

Show HN: Macaw - The code-savvy web design tool - thomasxiii
http://macaw.co/peek

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jentulman
This looks really nice as a sketch tool for getting those initial layout ideas
in browser quickly.

Off the top of my head....

How much more complex do you envisage it becoming? Not that I think it
actually needs much more, if anything, to be a useful tool.

Any thoughts on it becoming aware of existing frameworks like bootstrap or
foundation?

Does it save each 'page' as an individual file or save multiple 'pages' as a
'project'? I see a tab bar in the demo video so I'm guessing multi page
projects.

What sort of price are you thinking? Seeing the demo video I think I'd pay
$10-$15 without blinking, but this is just a first reaction rough feeling
estimate, it might change with more info / a bit of a play.

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thomasxiii
We have a lot of features already built that the video doesn't highlight:

1\. Setting arbitrary breakpoints for responsive design, which will export all
the necessary media queries. 2\. Reusable components – save them to your
library, pull them out on any page, edit them in one spot and update all
instances. 3\. Reusable styles - save a style, apply it anywhere, edit it in
one spot… you get the idea. 4\. UI Kits - load in the wireframing kit to
easily drag and drop flexible components to design with. Those components can
then be morphed into other elements so you don't have to throw away your
wireframes. 5\. Multiple pages - comes in really handy with components. save a
header, apply it to multiple pages and manage it in one spot. 6\.
Interactivity - add an interaction class to an element and Macaw will auto-
generate variables needed for interactivity. 7\. Style guides - Macaw will
abstract all the useful bits of your document (grids, swatches, components,
etc) and generate a style guide for quick access to the styles.

…and more :)

We're not sure what we'll charge just yet, but it will be a fixed price.

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wizzzzzy
This looks great - especially as a tool to get some initial page styling down
before moving on to integrating more advanced functionality. I see from the
video that there is a degree of user control over the css / class names etc
which is nice although I'm just wondering how much using Macaw will sacrifice
in terms of personal preferences towards CSS structure or methodologies such
as BEM or OOCSS?

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thomasxiii
I really wanted a design tool that was fluid like Photoshop but thought like a
developer. I left my job at MIT, partnered with a good friend and started
building it. It's been seven months and we're proud to finally demo it
publicly. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

