5 ms·

Penpot 2.0 Released

131 points by jarek-foksa 2y ago

rsolva 2y ago
As a designer and website builder, I'm eager to explore how the new version of Penpot can help me build clean HTML+CSS, and sprinkle on some Hugo later on!
jelder 2y ago
I’ve never heard of penpot before, and the blog post barely helps. From the name I guess that had something to do with penetration testing or honeypots. It really bugs me when clicking on the logo of a site like this takes me to the blog index rather than the general landing page so I can figure out what the thing is.
- atonse 2y ago
  My understanding is that it's an open source Figma.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- PetitPrince 2y ago
  > It really bugs me when clicking on the logo of a site like this takes me to the blog index rather than the general landing page so I can figure out what the thing is. I somewhat agree; it's the default behavior of many message boards (in this case, Discourse). However this is useful when trying to get back to the index of the message board. --- You probably haven't read it but the footer description is good enough "Penpot is the first Open Source design and prototyping platform meant for cross-domain teams." The small animation on the homepage is also clear enough.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- breakfastduck 2y ago
  It's a release announcement of an existing product, so obviously it's tailored to people who are anticipating an update and want to know whats in it.
- shortformblog 2y ago
  I feel like I see a post like this every time someone releases a new version of something. These posts are clearly pitching to the already converted, but there has to be a way to anticipate the curious outsider, right?
- sbarre 2y ago
  Even the link in the header takes you to the tool itself (where you need to create an account to get anywhere). Main site link here: https://penpot.app/ https://penpot.app/
- jshprentz 2y ago
  The Penpot Features page [1] proclaims, "Penpot is the Open-Source Design Tool for Design and Code Collaboration" and "A browser-based design tool that gets the web. Create beautiful user interfaces in collaboration with all team members. Keep consistency at scale with components, libraries and design systems." The page describes dozens of specific features. [1] https://penpot.app/features https://penpot.app/features
- timetraveller26 2y ago
  Some people still use google this days when they haven't heard about something.
beanjuiceII 2y ago
I am excited to try, Penpot 1 was sluggish felt like I was painting pixels to the screen manually so I hope that is all resolved now I have a team of people who would eagerly use it if its good
- bogwog 2y ago
  Yeah Penpot's performance was shockingly bad when I tried it not that long ago.
atonse 2y ago
I haven't tried Penpot yet but I am learning more and more Figma. But it actually slightly _concerns_ me that they don't have a business model or a way to fund their developers until at least a year from now. This kind of application is extremely complex to build, so what do the Penpot devs say to address how to keep the talent around? My worry is about locking core assets in a format that's only supported by volunteers. Even if it's an open format, it isn't a _dev_ tool, it's a design tool, so the "consumers" aren't the ones that can just pick up the complex codebase and take over. Or am I thinking of this wrong? If penpot went stagnant, would someone hopefully just come around and build a converter for Figma/Adobe XD?
- berkes 2y ago
  Last time I used penpot, everything was SVG, or easily exportable as such. SVG is standard enough that everyone has, or easily has access to, a simple or advanced editor that can edit SVGs or at least import them.
  - atonse 2y ago
    Sure, but there would still be additional metadata not captured in SVG, right? Things like layers, components, variants, etc.
    - tokai 2y ago
      SVG support metadata, layers, linking and such.
- thibaultamartin 2y ago
  > But it actually slightly _concerns_ me that they don't have a business model or a way to fund their developers until at least a year from now. Do you mean Penpot doesn't have a business model, or Figma? I'm keen on reading more about either, because you have valid points
  - atonse 2y ago
karaterobot 2y ago
I'm a Figma guy until such time as they enshittify it, but I'm glad there's competition. Figma, Sketch, and Penpot all look like reasonable options, though maybe for different use cases.
spankalee 2y ago
I love that Penpot's open source - many enterprises would love some ability to add features or fork the editor, since design files are so critical to development these days - but I really dislike that it's written in ClojureScript. That makes it really hard for most web devs to contribute to.
- homarp 2y ago
  Maybe ClojureScript is better than a SSPL license :)
satvikpendem 2y ago
Now that the Adobe and Figma acquisition is no more, I wonder how Penpot will fare. It is good that it's open source but it might slow adoption as people have no need to migrate now from Figma as many stated they would had Adobe completed their purchase.
timetraveller26 2y ago
I've been toying a little with self hosted Penpot and it was really nice. I haven't used Figma too much, but Penpot was easy to use though it felt a little difficult to handle components. This is a very welcomed release, kudos for the team for delivering.
esafak 2y ago
Does it have versioning and forking?
johnsonjo 2y ago
Really neat. I was mainly curious to know when they are planning to release the self hosted docker versions of Penpot 2.0. Although I found this issue on their Github and it Looks like its coming in the next couple days hopefully [1]. [1]: https://github.com/penpot/penpot/issues/4380 https://github.com/penpot/penpot/issues/4380
EspadaV9 2y ago
Disclosure: I am not a GitLab team member, but I am part of the community "GitLab Core team". This is purely hypothetical. I have zero knowledge of anything internal to GitLab. Having said that. I think it could be really good to have a company like GitLab either acquire PenPot to integrate it into their platform, or build a really tight embedded integration with the service. You would have designers and developers using the same platform to manage things from both initial idea (Epics/Issues), through the design process (integrated PenPot), and then into the development of the feature (Issues/Merge Requests). This would give everything really tight integration and make moving between the different stages of the SDLC really smooth. I'd imagine the designs having their own git repo too, it wouldn't need to be exposed to the designers, but would give a nice easy way to export the data, view it locally, and move it into another product if needed.

131 points by jarek-foksa 2y ago

As a designer and website builder, I'm eager to explore how the new version of Penpot can help me build clean HTML+CSS, and sprinkle on some Hugo later on!

jelder 2y ago

I’ve never heard of penpot before, and the blog post barely helps. From the name I guess that had something to do with penetration testing or honeypots. It really bugs me when clicking on the logo of a site like this takes me to the blog index rather than the general landing page so I can figure out what the thing is.

atonse 2y ago
My understanding is that it's an open source Figma.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
PetitPrince 2y ago
> It really bugs me when clicking on the logo of a site like this takes me to the blog index rather than the general landing page so I can figure out what the thing is. I somewhat agree; it's the default behavior of many message boards (in this case, Discourse). However this is useful when trying to get back to the index of the message board. --- You probably haven't read it but the footer description is good enough "Penpot is the first Open Source design and prototyping platform meant for cross-domain teams." The small animation on the homepage is also clear enough.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
breakfastduck 2y ago
It's a release announcement of an existing product, so obviously it's tailored to people who are anticipating an update and want to know whats in it.
shortformblog 2y ago
I feel like I see a post like this every time someone releases a new version of something. These posts are clearly pitching to the already converted, but there has to be a way to anticipate the curious outsider, right?
sbarre 2y ago
Even the link in the header takes you to the tool itself (where you need to create an account to get anywhere). Main site link here: https://penpot.app/ https://penpot.app/
jshprentz 2y ago
The Penpot Features page [1] proclaims, "Penpot is the Open-Source Design Tool for Design and Code Collaboration" and "A browser-based design tool that gets the web. Create beautiful user interfaces in collaboration with all team members. Keep consistency at scale with components, libraries and design systems." The page describes dozens of specific features. [1] https://penpot.app/features https://penpot.app/features
timetraveller26 2y ago
Some people still use google this days when they haven't heard about something.

beanjuiceII 2y ago

I am excited to try, Penpot 1 was sluggish felt like I was painting pixels to the screen manually so I hope that is all resolved now I have a team of people who would eagerly use it if its good

bogwog 2y ago
Yeah Penpot's performance was shockingly bad when I tried it not that long ago.

atonse 2y ago

I haven't tried Penpot yet but I am learning more and more Figma. But it actually slightly _concerns_ me that they don't have a business model or a way to fund their developers until at least a year from now. This kind of application is extremely complex to build, so what do the Penpot devs say to address how to keep the talent around? My worry is about locking core assets in a format that's only supported by volunteers. Even if it's an open format, it isn't a _dev_ tool, it's a design tool, so the "consumers" aren't the ones that can just pick up the complex codebase and take over. Or am I thinking of this wrong? If penpot went stagnant, would someone hopefully just come around and build a converter for Figma/Adobe XD?

berkes 2y ago
Last time I used penpot, everything was SVG, or easily exportable as such. SVG is standard enough that everyone has, or easily has access to, a simple or advanced editor that can edit SVGs or at least import them.
- atonse 2y ago
  Sure, but there would still be additional metadata not captured in SVG, right? Things like layers, components, variants, etc.
  - tokai 2y ago
    SVG support metadata, layers, linking and such.
thibaultamartin 2y ago
> But it actually slightly _concerns_ me that they don't have a business model or a way to fund their developers until at least a year from now. Do you mean Penpot doesn't have a business model, or Figma? I'm keen on reading more about either, because you have valid points
- atonse 2y ago

karaterobot 2y ago

I'm a Figma guy until such time as they enshittify it, but I'm glad there's competition. Figma, Sketch, and Penpot all look like reasonable options, though maybe for different use cases.

spankalee 2y ago

I love that Penpot's open source - many enterprises would love some ability to add features or fork the editor, since design files are so critical to development these days - but I really dislike that it's written in ClojureScript. That makes it really hard for most web devs to contribute to.

homarp 2y ago
Maybe ClojureScript is better than a SSPL license :)

satvikpendem 2y ago

Now that the Adobe and Figma acquisition is no more, I wonder how Penpot will fare. It is good that it's open source but it might slow adoption as people have no need to migrate now from Figma as many stated they would had Adobe completed their purchase.

timetraveller26 2y ago

I've been toying a little with self hosted Penpot and it was really nice. I haven't used Figma too much, but Penpot was easy to use though it felt a little difficult to handle components. This is a very welcomed release, kudos for the team for delivering.

esafak 2y ago

Does it have versioning and forking?

johnsonjo 2y ago

Really neat. I was mainly curious to know when they are planning to release the self hosted docker versions of Penpot 2.0. Although I found this issue on their Github and it Looks like its coming in the next couple days hopefully [1]. [1]: https://github.com/penpot/penpot/issues/4380 https://github.com/penpot/penpot/issues/4380

EspadaV9 2y ago

Disclosure: I am not a GitLab team member, but I am part of the community "GitLab Core team". This is purely hypothetical. I have zero knowledge of anything internal to GitLab. Having said that. I think it could be really good to have a company like GitLab either acquire PenPot to integrate it into their platform, or build a really tight embedded integration with the service. You would have designers and developers using the same platform to manage things from both initial idea (Epics/Issues), through the design process (integrated PenPot), and then into the development of the feature (Issues/Merge Requests). This would give everything really tight integration and make moving between the different stages of the SDLC really smooth. I'd imagine the designs having their own git repo too, it wouldn't need to be exposed to the designers, but would give a nice easy way to export the data, view it locally, and move it into another product if needed.