Introducing Grafpad!
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Charles Law
Jul 27, 2011, 6:40:44 PM7/27/11
to web2py-users
Hi everyone,
My friend and I have been using Pyjamas and web2py for over a year
now, and we've decided to release our app. Our app is called Grafpad
(http://www.grafpad.com) and it is a vector-based drawing application
that allows users to hand-draw shapes then converts them to legible
shapes on the fly. It also allows users to cut out or merge new shapes
using existing ones. The motivation for it was to make drawing on
computer more like drawing on a piece of paper but with the benefit of
creating legible presentations. The front-end is written in Pyjamas,
while the back-end is web2py. Web2py manages all the user accounts/
settings, access control, and protects all our exciting algorithms
behind JSONRPC calls.
The app is still an alpha version, so be gentle with it :). It should
run on all browsers except earlier versions of IE (IE9 should work).
There are still some annoying browser-related bugs: for example,
zooming in in Chrome/Safari causes weird screen issues (started
happening after they implemented hardware acceleration).
One of the reasons we've released Grafpad is to participate in the
Lean Startup Challenge (http://www.leanstartupchallenge.com/). The
point of the challenge is to train startups to use agile development
principles in order to achieve the best customer fit and avoid making
a product nobody wants. As part of the challenge we would appreciate
any feedback from those interested in trying it. We really want to
understand how to improve Grafpad so it becomes an intuitive app. My
friend, who is the CEO, will be posting our weekly progress on his
blog as well, for those interested in reading it: http://pyjsblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
My friend and I have been using Pyjamas and web2py for over a year
now, and we've decided to release our app. Our app is called Grafpad
(http://www.grafpad.com) and it is a vector-based drawing application
that allows users to hand-draw shapes then converts them to legible
shapes on the fly. It also allows users to cut out or merge new shapes
using existing ones. The motivation for it was to make drawing on
computer more like drawing on a piece of paper but with the benefit of
creating legible presentations. The front-end is written in Pyjamas,
while the back-end is web2py. Web2py manages all the user accounts/
settings, access control, and protects all our exciting algorithms
behind JSONRPC calls.
The app is still an alpha version, so be gentle with it :). It should
run on all browsers except earlier versions of IE (IE9 should work).
There are still some annoying browser-related bugs: for example,
zooming in in Chrome/Safari causes weird screen issues (started
happening after they implemented hardware acceleration).
One of the reasons we've released Grafpad is to participate in the
Lean Startup Challenge (http://www.leanstartupchallenge.com/). The
point of the challenge is to train startups to use agile development
principles in order to achieve the best customer fit and avoid making
a product nobody wants. As part of the challenge we would appreciate
any feedback from those interested in trying it. We really want to
understand how to improve Grafpad so it becomes an intuitive app. My
friend, who is the CEO, will be posting our weekly progress on his
blog as well, for those interested in reading it: http://pyjsblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
Massimo Di Pierro
Jul 27, 2011, 6:54:17 PM7/27/11
to web2py-users
really cool!
Anthony
Jul 27, 2011, 7:03:21 PM7/27/11
to web...@googlegroups.com
Furqan Rauf
Jul 28, 2011, 12:30:02 AM7/28/11
to web...@googlegroups.com
amazing application congratulation guys
--
-Furqan Rauf
Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first. -Prophet Muhammad
dederocks
Jul 28, 2011, 2:46:55 AM7/28/11
to web...@googlegroups.com
Hi Charles,
Great application!
Some bugs, though -- or I haven't understood how to use Grafpad properly:
- Using FF, I tried to fill a form with color -- but it doesn't work. Right click on the form, select properties & choose a color -- nothing happens.
- Also, I can't send you a feedback! Is it because I used it in demo mode?
Thanks again,
Andre
Great application!
Some bugs, though -- or I haven't understood how to use Grafpad properly:
- Using FF, I tried to fill a form with color -- but it doesn't work. Right click on the form, select properties & choose a color -- nothing happens.
- Also, I can't send you a feedback! Is it because I used it in demo mode?
Thanks again,
Andre
Ross Peoples
Jul 28, 2011, 8:37:59 AM7/28/11
to web...@googlegroups.com
Very cool!
Will
Jul 28, 2011, 9:01:10 AM7/28/11
to web2py-users
This is SO COOL :)
By the way, if you go to grafpad.com, then click on your logo , you
get an error:
"Server Error!
Sorry, there was an error with our server. Please continue to our
homepage. "( homepage is a link)
and clicking the link gets you to a 404 error ( that you drew with
grafpag i guess ? it's made out of shapes ) telling you to report this
to you if you got there by a valid link.
I think i only followed valid links but i'll tell you to be sure.
By the way, if you go to grafpad.com, then click on your logo , you
get an error:
"Server Error!
Sorry, there was an error with our server. Please continue to our
homepage. "( homepage is a link)
and clicking the link gets you to a 404 error ( that you drew with
grafpag i guess ? it's made out of shapes ) telling you to report this
to you if you got there by a valid link.
I think i only followed valid links but i'll tell you to be sure.
Mengu
Jul 28, 2011, 9:37:50 AM7/28/11
to web2py-users
not only cool, fucking awesome! congrats dude!
mikech
Jul 28, 2011, 4:42:10 PM7/28/11
to web...@googlegroups.com
Very nice!
Michele Comitini
Jul 28, 2011, 5:41:29 PM7/28/11
to web...@googlegroups.com
Charles,
That is excellent! I think that using pyjamas was a great choice of yours!
I also use it and I suggest it to anyone here that needs complex
applications since web2py supports it very well.
mic
2011/7/28 Charles Law <charl...@gmail.com>:
Charles Law
Jul 28, 2011, 8:32:56 PM7/28/11
to web2py-users
Thanks everyone! My friend and I will be looking into all those bugs
and getting them fixed over the next couple days.
We really appreciate the feedback and bug reports. Keep it coming!
On Jul 28, 5:41 pm, Michele Comitini <michele.comit...@gmail.com>
wrote:
and getting them fixed over the next couple days.
We really appreciate the feedback and bug reports. Keep it coming!
On Jul 28, 5:41 pm, Michele Comitini <michele.comit...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Charles,
>
> That is excellent! I think that using pyjamas was a great choice of yours!
>
> I also use it and I suggest it to anyone here that needs complex
> applications since web2py supports it very well.
>
> mic
>
> 2011/7/28 Charles Law <charles....@gmail.com>:
>
> That is excellent! I think that using pyjamas was a great choice of yours!
>
> I also use it and I suggest it to anyone here that needs complex
> applications since web2py supports it very well.
>
> mic
>
Alex Tsepkov
Jul 29, 2011, 2:26:54 PM7/29/11
to web2py-users
Hey guys,
I'm the friend who's been working on this with Charles. The decision
to use Pyjamas came from desire to use the same language for the front-
end and back-end. It has already paid off, we originally implemented
both the clipping and recognition algorithms in the front-end, but
later decided to move them to the back-end to reduce the front-end
size/load-time. As an added bonus, having them on the back-end
prevents copy-cats from reusing our code (not that we're against open-
sourcing parts of it eventually, just not yet). We apologize for the
bugs you guys mentioned, we're tweaking things as we go (part of being
Agile). dederocks, for the color issue you mentioned, it has the
default opacity at 0%, I get caught off-guard by that myself quite a
bit too. Charles has just suggested that I switch to 100% opacity
automatically if user picks a color when opacity is at 0%.
Also, we're curious to know what you guys think about the interface.
We've already got some feedback that the icons should be larger and
some buttons moved around. We don't want to clutter the app with
complicated menus, so we're aiming to maximize usability while
minimizing the number of buttons. It's likely that the interface/menus
will change a ton over the next few weeks based on user feedback.
Also, for those of you using Macs, use Ctrl+Click instead of right-
click.
Thanks
I'm the friend who's been working on this with Charles. The decision
to use Pyjamas came from desire to use the same language for the front-
end and back-end. It has already paid off, we originally implemented
both the clipping and recognition algorithms in the front-end, but
later decided to move them to the back-end to reduce the front-end
size/load-time. As an added bonus, having them on the back-end
prevents copy-cats from reusing our code (not that we're against open-
sourcing parts of it eventually, just not yet). We apologize for the
bugs you guys mentioned, we're tweaking things as we go (part of being
Agile). dederocks, for the color issue you mentioned, it has the
default opacity at 0%, I get caught off-guard by that myself quite a
bit too. Charles has just suggested that I switch to 100% opacity
automatically if user picks a color when opacity is at 0%.
Also, we're curious to know what you guys think about the interface.
We've already got some feedback that the icons should be larger and
some buttons moved around. We don't want to clutter the app with
complicated menus, so we're aiming to maximize usability while
minimizing the number of buttons. It's likely that the interface/menus
will change a ton over the next few weeks based on user feedback.
Also, for those of you using Macs, use Ctrl+Click instead of right-
click.
Thanks
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