No only were there UI inconsistencies, but Safari lags behind chrome with things like the Popover API and the build/codesign/CD ecosystem for Tauri is incredibly scattered.

When I was using it, IAPs were still not really an option for Tauri or at least I could not find any docs or resources about it.

The website uses the default themes for the app which I picked specifically to be easy to look at (I have it open all day).

According to WebAIM[0] it passes so feel free to rip the theme [1] and use it for your next project!

[0] https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/

[1] https://github.com/cvburgess/dexter-www/blob/main/src/index....

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44032875

Points: 5

# Comments: 3

Im pretty happy with it currently, but want to fix a small annoyance where columns can "hijack" horizontal scrolling.

I learned SO MUCH about CSS tools of old and new doing this project. The popover API and anchor positioning in particular was a bit of a beast, as were overflows and scroll areas.

Most of my background has been in native or react-native mobile development where these kinds of issues don't really exist in the same way.

Going back to basics with html + css was humbling and taught me a lot, too.

I got to dust off some old UX skills that haven't been used in a few years.

Huge shoutout to DaisyUI [0] and tailwind for making it really easy to build pretty things.

[0] https://daisyui.com/

This was a grief project. Some people make art when they're soul searching, and making apps has always been a bit of an artistic outlet for me. Earlier this year my mother committed suicide and two weeks later the company I worked for laid off my entire division. After taking some time to grieve and process I started building something just for me, just for fun, just because I wanted to.

Dexter has been a slow project that started as paper sketches at my kitchen table and slowly morphed into a codebase. It allowed me to play with tools I wanted to get better at like Postgres and Typescript while also letting me try (and in some cases fail) experimenting with new-to-me tools like Tailwind, Supabase, Tauri, Electron, and Vite.

Small portions of the app and site were "vibe coded", but 99% is hand-crafted code (not necessarily good code), graphics, and data models. This was meant to be a fun project where I learned things just because I wanted to learn something, not a race to see how fast I could grind out a product.

For an example of "unnecessary but fun", I made each SVG on the marketing site twice with Figma - once in a light theme and again in a dark theme - so if you toggle your OS's dark mode, everything should change, even the images.

A few things about the app:

- Yeah, I know, it's an Electron app. I tried using Tauri and other tools but hit a few snags. The Electron ecosystem was incredibly mature and easy to use in comparison

- The app is open source [0] and so is the marketing site [1]

- Some friends and I have been using it daily for a few months and really enjoy it compared to our old multi-tool workflows

- Dexter is the name of my 12(?) year old husky, hence the dog branding

- There is a pricing widget on the marketing site but the app is currently totally free. I might integrate Stripe soon if (and only if) that feels like a fun project, but the goal isn't to get rich or even turn a profit, it's to have fun and build something genuinely useful that I use every day

There are a bunch of features I would love to add and enhancements I would like to make, and eventually I will. Currently, I pick up a feature just because it sounds fun that day and I put it down when it is no longer fun. It might not be a good business model, but it has been a wonderful antidote to an industry rife with burnout and a personal life that's been a little out of control.

I hope you enjoy it and maybe build something for yourself, just because it sounds fun.

If anyone gives it a try I will be in the comments today and happy to answer any questions!

[0] https://github.com/cvburgess/dexter-app

[1] https://github.com/cvburgess/dexter-www

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43925706

Points: 17

# Comments: 7

Also setting the journal prompts to black would be wonderful - they are hard to see unlike the articles.

I think this version of the internet exists today, it just isn't built in to Google anymore.

Its chromium under the hood but the UX and sync story is impeccable.

[0] https://arc.net/

[0] https://ibb.co/hCMyr4d

Every codebase is unique, but I would (and have) recommended this stack to multiple teams as it served us really well.

We onboarded 3 React devs - 2 of which had never used RN before and all 3 were pushing out features within a two week sprint.

We also got to scan a QR code from a GitHub PR and allowed other engineers, QA folk, and designers to test PRs before merging on a real physical device - I am not sure if Flutter has something similar, but the tooling around RN is amazing.

Also, LogRocket, Sentry, LaunchDarkly, Auth0 and most of the SaaS tools youre familiar with in React have solid ReactNative support - often times including web if you use RNW.

Sorry if this is a silly question, but how does this differ from a tool like LogRocket?

Calendly only works with Google and Microsoft - no planned support for any Caldav services like fastmail.

Fantastical makes a great calendar app with rock-solid support for virtually any calendar service. I hope this pushes Calendly to reconsider caldav support.

I should note Harmonizely has tried to step into this niche and may be very successful but I found the app to not have a stellar UX and a lot of calendar invites never made their way back to my inbox which completely defeats a calendar scheduling app in the first place.

When you get stuck on a strange bug or find something in the docs doesn't work as expected your only options are Discord and GH issues. Neither feels appropriate as GH issues are slow and you get lost in the noise and Discord is a sea of noise that you're never sure if anyone with serious answers may be able to help you.

We've built amazing things with Expo (now that you can run almost any native code you want in an Expo app) but support would be an easy purchase.

Ironically, this website made me want to go find a cheap/used DSLR because the quality is so much better.

I personally use Camo with my iPhone which does almost all of these things and uses the computer in my pocket. Would love to see a comparison with that as I think its reasonable to assume someone willing to drop $300 on a webcam has overlap with someone willing to pay a monthly fee to use their phone as one.