Convert Pies into real world apps
Zohdi Rizvi
As an entrepreneur, designer, our dream is to bring our designs live into the hands of our users (customers). But we designers cannot code, atleast majority. Hence a big shift is happening with the evolution of nocode platforms like Adalo, Fliplet, Appgyver, Bravo etc. But these platforms are merely targeting developers or entrepreneurs who can use their pre built design templates/components and launch their MVP. We are in year 2020 and design expectations of worldwide audience is now quite mature by every day using super awesome apps (in terms of designs and features). Hence these platforms still fail to address the design freedom in their tools.
This is where I think Protopie has got an advantage. It has already built the Figma, Sketch and XD importer. It has already got the powerful interaction/animation design, it has got the complete logic built in.
If Protopie wants to capture the big market ($$$) then it can offer following additional big features which will change the entire landscape:
a) Import your design, map the Figma/Sketch design components with react native/flutter components (coding functionality will remain same but design will look exactly how designer has designed it in Figma or Sketch).
b) Let Designers create a No-SQL database (connect it with Google Drive/Dropbox or AWS for content storage) to save app's data
c) Build the app logic (Ex: When this button gets clicked, do this if this condition is true or else do this...)
d) One click publish to Appstore or Playstore and also allow designers to download the production ready code of apps.
e) Optionally, allow designers to connect third party apps like Airtable, Google Analytics, or any other third party APIs to dynamically push and pull the content.
When these advanced features are live, designers will no longer depend on huge app development investment. This will help them unleash their creativity to the full potential.
Protopie can divide it's offering into two broad plans. One for those designers who only want to Prototype (Ex: $99/ year) and other for those designers who want to import figma/sketch, convert it into react native equivalent, design database and logic and finally publish on appstore (Ex: $249/year)
If you want this, please vote this request and share it with all your design friends!
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Rebeca Caritas
Merged in a post:
Protopie - pivoting to no-code app creation
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Florin Ursu
Guys, I've been working with Protopie for a long time, I've been with you almost from beginning. Where you got until now it's a dream where few start-ups dream about.
Now, I've been working on personal and professional apps for such a long time and played with low-code platforms a lot (framer, webflow, flutterflow etc).
I must say, your API connectivity, the animations and actions logic, the way I can build conditions in Protopie are top notch.
I think the next rational step for you would be to pivot the product into launching production code and help the users to publish apps into ios and play directly. Maybe integrate AppMob and RevenueCat, Supabase. You have the structure, you have the UX. Turn this into a bigger success, because I keep having the thought when working in other low-code solutions" if I could build it like in Protopie..."
Clément Descours
We wait a tool like this... Flutter flow is more on this market than Protopie actually, but i hope one day Protopie take the train to do this !!!
Emanuele Irenei
I strongly agree ! Would be sweet !
Patricia (ProtoPie Team)
Merged in a post:
Native Code Generator / Export
Tony Moura
Generate/export native iOS Swift or Android code that's clean. That can be directly consumed by developers.
Tony Moura
Supernova used to do this and well. No tool closes the gap between design/animation and development.
Anton Bezborody
especially the spring animation params
phng
Do not publish a sirious digital product that is created by WYSIWYG editors. There are countless points like performance optimization, security, browser support, etc. why you should just hire some programmers instead to hope you will see a design tool doing their job some day. You also wouldn't use LEGO to build the next gen Tesla.
Pete Markiewicz
Actually, no code system where the designer doesn't contact code can build an efficient and fast system - machine's are smart enough to translate design to code. The design-to-code tools can't make a complex app that is competitive in the market. You need to have a developer apply efficiencies and strategies that the cross-compilers cannot.
In something like Framer, the UI elements are already code blobs from a code library, so it is easy. Unless ProtoPie was written internally this way, creating an actual app would be very difficult.
What would work better - ProtoPie cranks out an abstract coding framework (e.g. the hierarchy, organization of internal variables, conditionals, etc) that the developer could convert to code. Something better than the lame "stylesheets" requiring programmers re-invent the wheel (like Adobe xD) but less that a true compile to final code.
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Dexter Wang
Pete Markiewicz: Even for Framer the code written by designers is all throwaway code except the Framer Motion values.
I would like to see Protopie's layout engine be based more on the DOM though.
moalerizt
for start i delete my canny account
Zohdi Rizvi
moalerizt: what do you mean? 😊