Penpot, the Vector Design Web-app Taking On Figma and Canva With FOSS, Hits Beta (penpot.app) 55
"It's Open Source. It's free," says a web page at Penpot.app.
Slashdot reader kxra writes: Penpot is a free-software, web-based vector design platform using .svg as a first-class filetype used as the underlying storage for all designs.
As more design teams around the world move to the convenience of multi-device synchronized and collaborative web apps, this is a welcome respite from proprietary vendor lock-in by the likes of Figma and Canva. Penpot has finally launched as Beta, with competitive features such as a template library that all creators can pull from.
It's created by Kaleidos Open Source, the same team behind the project management tool Taiga for Agile teams which is taking on the likes of JIRA and Confluence with FLOSS.
"Not having a free & open source UX/UI tool that would make devs participate in the design process and bridge the gap between UX/UI and code was a terrible itch for us..." explains the FAQ at Penpot.app. But it also answers the question: why Open Source? Software Technology has the unique advantage, compared to other industries and intellectual property, of having almost zero cost to replicate itself, thus providing a wonderful chance to massively distribute the tools for a more digitally sovereign society. Besides the pure license aspect of it and its legal framework, Open Source fosters more engaging communities where the lines between user and contributor are often blurred...
Penpot requires a browser, that's it. If you want to host your own Penpot instance, that's fine too. We plan to release a native app bundle later this year.
There is a theme here. Universal access. That's why we love to call our product Penpot, there's nothing more personal and yet more universal than a pot full of pens. It's all about choice.
Its GitHub repository already has 5,200 stars and 41 contributors.
Slashdot reader kxra writes: Penpot is a free-software, web-based vector design platform using .svg as a first-class filetype used as the underlying storage for all designs.
As more design teams around the world move to the convenience of multi-device synchronized and collaborative web apps, this is a welcome respite from proprietary vendor lock-in by the likes of Figma and Canva. Penpot has finally launched as Beta, with competitive features such as a template library that all creators can pull from.
It's created by Kaleidos Open Source, the same team behind the project management tool Taiga for Agile teams which is taking on the likes of JIRA and Confluence with FLOSS.
"Not having a free & open source UX/UI tool that would make devs participate in the design process and bridge the gap between UX/UI and code was a terrible itch for us..." explains the FAQ at Penpot.app. But it also answers the question: why Open Source? Software Technology has the unique advantage, compared to other industries and intellectual property, of having almost zero cost to replicate itself, thus providing a wonderful chance to massively distribute the tools for a more digitally sovereign society. Besides the pure license aspect of it and its legal framework, Open Source fosters more engaging communities where the lines between user and contributor are often blurred...
Penpot requires a browser, that's it. If you want to host your own Penpot instance, that's fine too. We plan to release a native app bundle later this year.
There is a theme here. Universal access. That's why we love to call our product Penpot, there's nothing more personal and yet more universal than a pot full of pens. It's all about choice.
Its GitHub repository already has 5,200 stars and 41 contributors.
Re:Hell no (Score:4, Informative)
And for those who think I'm kidding about not letting devs be involved in development of UI, let this be a lesson [imgur.com].
Re:Hell no [under Poe's Law?] (Score:1)
Still can't tell if you're going for Funny. If so, then the problem with pulling my leg is that it just comes off in your hand. I'm quite gullible. At least until I recognize some specific source is just a fount of BS.
So I'm going to disagree on the substance. For example, there are good developers and website designers who deserve the titles, though there are also some dangerous poseurs. You're third "cardinal rule" is harder to refute, though I'd reverse it and say you want the data to be protected even a
Re: (Score:2)
s/are will/are willing/
Perhaps I am losing my motivation to proofread for Slashdot? Or getting spoiled by systems where typos can be fixed?
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Well yeah, it's "pull", not "hold"
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Never give users admin rights.
As an admin, I've found it's way less problematic if you just don't give users accounts. :-)
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As an admin, I've found it's way less problematic if you just don't give users accounts. :-)
I bet your users love you lol
Yup, all zero of them! :-)
More seriously, there was a situation once where some users wanted accounts on our production system and I said (probably) no, but asked them why they wanted accounts. They said they needed them to review some Oracle / PeopleSoft logs. I asked for some details and said I'd create a CGI script so they could select and view the logs using their browsers. They literally said, "You can do that?" (sigh) I said sure and had it up and running for them later that day (I had written
Re: (Score:2)
Users love to propose solutions, but they tend to keep the actual problem a closely guarded secret.
Re:Hell no (Score:4, Insightful)
Mod you +1 funny.
Or if you are serious, you mean we should instead let so-called UX experts dictate design with great wonders like hamburger menus, undiscoverable elements like hyperlinks that aren't underlined, endlessly-scrolling web pages, making everything a phone interface, even on desktops. That sort of thing? Seems to me software has been quite ruined by this fascination with "user experience" which in the end never quite seems to be what users actually expect or want, but just what the UX experts feel we should accept and want. That and endlessly catering to mythical "new users" rather than listening to the people who actually use the product. Gnome fell into that last trap.
Re: (Score:2)
HCI is an actual field of engineering.
If you let artists design bridges then they fall down too.
Re: Hell no (Score:2)
Come on, that's like blaming scientists for homeopathic medicine. Problem is we need actual UX experts
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Ow ow ow (Score:4, Insightful)
All the buzzwords are hurting my head. Please make it stop!
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"digitally sovereign society" is a new one. I can't figure out what they're getting at. I'm guessing they wanted something like "democratic" but not.
Re: (Score:2)
You are either with us or against us. A "1" or a "0". No room for discussion or variation
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And then you get revolutionaries agitating for two bits, or even more - and where would that nightmare end? Sign bits and other horrors, no doubt. Just say No.
Re: (Score:2)
It sounds like a phrase you’d hear from a cryptocurrency zealot - or one of those guys who buys an abandoned oil rig, pitches a tent and announces they are now a citizen of New Nerdsland.
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Ah yes, like the new company towns they're building in the US. So digitally sovereign as in "I'm the sovereign and you're not." Like old-style absolute monarchy.
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Well, as I said above, I'm to be blamed for most of the texts on penpot's FAQ section, and this comment of yours hurt a bit ;) because I can assure you, I'm not such crypto zealot!
I think the problem is not the language itself but how often certain groups in OSS-related activities have abused it or claimed "the real meaning" behind certain phrases.
Penpot is a very ambitious project that has the unique advantage of uniting hackers with an almost naive approach to technology and society with designers that ha
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I was the one who wrote most of the texts there. I felt "democratic" was an abused term these days (unfortunately). Many startups tend to say the want to "democratize" this or that when what they really want is to monetize the commons or create new needs for intermediaries. Internet these days is not exactly what it used to be. I grew up with the 90's Internet and while I'm not nostalgic for the sake of being nostalgic, I do prefer a more free and distributed Internet. The phrase I came up with was "digital
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I apologize for making fun of your copy, but maybe consider starting a new trend where designers use language to communicate clearly, rather than to sound fancy? "Democratic" applied to software was silly when it first started, and now it's overused silly. "Sovereign" is also silly.
On the other hand, you're targeting web designers, and web design is so infused with made up jargon that it makes the business people sound almost human. The jargon puts up barriers though. Maybe that's what you mean? Sovereignty
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It's OK, I think we can change that term, I'm not overly attached to it but I wanted to avoid overused concepts. Since there is a link with active and critical (e)citizenship, "sovereignty" was a nice concept but we could switch it for other phrase, it's not a big deal. Thanks for the feedback!
People really have to stop saying "UX/UI" (Score:5, Informative)
A really ignorant, reductive and factually incorrect phrase.
The UI lives on the screen (for most apps and sites - Siri, f.e. is an exception). The UX lives on the heads of the users, and is created with entirely different work with a different scope.
When you hear someone say "UX/UI", or call the layout of widgets the "UX", remind yourself that the speaker is ignorant, and possibly a marketing asshat.
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Do you ask them to provide a specification for that?
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It has to be "pixel-perfect and responsive".
Who even deals with "pixels" these days when laying out a UI? With the various kinds of scaling options across operating systems and devices it makes no sense.
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I just see it as a Venn diagram with some overlap in the middle. UX is a function of the UI, at least to some degree - how you use the software certainly depends on how it is designed. But certainly there are parts in both that are almost completely disconnected.
a Trap? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
You can download the source code, modify it and host it yourself. How is that not meaningful?
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"It's Open Source. It's free.".. It's "a blow of fresh air!"
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Can't escape the laws of SVG editors (Score:4, Interesting)
The laws of SVG editors: ...
1. It claims to be SVG but exports into a proprietary format
2. Even if it were to export actual SVG, it wouldn't be anything close to idiomatic SVG; tools just use SVG as some kind of render target, not a way of structuring and laying out graphic, for which SVG has several tools
3. It likely has no idea about markers, symbols, SMIL,
4. Chances are, no CSS styling of SVG, or if it exists, it's per element, not per class or according to selectors
etc etc
It's not that hard to make a REAL SVG editor but I haven't seen one yet
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Why not make one then?
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Nice. I like it. (Score:3)
Ton Roosendahl (Founder and lead of blender) does too.
It looks quite sophisticated already, despite still being beta.
UI design tools have been all the craze in the last decade, mostly so non-coders can feel the fun of building UI without always needing to use Photoshop.
I'm with a crew that designs our UIs and screens with Adobe XD, a tool that eats 10gb of memory during ru time and often is a pain to work with. I've resorted to request the screen designs as PDF, so I can view them without freezing my 16gb MB Pro.
This looks like a very neat and useful FOSS tool to replace sketch, xd and others and save some money along the way. Going to check it out in more detail. FOSS 4 the win, yay!
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Spam much? (Score:2)
I like Genolve better ... (Score:2)
email email email (Score:3)
I wanted to give it a spin but it seems like I have to give them my email to even try it out.
Did I miss something?
Re: Did I miss something? (Score:1)
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It looks like, if you want to use the cloud version, you'll need to register for an account, which likely needs an email. That makes sense to me.
Alternatively, it seems that it is possible to download it and use it locally. I don't know if it is possible to do an anonymous "git clone" without telling them who you are.
The preferred download image seems to be Docker, which means that you're essentially duplicating their cloud with a local one. I haven't found out if you can just cook up a LAMP version, for ex
Figma, Canva (Score:2)
Penpot? Why not Ligma?
You had one job ...
Re: (Score:2)
Around here we know who the hell Steve Jobs is.
Re: (Score:2)
I prefer Sugma, the downloadable version of Ligma.
Congratulations Penpot! (Score:3)
I really didn't think it was possible to come up with a worse name for a graphics application than "the GIMP", but you guys proved me wrong! Well done!
Designed to fail (Score:1)
No mention of Inkscape or illistrator (Score:2)
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You're distracted by the talk of SVG. The point isn't to be an industrial graphics editor. SVG is just the export format, which people can then use with Inkscape if they want.
Cloud (Score:2)
Then host a private instance (Score:2)
You can download the server and host a private instance of this application.
Making a web application can prove more convenient to users than making a Windows application and ending up having to serve "Sorry! This application is not yet available for your device" error messages to users of platforms other than Windows/x86-64.
Re: (Score:1)
Exactly. The idea behind Penpot (I'm part of the project) is to give all possible choices. These days this basically means, web based UI and easily deployable private server. That way you can reach nearly any device on Earth meant for UX/UI design and at the same make sure you can host one of the few software dev tools that belong to your software building pipeline that didn't belong to you. Git repos, check, testing frameworks, check, project management, check, all the devops magic, check, linux servers, c