[HN Gopher] Show HN: SpacersJS - My first JavaScript Library for...
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       Show HN: SpacersJS - My first JavaScript Library for no-code tools
        
       Author : actuallyakash
       Score  : 47 points
       Date   : 2021-07-10 12:07 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | jwilber wrote:
       | This looks super awesome, how well does it handle responsive
       | layouts?
       | 
       | Also great job on the site - the video explains things succinctly
       | in seconds.
        
         | actuallyakash wrote:
         | Thanks for the appericiation, @jwilber.
         | 
         | I'm still working on the responsiveness of the spacers, though
         | that is rarely needed because you can implement multiple
         | spacers for different screen sizes.
         | 
         | That'll take care of the responsiveness.
        
       | ARandomerDude wrote:
       | ```
       | 
       | bower install --save spacersjs
       | 
       | ...
       | 
       | Option | Type | Default
       | 
       | element | string | null
       | 
       | ...
       | 
       | Initialize with:
       | 
       | spacers({ element: '.element-unique-class' });
       | 
       | ```
       | 
       | This is a neat tool and you did a great job.
       | 
       | Tangentially, I can't help but think if a person can use some of
       | these tools, they're already a programmer. Reading the
       | documentation, a "no code" user would need to know how to use a
       | terminal, text editor, package manager, as well as understand
       | data types, the DOM, and the box model. That isn't to say this is
       | a bad library, but I question the no code premise.
        
         | dschooh wrote:
         | It might come in handy when _building_ no-code tools, not as a
         | no-code tool per se.
        
           | actuallyakash wrote:
           | you totally got the point of my title. thanks.
        
         | zeroonetwothree wrote:
         | The secret of no code tools is that they are actually for
         | programmers.
        
           | actuallyakash wrote:
           | haha, agree but not merely for programmers but for technical
           | persons.
        
         | yawnxyz wrote:
         | I'm just building a movable dashboard similar to Notion's
         | blocks and this saves me globs of time!
        
           | actuallyakash wrote:
           | awesome. Please let me know your use-case.
           | 
           | I would feel elated if people can make use of it.
        
         | actuallyakash wrote:
         | @ARandomerDude, thanks for the sharing your perspective.
         | 
         | Then again, I created this library for people who create no-
         | code tools not for who use no-code tools. Though they can also
         | use this. I think, the title I wrote have given a wrong
         | impression, that is, 6 or 9 the same thing. Ha ha.
        
       | apineda wrote:
       | Thanks for sharing. I dream of making my perfect UX design tool
       | and little things like this help keep me inspired.
        
         | actuallyakash wrote:
         | Glad you liked it and found useful.
         | 
         | Kudos to your future projects.
        
       | mthoms wrote:
       | I'd love this as part of browser plug-in to modify third party
       | sites and have the changes persist.
       | 
       | I'd combine it with the ability to completely hide elements...
       | The combination would be killer for removing cruft from
       | frequently used sites and web apps.
        
         | krono wrote:
         | This has actually been a native feature of Chrome since 2018.
         | 
         | Couldn't find the current docs but here is the release
         | announcement: https://developer.chrome.com/blog/new-in-
         | devtools-65/#overri...
         | 
         | And Chromium Edge's docs: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
         | gb/microsoft-edge/devtools-gui...
        
           | mthoms wrote:
           | Very cool, thanks. The nice thing would be the drag and drop
           | functionality. As far as I can tell (I might be wrong) you
           | still have to find the CSS selectors manually using the dev
           | tools which adds a little friction.
        
           | actuallyakash wrote:
           | Useful resources. Thanks for sharing!
        
         | chovybizzass wrote:
         | checkout https://briskreader.com
        
         | actuallyakash wrote:
         | that's a cool idea!
         | 
         | hmmm! Let me check what can be done.
        
       | jtwaleson wrote:
       | What does this have to do with no-code?
        
         | stevekemp wrote:
         | The demo makes it easier to understand:
         | 
         | https://actuallyakash.github.io/spacers/
        
           | jonnydubowsky wrote:
           | I get a 404 error message "Github site not found" message on
           | Chrome, Firefox and Brave browsers using a Galaxy Note 10+.
        
           | nkrisc wrote:
           | But what do you do with it? So you modify margin and padding
           | client side... and then what? I see what it does, but I don't
           | see what you'd use it for.
        
             | chovybizzass wrote:
             | dude its no code....stop asking questions! /S
        
             | barefeg wrote:
             | Anything you want would be the answer. Like you could have
             | a no code tool for creating websites or anything with a
             | layout
        
               | actuallyakash wrote:
               | This is the exact point of this project. (y)
        
               | nkrisc wrote:
               | I see now, it's just a UI library for controlling margin
               | and padding, nothing more? The "no code" talk made me
               | think it was more than that.
               | 
               | It's cool, but just because it could be used for "no
               | code" I don't see how it is no code.
        
               | actuallyakash wrote:
               | It's not actually no-code but "for" no-code tools.
               | 
               | For example - web builders like Divi, brizy or Webflow
               | uses this type of functionality all the time.
               | 
               | There was no library for it. And I was working on a
               | project (a no-code tool) that needed this type of
               | functionality.
               | 
               | that's why I thought, it's high-time now for a spacers
               | library. I created the spacers through backbone.js and
               | jQuery at that project.
               | 
               | But later, I created this library in pure JS (vanilla
               | js).
               | 
               | That how spacers came into existence.
        
         | barefeg wrote:
         | No code tools are made with code
        
           | actuallyakash wrote:
           | haha, that's a fact.
           | 
           | but this library helps you to make those no-code tools.
        
         | verdverm wrote:
         | Apparently, these days, if you make a visual layout editor, you
         | call it no code?
         | 
         | I still think Kelsey Hightower has the only true no code
         | solution
        
           | actuallyakash wrote:
           | haha, can't agree more with you.
           | 
           | He's the legend. I totally admire his "nocode" tool.
           | 
           | But this library is not a no-code tool but "for" no-code
           | tools.
        
       | zeta0134 wrote:
       | That is an _awesome_ little demo video. In 10 seconds I
       | understood what the tool does, and it looks pretty useful too.
        
         | actuallyakash wrote:
         | Thanks for the appreciation, @zeta0134.
         | 
         | happy with the validation :)
        
       | mikeryan wrote:
       | So just a word on the post. Opening this on my phone opened me
       | into the GitHub app.
       | 
       | The repo has no explanation of what this is. I then clicked on
       | the link to the page. Still couldn't tell what it was except it
       | manages padding and margin. Then all the examples seemed not to
       | be responsive.
       | 
       | So all I could tell was that it seems to have something to do
       | with spacing and doesn't seem to work well. -\\_(tsu)_/-
       | 
       | This is just my experience and others seem to see the value in
       | this library but just wanted to share my perspective.
        
         | actuallyakash wrote:
         | Hey @mikeryan,
         | 
         | Thanks for sharing the feedback. I do agree the spacers doesn't
         | work on mobile as the "dragging" part is a bit weird on mobile
         | and the demo doesn't look good on mobile.
         | 
         | Gonna improve the responsiveness of demo layout for sure.
         | 
         | Thanks again.
        
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       (page generated 2021-07-10 23:02 UTC)