Great job addressing the pain points that sketch has. I think this has a lot of potential to make a big impact on product design.
However, the kickstarter method seems very odd to me. I have a hard time being willing to spend $100 on a piece of software that I've never used. There's been a number of design tools that have come out recently, which have looked promising but have fallen flat as soon as I tried to integrate them into my workflow (which, btw, all hinges on sketch).
I'm wondering why they're not opening this up for beta, gaining users, working out bugs, getting people to love the tool, and then charging for it? I've not seen someone try to fund software like this before, and personally will be waiting until it's a real product before putting up the cash.
@tomjohndesign They will quickly learn their lesson when no one backs them.... I agree...it should be a free beta that transforms into a pay model once it has proven itself.
Right now they are just selling dreams and rainbows...
@metalhaze They could meet their funding goals, and I hope they do. I'd love to see some new ideas in this space.
Buuuut it really seems like a backwards strategy. I mean, they're competing in a crowded space with some great products, who have user loyalty, robust ecosystems, developer support, tons of community created content, tutorials, a low learning curve, and all of which have free trials.
Not to mention the fact that most of us have already spent the last year or longer migrating our content from photoshop/illustrator/etc over to sketch. Even if this thing is a huge productivity boon, I don't know if I'd be able to justify the time to migrate all of my current work... even if it was free to start with.
Thanks for the hunt, Kevin!
Kevin Lynagh and I started working on Subform over a year ago, frustrated with the limitations of print-based design tooling for building complex UIs. We’ve since talked with hundreds of designers and front-end developers about their design process—and what they wish design tools could do. Subform is the end result of those conversations.
I'm obviously biased, but having access to a true layout engine at design-time has been amazing. It feels like the future. We're excited to get it in everybody's hands.
If you have any questions, just reply---I'll be around today.
@ryanlucas Hey Ryan, I posted this over on Kickstarter as well, but feel free to answer it here instead. I'm really excited that you guys are seeking funding to make Subform a reality, but two questions I have, based on some frustration with other new apps I've tried, are:
1. What's the current support for working with SVGs within Subform?
2. Will Subform be able to work with/import other file formats like .ai or .sketch?
Our team is closely watching Subform. We need to iterate constantly and output HTML or InVision prototypes or wireframes that just can't show what we need them to show - Subform will reduce our design time, let us test/iterate against the output, and ultimately would enable us define the responsive spectrum against viewport sizes and content. I'm rooting for this because I see a huge gap that this realistically fills.
Basedash
Basedash
Subform
Subform
ArtSquare
Subform