Native Mobile Apps Styled With CSS - Pixate (YC S12) Launches

As someone who builds app for big brands (Conde Nast, Nike, Porsche, etc.) I will not use this, despite any desire to actually do so.<p>Why?<p>You're shipping me a binary only. I want the source. I don't want to wait for you to fix some shit that you may or may not get around to doing. I have a really strict rule about this when it comes to client work, even stricter for personal work.<p>Your idea that I should base an entire application on a closed source binary that may or may not work is customer hostile, imho. You are inadvertently leaving customers out to dry when something breaks or doesn't work correctly. Unless your company has a team of devs ready to handle these cases ...<p>Would have been a good idea when the component market was roaring in the Borland Delphi days, but we're in the future now were open source is the way to go.<p>Pass.

Are there any examples of really successful big name projects using third-party UI frameworks that cost money?<p>Anything I use in my apps has to be open source in case either I come across limitations or support is dropped. I can't create a dependency in my app that could severely cripple me in the future.<p>It seems like using Pixate would introduce a huge dependency on your application and everything that Pixate does is mapping down to something already done in UIKit or perhaps CoreGraphics. I can understand the allure of this framework because it would save you writing a lot of code yourself but when you come across a limitation (which you undoubtably will because not even the mighty UIKit does everything we need) and you implemented it yourself you can then easily make improvements rather than waiting for a third-party. Sure you could make requests but if Apple honoured every single improvement request on UIKit they would never ship.<p>As an iOS developer I'm already in bed with Apple but their track record with AppKit and UIKit speaks for itself. Their frameworks are black boxes but I can build upon the shoulders of giants. Third-party UI frameworks like this feel like I am constraining myself to very explicitly defined limitations and the second I cannot adhere to those limitations I must be the one to compromise instead of striking out on my own.<p>Is there something that I am missing with these third-party UI frameworks because the opportunity cost has always seem to be too high for me.

If the pricing becomes more affordable, I think Pixate has a chance to totally change the way native mobile front-end development is done.<p>Just look at the simplicity and familiarity with traditional front-end development. <a href="http://www.pixate.com/blog/2012/12/15/table-disclosure/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pixate.com/blog/2012/12/15/table-disclosure/</a><p>View Controller:<p><pre><code> button.styleId = @"disclosure"; </code></pre> default.css:<p><pre><code> table-view #disclosure { background-color: linear-gradient(#75a4e6, #2670d8); border-radius: 15pt; border-width: 2pt; border-color: white; size: 27pt 27pt; font-size: 16pt; box-shadow: 1pt 1pt 1pt #333; } </code></pre> If only they had a demo we could test how well Pixate lives up to its claims.<p>Example of use in XCode: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&#38;v=h4JVj0Fqheo#t=88s" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&#38;v=h...</a>

Getting Chrome malware warning for this article:<p>Danger: Malware Ahead! Google Chrome has blocked access to this page on techcrunch.com. Content from d.adsbyisocket.com, a known malware distributor, has been inserted into this web page. Visiting this page now is very likely to infect your Mac with malware.

For me, not being able to try the library in my app is a deal-breaker. I'm not willing to shell out $199 on faith alone.

It would have been nice to have it link to the framework instead of a techcrunch article. First hand sources are always preferred if they're available.<p>EDIT: forgot to include the link instead of just commenting: <a href="http://www.pixate.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pixate.com/</a>

relevant: <a href="https://github.com/tombenner/nui" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/tombenner/nui</a>

Great idea. I think that anything that aids cross-platform development is going to be very valuable over the next few years.<p>Building a platform agnostic front end without having to resort to javascript/HTML could be a really useful step forward.

Looks cool, but why can't this be achieved by simply using the native iOS implementation?

This would seem to answer the "is no-idea a good idea for YC" question -- it looks like a great product, and they applied as no-idea (according to the TC article).

I like the subtle Arrested Development joke on the front page. "Loose seal!!"

Geeez whats up with the music, I couldn't watch the whole video.

So let me get this straight - Pixate wants people to build native iOS apps with CSS.... um, ARENT WE JUST RE-IMPLMENTING THE WEB PEOPLE?!<p>Jesus! The one valid use case for native apps is games, everything else can be solved with web apps. Why we are going out of our way to re-implement the ease of web development on native apps should fucking tell you something. On top of all this, they want to charge you $199 for it?<p>Disregarding the topic of whether or not Pixate itself is commercially viable, but it makes me feel like XML-RPC all over again. Wasn't that what HTTP was for in the first place?<p>We go through all this crap to make making "apps" convenient. Ultimately the answer was in front of us the whole time we were just too stupid to see it. The web will win. SECREST OUT!