Reading stuff: How to pick the right Cross Platform Solution

ilan

Expert
Licensed User
Longtime User
Nice to see B4X up there wtih the big boys! Although I had to point out B4X also does Desktop and Web ;)

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-pick-right-cross-platform-solution-shai-almog

i am looking at the demos of his "cross platform dev tool" and they look really poor. (https://www.codenameone.com/demos.html)
so b4x is way at the top!

i think that the showcase of b4x.com is not very attractive. i would put more effort on it because this is the FACE of the whole concept.
the first page i check when i am on a website that offers dev tools is the "showcase" page.
 
Last edited:

alwaysbusy

Expert
Licensed User
Longtime User
cross platform dev tool
Yes, the problem with those '100%' portable tools is that, in general, all they can make is 'glorified' calculators. Once you go into specialized development of an app, there is always some part thet needs to be specific to feel natural. Stuff B4X excels in when it comes to making it as easy as possible for the programmer.

And I'm with you that the 'what can be made showcase' is what attracts people, especially young ones.
 

Peter Simpson

Expert
Licensed User
Longtime User
i think that the showcase of b4x.com is not very attractive.

To tell you the truth @ilan I was thinking the exact same thing only on Monday, I've made a note to contact @Erel this weekend with a couple of redesign ideas. But while I'm on here I must say that I do agree with you 110%. I too look at the showcase page (if one is available) to see what's people have created, and imo the B4X showcase page DOES NOT do B4X any justice at all. I personally like to see the best of the best products when I look at showcase product pages (I find that to be extremely motivational when selecting a product). If this means just showing off only the top 10 looking apps/projects then that to me is way better than a mix of 25+ good products.

B4X now comprises of 4 great products. I would personally have one page that splits into 4 short showcase sections (all on the same page). In each product showcase section I would have 10 of the best looking apps/products for each B4A, B4i and B4J, and 5+ for B4R products (which is still a relatively new product).

I know criticism is not easy to take, I seriously like this community but the showcase page imo does not exactly show off B4X in the way that both you and I know it can and should do. The showcase page should be about visually showing off and boasting about what your products can do and showing off the best of the best visual designs and creations. I know that visually some of the creations look absolutely awesome, get those creation on the page, show off what B4X can create.

No sorry I personally don't like the right hand side vertical scroll bar. I know that I will not win over any friends with my harsh comments but I don't really care about that, I just want to see B4X grow and prosper.

The 'postchat video' on the showcase page no longer works and should be removed.
 

sorex

Expert
Licensed User
Longtime User
Don't worry, Peter.

I posted simular thoughts as yours when the redesign of the site happend (2 years ago?).

But it's still there :)

I guess that method was taken due to responsive reasons altho there are better methods for it.

It would make more sense to split it up by product and category pages (as you suggested aswell) then you can list more (just icon + a small overlay note or click to more info page)

like

Android showcase page
>Apps
[app1][app2][app3][app4]
[app5][app6][app7][app8]

>Games
[app1][app2][app3][app4]
[app5][app6][app7][app8]

IOS showcase page
>Apps
[app1][app2][app3][app4]
[app5][app6][app7][app8]

>Games
[app1][app2][app3][app4]
[app5][app6][app7][app8]

which is easy to do with the grid systems these days and easy to fall back to 2x4 for smaller displays.

like it is now when you want to do game programming you only get to see 8 games or so which kind of narrows the possibilities.

I think it's even worse for B4i,B4J and B4R while there are some good projects there aswell there's only listed 1 or 2 of them.

Good showcases makes people buy things so I guess it's worth to spend a day or 2 on it.
 
Top