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Pixate - beautiful native mobile apps with CSS

kickstarter.com

31–40 of 58 posts

Re: Pixate - beautiful native mobile apps with CSS

#31
post #7

Feedback on the Listr (ugh, that name) re-imagining: the little icons weren't particularly informative in the original, but at least there was some text to try and explain. Now I get to guess what each icon means, plus instead of everything fitting on one screen, you apparently must scroll down to select e.g. "Projects". By the way, what is up with every project talking about "beautiful"? "Beautiful Javascript", "Bea…

My exact thoughts on the "re-imagination". Drop-shadows on disabled-looking and misappropriated icons that wouldn't even have made sense on the original had there not been labels for them.

Re: Pixate - beautiful native mobile apps with CSS

#34
here's a message I sent on Kickstarter:

I'm very impressed by your demo, but I'm also skeptical about performance, how well this integrates into existing apps, and what happens to my apps built on your framework if you go out of business or get acquired.

Along the same lines, I'd love to be able to pitch this to my clients, but I can't in good conscience without knowing that they're never going to get screwed in the process.

Can you address these concerns? I'd love to back your project, but I need to know I'm not going to be left holding the bag in 12-18 months.

Thanks! Aaron

Re: Pixate - beautiful native mobile apps with CSS

#35
Currently there are very few styling options for iOS and Android app dev. That results in an incredible amount of grunt work that really shouldn't be necessary. At least if you make apps commercially, a quality app that solves this would be huge. It looks like they are adding a lot of features beyond styling, and even moving beyond mobile... so hey, no question, sign me up : ).

Re: Pixate - beautiful native mobile apps with CSS

#37
post #4

I'm not sure I absorbed the message as it was supposed to be put across. The video showed a (seemingly) quite advanced prototype, and they expect to be able to ship before the end of the year. So what is the $200k for? Seemingly to "make it happen" but it appears to be happening already, so it's kickstarting a hefty salary? If I did somehow miss the point and this seems like a cynical response then obviously I apolog…

"I just saw that it's retailing for $299. It all feels rather cynical." Huh? For a $99 pledge, you get the $299 license when it launches, it looks like. This looks like every other product kickstarter, which essentially are saying, "We've invested considerable time and money. We're committed. We'd love to have you pitch in to help accelerate us and get us over the finish line. In exchange, your pledges entitle you to…

Why don't they just create the product and have me pay for it? The company is already funded, why should I go ahead and pre-order something now, knowing it might not work as advertised when it's ready. I'd much rather pay $300 when the product is on the shelf, when I can evaluate the pro's and con's. Sure, if this was a project that hasn't been started and looked very promising, I would give it some money, for a chance to get something great. In this case, it seems I don't have to risk, but rather just have to wait.

Re: Pixate - beautiful native mobile apps with CSS

#40

I doubt they will reach $200k, but this is sorely needed for iOS apps. If they had launched this without kickstarter, and at a reasonable price, I bet developers would be flocking to it.

Needed? It looks to me like a terrible idea not very well implemented. It's easier (and more WYSIWYG) to style controls in Interface Builder using the properties. It's probably just as easy to write NIBs by hand.
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