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Show HN: Minimator, a Minimalist Graphical Editor

220 points by maxwellito 5y ago

busymom0 5y ago
Is it just me or does it not work on iPhone? I try touching and dragging and long pressing but none worked :(
rendall 5y ago
Brilliant! Just, amazing. Well done.
bhagyash 5y ago
Loved the concept, makes drawing sooo easy even with a trackpad. Some tips :- 1. When holding down shift allow straight lines only and no curves. It's the norm in design softwares 2. When I drag to create the line, the drop point if off and not accurate to the nearest dot of my mouse position. I'm unsure if it's a bug or have you deliberately built a non-accurate system.
- maxwellito 5y ago
  Thanks for your kind words. About the trackpad I didn't manage to implement the pitch to zoom which is desperately missing. 1. That's a good point, I didn't implement this shortcut. In my head, I assumed it wouldn't be useful because the editor only let you do vertical lines, horizontal lines and circle quarter. So making a straight line is pretty easy. If it was pure freeform like on Illustrator, it would be vital. 2. Maybe it's related to the editor only letting you do vertical/horizontal/circle quarter, right?
  - bhagyash 5y ago
    I think shift is good while making a non-curved diagonal line. I tried to make a diagonal without a curve and faced this issue. Also, I personally find the accuracy important. I understand that it would add complexity to the vertical / horizontal / circle quarter system you've built. But as a guy who draws, it feels like unnatural when it over-extends. Either way good luck !
  - pbronez 5y ago
    I like that it locks things to a grid. I wish I could draw horizontal lines and more complex curves. It's kinda weird that I can't connect any dot to any other dot. Definitely enforces a particular style though.
  - wlib 5y ago
    Just in case you or anyone doesn’t know, pinch to zoom on touchpads is exposed as just scrolling with the control key held down. You can listen for it with the wheel event and look at the ctrlKey and deltaY properties.
speps 5y ago
Make it so you're presented a canvas right away and an option to give it a title and resize later. Excalidraw does this very well.
- choward 5y ago
  I thought that's what it was at first and tried drawing on it. Once I saw that wasn't the case I closed the tab. Not trying to be petty or anything but I just wanted to tell my real experience since I'm sure I'm not the only one. Naming things is one of the hardest things for me to do.
  - Timwi 5y ago
    You are indeed not the only one.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
vladstudio 5y ago
Love it! It does one thing, does it well, and it's hard to make an ugly drawing in this style :-) I'm not sure how useful it is in practice, but as a piece of computer art, it's great!
jjice 5y ago
Was this hijacking the browser's back button for anyone else? Not a fan of not being able to press back to go to the previous page. The site is neat though.
- maxwellito 5y ago
  Oh sorry! I didn't realise I was hijacking it when the user was coming from another website (which I never tried during development). This is bad, I will fix it. Thanks for pointing it Edit: Fixed and deployed!
jarbus 5y ago
Reminds me of dotgrid from 100rabbits http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html
- maxwellito 5y ago
  100rabbits looks way much better! This is very slick, thanks for sharing!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
priyanmuthu 5y ago
This is such a cool tool. Thank you very much.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
amazing_stories 5y ago
I love these types of projects! Good job.
fvold 5y ago
Wow, this is nice! Is there a hotkey to toggle the eraser?
- maxwellito 5y ago
  Sadly not, but should not be difficult to implement :)
Sholmesy 5y ago
This is excellent. Another commenter pointed it out, but it rang true for me; it is difficult to make an ugly drawing in this style. Very nice.
pfist 5y ago
What a delightful tool. I can imagine having a lot of fun creating logos and icons with this.
RobertRoberts 5y ago
This was very helpful. But I didn't understand the rules, so I thought it was broken when it kept showing me the same word. I eventually figured it out by accidentally clicking the question mark (I am an avid interface clicker) and read the instructions...
phsilva 5y ago
Congratulations on having a dependency free project [0]. (just typescript) We got so used to read code using frameworks that pure JavaScript seems other world. [0] https://github.com/maxwellito/minimator/ https://github.com/maxwellito/minimator/
bleachedsleet 5y ago
A similar tool: http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html Absolutely love small, simple tools like this that have one singular purpose and execute it with restraint.
mickael-kerjean 5y ago
very interesting "securityCheck": https://minimator.app/dist/services/features.js https://minimator.app/dist/services/features.js
robbiejs 5y ago
Very nice, love it.
ibdf 5y ago
This is super neat, thanks for making it. Two pieces of improvement: 1. Allow for diagonals straight lines 2. Allow for different line thickness
dusted 5y ago
The "pinch to change" is kinda bad, since.. mice. But the drawing itself is interesting, the constraints makes it a very enjoyable experience, but do try not to assume people are using a touch screen,.
- maxwellito 5y ago
  Thanks, yes at first I was thinking of making it working on touch devices only. However, I'm a bit confused about your 'pinch to change' comment. If you want to zoom in/out you will have to use CTRL + [-/+]. Do you mind explaining a bit more? I feel like Im missing something here. Thx
  - dusted 5y ago
    Yes, it's the text on the bottom of the canvas when creating a new one, it says " Pinch to change dimensions" which is a bit confusing to someone using a mouse, and as far as I can tell, "zooming" with mwheel and control or +/- does something else (it zooms the page, which is not the same as "changing dimensions". That said, I had a lot of fun with this, bookmarked :)
    - maxwellito 5y ago
      Oh yes right, this is very silly I know. It's only because changing the dimension values on touch screen is awful (need to focus on the input field then then tap the number). While on desktop, you can scroll on the input field to change it's value, which is more convenient. Sadly, I made the "Pinch to change dimension" only on touch screen because it handle the pinch direction, so it can update x/y independently or together. While on desktop, the scroll would scale x/y together only. However, glad you had fun with it :)
      - Timwi 5y ago
        Hm, if I know the dimensions I want, then I find typing in the actual numbers far easier/more comfortable than the pinch gesture, as the latter is inaccurate and kind of uncooperative. I don't find typing on mobile “awful” at all.

220 points by maxwellito 5y ago

busymom0 5y ago

Is it just me or does it not work on iPhone? I try touching and dragging and long pressing but none worked :(

rendall 5y ago

Brilliant! Just, amazing. Well done.

bhagyash 5y ago

Loved the concept, makes drawing sooo easy even with a trackpad. Some tips :- 1. When holding down shift allow straight lines only and no curves. It's the norm in design softwares 2. When I drag to create the line, the drop point if off and not accurate to the nearest dot of my mouse position. I'm unsure if it's a bug or have you deliberately built a non-accurate system.

maxwellito 5y ago
Thanks for your kind words. About the trackpad I didn't manage to implement the pitch to zoom which is desperately missing. 1. That's a good point, I didn't implement this shortcut. In my head, I assumed it wouldn't be useful because the editor only let you do vertical lines, horizontal lines and circle quarter. So making a straight line is pretty easy. If it was pure freeform like on Illustrator, it would be vital. 2. Maybe it's related to the editor only letting you do vertical/horizontal/circle quarter, right?
- bhagyash 5y ago
  I think shift is good while making a non-curved diagonal line. I tried to make a diagonal without a curve and faced this issue. Also, I personally find the accuracy important. I understand that it would add complexity to the vertical / horizontal / circle quarter system you've built. But as a guy who draws, it feels like unnatural when it over-extends. Either way good luck !
- pbronez 5y ago
  I like that it locks things to a grid. I wish I could draw horizontal lines and more complex curves. It's kinda weird that I can't connect any dot to any other dot. Definitely enforces a particular style though.
- wlib 5y ago
  Just in case you or anyone doesn’t know, pinch to zoom on touchpads is exposed as just scrolling with the control key held down. You can listen for it with the wheel event and look at the ctrlKey and deltaY properties.

speps 5y ago

Make it so you're presented a canvas right away and an option to give it a title and resize later. Excalidraw does this very well.

choward 5y ago
I thought that's what it was at first and tried drawing on it. Once I saw that wasn't the case I closed the tab. Not trying to be petty or anything but I just wanted to tell my real experience since I'm sure I'm not the only one. Naming things is one of the hardest things for me to do.
- Timwi 5y ago
  You are indeed not the only one.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

vladstudio 5y ago

Love it! It does one thing, does it well, and it's hard to make an ugly drawing in this style :-) I'm not sure how useful it is in practice, but as a piece of computer art, it's great!

jjice 5y ago

Was this hijacking the browser's back button for anyone else? Not a fan of not being able to press back to go to the previous page. The site is neat though.

maxwellito 5y ago
Oh sorry! I didn't realise I was hijacking it when the user was coming from another website (which I never tried during development). This is bad, I will fix it. Thanks for pointing it Edit: Fixed and deployed!

jarbus 5y ago

Reminds me of dotgrid from 100rabbits http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html

maxwellito 5y ago
100rabbits looks way much better! This is very slick, thanks for sharing!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

priyanmuthu 5y ago

This is such a cool tool. Thank you very much.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

amazing_stories 5y ago

I love these types of projects! Good job.

fvold 5y ago

Wow, this is nice! Is there a hotkey to toggle the eraser?

maxwellito 5y ago
Sadly not, but should not be difficult to implement :)

Sholmesy 5y ago

This is excellent. Another commenter pointed it out, but it rang true for me; it is difficult to make an ugly drawing in this style. Very nice.

pfist 5y ago

What a delightful tool. I can imagine having a lot of fun creating logos and icons with this.

RobertRoberts 5y ago

This was very helpful. But I didn't understand the rules, so I thought it was broken when it kept showing me the same word. I eventually figured it out by accidentally clicking the question mark (I am an avid interface clicker) and read the instructions...

phsilva 5y ago

Congratulations on having a dependency free project [0]. (just typescript) We got so used to read code using frameworks that pure JavaScript seems other world. [0] https://github.com/maxwellito/minimator/ https://github.com/maxwellito/minimator/

bleachedsleet 5y ago

A similar tool: http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html http://100r.co/site/dotgrid.html Absolutely love small, simple tools like this that have one singular purpose and execute it with restraint.

mickael-kerjean 5y ago

very interesting "securityCheck": https://minimator.app/dist/services/features.js https://minimator.app/dist/services/features.js

robbiejs 5y ago

Very nice, love it.

ibdf 5y ago

This is super neat, thanks for making it. Two pieces of improvement: 1. Allow for diagonals straight lines 2. Allow for different line thickness

dusted 5y ago

The "pinch to change" is kinda bad, since.. mice. But the drawing itself is interesting, the constraints makes it a very enjoyable experience, but do try not to assume people are using a touch screen,.

maxwellito 5y ago
Thanks, yes at first I was thinking of making it working on touch devices only. However, I'm a bit confused about your 'pinch to change' comment. If you want to zoom in/out you will have to use CTRL + [-/+]. Do you mind explaining a bit more? I feel like Im missing something here. Thx
- dusted 5y ago
  Yes, it's the text on the bottom of the canvas when creating a new one, it says " Pinch to change dimensions" which is a bit confusing to someone using a mouse, and as far as I can tell, "zooming" with mwheel and control or +/- does something else (it zooms the page, which is not the same as "changing dimensions". That said, I had a lot of fun with this, bookmarked :)
  - maxwellito 5y ago
    Oh yes right, this is very silly I know. It's only because changing the dimension values on touch screen is awful (need to focus on the input field then then tap the number). While on desktop, you can scroll on the input field to change it's value, which is more convenient. Sadly, I made the "Pinch to change dimension" only on touch screen because it handle the pinch direction, so it can update x/y independently or together. While on desktop, the scroll would scale x/y together only. However, glad you had fun with it :)
    - Timwi 5y ago
      Hm, if I know the dimensions I want, then I find typing in the actual numbers far easier/more comfortable than the pinch gesture, as the latter is inaccurate and kind of uncooperative. I don't find typing on mobile “awful” at all.