Excited to see where this goes - the team is spot on that
"The current web design process is broken. People use image editing tools for creation, share screenshots/flat exports over email, and spend more time than necessary manually translating the design into a working product."
Certainly the future of application design should be with tools that understand the medium and the process.
> Certainly the future of application design should be with tools that understand the medium and the process.
This. The reason why web-design is very hard to abstract out into a Photoshop-like app is that because non-trivial websites are at their core, a fundamentally different medium than anything that Photoshop-familiar-designers are trained to create.
To treat the transition from visual-sketch to working-website as just some tedious code-work that gets in the way of brilliance and implementation is missing the point...the brilliance IS typically in the code that implements the vision in such a way that the site is maintainable and graceful across different platforms and screensizes.
Great, now it's even easier for people like me with no talent for design to make horrendous UIs.
Edit: For a more helpful comment, they really need some <input type=number> things in there. You now, TSpinEdits (any Delphi users out there?). Number controls.
I've gotta agree on this one. Generally all I can think when I use browser-based design tools is how much faster/easier it would be for me to go into Photoshop or better, the code itself.
I think the biggest flaw in these apps is they start people with either an amateur design or a blank template instead of exposing the grids and guides that define a website (and further define the limitations of web design) right off the bat. Even though it starts as a blank page, I love Alex Maccaw's Stylo (http://styloapp.com/) because the tools are simple and familiar, they don't overburden the page I'm focusing on and it creates smart guides that show up when I've got two elements on the same plane. It's the only one of these apps I've tried that actually extends my creativity and doesn't end up taking me longer to design something I like between clunky UI elements or trying to figure out what everything does.
I've been using it regularly and I find the opposite is true. Right now it's great for generating snippets of styled elements, and I know they are working on making it easier to do much more. I'm really excited about where they are going. Good luck!
We've been using Easel to quickly prototype new designs for Vayable, and we're pretty happy with it. It's way more convenient to send around easel links than mucking with Photoshop files.
Just tried it. Really cool. I have one question though. The option to right click and "Export HTML/CSS" only exports the current selected widget and not the entire grid/layout. That would be awesome if possible :)
Getting the details right on individual CSS elements is one of things that always falls to the back of the priority queue. Easel seems like a fantastic option for quickly polishing up buttons, forms, etc, which adds up to a much better UI over time. Great job guys!
I love it! Some tabs would be awesome, as would multiple background images (just saying that because I'm having trouble with them today, I doubt many people use multiple images)
[+] [-] jenntoda|13 years ago|reply
"The current web design process is broken. People use image editing tools for creation, share screenshots/flat exports over email, and spend more time than necessary manually translating the design into a working product."
Certainly the future of application design should be with tools that understand the medium and the process.
[+] [-] danso|13 years ago|reply
This. The reason why web-design is very hard to abstract out into a Photoshop-like app is that because non-trivial websites are at their core, a fundamentally different medium than anything that Photoshop-familiar-designers are trained to create.
To treat the transition from visual-sketch to working-website as just some tedious code-work that gets in the way of brilliance and implementation is missing the point...the brilliance IS typically in the code that implements the vision in such a way that the site is maintainable and graceful across different platforms and screensizes.
[+] [-] TazeTSchnitzel|13 years ago|reply
Edit: For a more helpful comment, they really need some <input type=number> things in there. You now, TSpinEdits (any Delphi users out there?). Number controls.
[+] [-] mnicole|13 years ago|reply
I think the biggest flaw in these apps is they start people with either an amateur design or a blank template instead of exposing the grids and guides that define a website (and further define the limitations of web design) right off the bat. Even though it starts as a blank page, I love Alex Maccaw's Stylo (http://styloapp.com/) because the tools are simple and familiar, they don't overburden the page I'm focusing on and it creates smart guides that show up when I've got two elements on the same plane. It's the only one of these apps I've tried that actually extends my creativity and doesn't end up taking me longer to design something I like between clunky UI elements or trying to figure out what everything does.
[+] [-] yesimahuman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mirsadm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timr|13 years ago|reply
Congrats to Easel! Keep going!
[+] [-] mcolyer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fredsters_s|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codegeek|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TazeTSchnitzel|13 years ago|reply
Easel aims to be a design tool, I think, to help you in coding and designing sites, but won't do all of the former for you.
[+] [-] nthitz|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kazevedo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrbogle|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tstegart|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] ColinHayhurst|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chermanowicz|13 years ago|reply