a couple hundred bucks for it. Good work from a solo dev.

Datastar have basic functionality in the pro license. Basic UX capabilities like animation and copy to clipboard.

The devs aren’t “very clear” that most people should never need the license. That’s just PR. They’ve picked a bunch of features that even a teenage hobbyist might want to use as part of a trivial application. There’s no relationship between the locked features and their value or complexity.

I would avoid any web framework that might get in my face like this, at some random moment working on a pet project to try out a new thing, with an invoice demanding payment if I want to use random features.

“Perhaps this is a problem that you might like to address yourself?”

No I’m good, thanks. The Datastar community needs some work, going by the attitude of their defenders in this thread. Someone else is saying the way they charge money isn’t a monetization strategy. It’s nonsense.

Nothing wrong with charging money. Just be honest about it, take it in the chin when people don’t want to buy, and ideally have a pricing strategy that makes sense.

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