ethan

Jasonette Cross Platform - Make iOS and Android apps with just a single JSON

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ethan
Hi guys, Jasonette is a different approach to making apps. Normally, making an app involves writing a program and putting it on the phone. But with Jasonette, you simply write a JSON file hosted on a server, and the Jasonette apps fetch and use it to build themselves on-demand, whenever you open them. 
Last month I posted the iOS version on Product Hunt and was blown away by all the interest and encouragement. From there it went onto become #1 trending Github project and now it has over 3600 stars, with the community growing quickly everyday. Since the iOS launch, the #1 FAQ has always been “Android?” And today I’m open sourcing the Android version as well. This makes Jasonette fully cross platform, so you can simply write a simple JSON recipe to build fully production apps. Also, the unique approach makes it super easy for ANYONE to make an app, and in minutes instead of days. Please check out the youtube video on the website and you’ll see. This personally is a really huge moment for me because all my past projects have been iOS only, and I’ve always wanted to build Android versions. With this, now I can build fully cross platform apps from day one, and you can too! I would appreciate any feedback, thank you!
Alessio Delmonti
Hey @gliechtenstein I just wanted to say this is a great framework. I will definitely use in my next project. Thanks for open sourcing it I'll try to contribute as mush as I can.
ethan
@alexintosh thanks! would appreciate contribution!
Patrick
Love the idea.. One question though: what about animations? Is there a way to animate stuff? Without fancy animations apps feel so dead🙊
ethan
@justawebguy I think that would be nice, fee free to contribute and share your idea on Github. Any contribution is welcome :)
Fraser Smith
@ethan, can you clarify something for me please. Do apps created with Jasonette exist as stand-alone apps, or do the app users require Jasonette to be installed as an host for the JSON file?
ethan
@frassmith @ethan Nope it's all yours! :) You use Jasonette to build, package and publish your own app to the app store. That was the whole point of open sourcing it. What's great about this approach is, all you need to do is link up your OWN url with Jasonette which come as Android project and XCode project, build, and then publish to the app store and play store. Here's the iOS repository https://github.com/Jasonette/JAS... and the Android repository https://github.com/Jasonette/JAS... Hope this helps!
Ingo Radatz
@frassmith You can use Jasonette as Beta/Preview/Demo container. Just hand over your self-hosted URI. I would love to see x-callback-url support in Jasonette. Then i would send emails as beta invite.
ethan
@llabball @frassmith You can use Jason for this https://jasonette.github.io/docu... That way the only thing the email invitees need to do is download Jason from the appstore and open the url. Also URL scheme is supported https://github.com/Jasonette/JAS...
Ingo Radatz
@gliechtenstein excellent
Ethan Kravitz
Very cool, we actually deliver dynamic modals to our app using a nearly identical JSON format. Any plans to create a drag and drop webapp/UI to build the JSON? If not I am sure someone else will do it shortly. Could be a huge value for helping non-programmers made pretty decent prototypes.
ethan
@ethosventures thanks! Yes there's a discussion thread going on here https://github.com/Jasonette/JAS... The layout part would be easy, but implementing the whole thing is a challenging task since we need to express not just the layout but also all the action bindings and template parsing etc. which when happens would be amazing. Anyway it's def coming, please feel free to join the conversation :)
Ethan Kravitz
@gliechtenstein Awesome! I just checked out jasonbase.com and can see it becoming a natural extension to that. I will follow the issue.
David Lumm
Looks really powerful! I've got a project I've been meaning to have a go at, this would probably make the MVP a lot quicker! @gliechtenstein is there an extension directory?
ethan
@cyberneticdave Good to hear you like it! You would be surprised how easy it is to make apps once you get used to it. There isn't a directory for extensions at the moment (The iOS project is only 1 month old, and the Android 1 day old) but that's one part where the community will be trying to improve on going forward. Anyway, you should be able to build most apps without needing an extension. I extracted out Jasonette from my past apps like Ethan (They're built with Jasonette) and they work fine without adding extra extension features. Here are some example features you can immediately try: https://github.com/Jasonette/Jas... That said, if you ARE building some edge technology, you may need to write or find an extension, please join the slack channel or the forum and we can talk about it :) https://jasonette.now.sh/
Rick Chen
Omg this is gold, perfect timing for my new app project! How much coding skill is needed to use this?
ethan
@rick_chen1 These two videos are pretty much all of what you need to know to get started and finish an app
and
The first shoreter video shows you how the Jasonette system works, and the second one is more an in-depth walkthrough of most of the important technologies used in Jasonette. I'm sure once you watch those two videos you'll get a sense of where to start even if you have never programmed before. Also feel free to join the slack channel and forum to ask questions :)
Rick Chen
@gliechtenstein you should win a metal for this!
ethan
@rick_chen1 thanks! 👊😁
Matt Horton
Congrats on Android!
ethan
@mattahorton thanks matt! 👊
André J
I see that you host Images from github in your Jasonette app example. Now that dropbox is closing public folder support I'm thinking of starting to host images on github as well. Any tips regarding this?
ethan
@eonpilot haha you've got sharp eyes! yes I host a lot of my images at https://github.com/gliechtenstei... because I don't want to have all these images on my actual app repositories. All you need to do is just create a public repository and push to it every time you need an image. It's been great for me and I totally recommend it!
Enrico Cerroni
Jasonette is really something new and refreshing. Very interesting concept to explore!
ethan
@enricocerroni Thanks! Not just new, but actually lets you build 10 times faster :)
Enrico Cerroni
@gliechtenstein Yep, it's just that 'new' as a word has been misused a lot by many. I should had say that this is the "real new".... also 10x easier! ;)
Karim Jedda
This is getting better and better! I love it!
ethan
@karimjdda thanks! there's more soon :)
Karim Jedda
@gliechtenstein I'll make sure to continue creating issues and contributing as much as i can, this is gold
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