[HN Gopher] Tremor - The React library to build dashboards fast
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       Tremor - The React library to build dashboards fast
        
       Author : spansoa
       Score  : 39 points
       Date   : 2023-07-28 18:53 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.tremor.so)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.tremor.so)
        
       | sdesol wrote:
       | If you are looking for a dashboard system that is written in
       | vanilla JS, I will be open sourcing my DevBoard in the next month
       | or two. You can see it in action at
       | https://devboard.gitsense.com/microsoft/vscode and learn more
       | about the widget system at
       | https://devboard.gitsense.com/microsoft/vscode?board=gitsens...
       | Note the repo that is mentioned in the intro page hasn't been
       | pushed to GitHub yet, but will be soon.
       | 
       | The server is a very simple node/express app and the front end is
       | written in vanilla javascript. I also use GitHub's primer css
       | (https://github.com/primer/css) and a heavily stripped down
       | version of tabler's css (https://github.com/tabler/tabler)
       | 
       | Note, DevBoard is more geared towards hackers, so Tremor's is
       | probably a much better fit if you are looking for an out of the
       | box solution.
        
       | latchkey wrote:
       | I started a react component library project that has been going
       | for 4 years now and gets about 40k downloads a month.
       | 
       | If it wasn't for my test suite, things would have been a giant
       | mess long ago and I probably would have abandoned it. I can't
       | think of doing a react project without a test suite because over
       | time, any dependencies you have (including on react) will end up
       | breaking things in ways that you don't know. Without those tests,
       | you can't be sure of upgrades... which you're forced to do
       | because your users will want to do things like upgrade react.
       | 
       | So... any project like this... in order for me to ever add it to
       | my own project or depend on it in any way, really needs a test
       | suite.
       | 
       | The test suite for this project is pretty much non-existent,
       | which is a huge bummer should should be a huge red flag for
       | anyone who thinks about using it. You're just going to end up
       | with broken code.
        
         | appplication wrote:
         | Not a react dev, but having a comprehensive test suite is the
         | only reason I feel comfortable pushing code changes and
         | upgrading dependencies. It is difficult at first to build the
         | habit and discipline to always write comprehensive tests for
         | new code, but it is very worth it.
        
           | latchkey wrote:
           | In JS land it is especially important and honestly one of the
           | least done things, which is sad and a source of why things
           | are always breaking randomly.
        
             | appplication wrote:
             | I work primarily with data scientists in python, so I
             | understand a similar pain.
        
         | ketzo wrote:
         | What does your test suite look like? (What's the library is
         | maybe a better question)
        
         | code_witch_sam wrote:
         | i only skimmed the home page, but it seems far too opinionated
         | for general use. if you're starting fresh and plan to use
         | tremor as your all-encompassing ui kit, it seems fine. but at
         | that point, why not grafana, retool, or some other no-to-low-
         | code dashboard solution?
        
           | latchkey wrote:
           | It is fine for a quick one off project, but if you're going
           | to depend on anything over the long term, you have to be able
           | to upgrade it. Especially in JS land where things change
           | almost weekly. 99% of my releases have been simply about
           | dealing with changes of dependencies. I wouldn't be confident
           | to do a release if I didn't have a test suite.
           | 
           | You're right on the point of using another low code solution
           | though... it still opens you up to dependency issues. You
           | might also want this as a product with its own skinned UX/UI
           | that you have full control over. Third party 'commercial'
           | products won't always give that to you.
        
       | Etheryte wrote:
       | Very tongue in cheek, but the uptime widget is clearly ready for
       | industry-wide use, the numeric value says 99% uptime, but the
       | colored illustration next to it clearly shows worse performance.
        
       | ramesh31 wrote:
       | I've gotten so jaded on these "batteries included! everything
       | you'll ever need!" component libraries over the years. Inevitably
       | you'll run into a component that is half-baked or incompatible
       | with your architecture, which forces you to install a 3rd party
       | alternative.
       | 
       | Then it happens again. And again...
       | 
       | Eventually you're left pulling in this huge library with 2MB of
       | CSS just for the four components you're still using from it. Then
       | a new dev joins the team and gets to enjoy the confusion of
       | "should i use $library component here? Or do we have another
       | wrapper for it? or is there something else entirely being used
       | for it?".
       | 
       | Just avoid the hassle and stick with a curated list of well
       | fleshed out individual components that are tested and have
       | thousands of stars each. Create a barebones wrapper over it to
       | match your design system, and call it a day.
        
       | skymer wrote:
       | There are plenty of React dashboard libraries. They seem to be
       | useful in building a top-level overview of a database with many
       | tables. Can someone list a few real-world examples (web sites)
       | where the dashboard is more than 10% of the work in building the
       | site? The cases I know, e.g. wise.com or quickbooks.intuit.com
       | would be much less than 10%.
        
         | bdcravens wrote:
         | Pretty much any client area of a B2B site. Obviously the actual
         | backend is a significant part of that time, but on many apps,
         | most pages will use components along these lines.
        
         | brycelarkin wrote:
         | Backend / API companies like Stripe and AWS
        
       | samspenc wrote:
       | Interesting it's open-source but they don't seem to highlight it
       | on their home page, I had to search for their Github page to find
       | it https://github.com/tremorlabs/tremor
       | 
       | Then when I came back to the home page and searched for
       | "license", I confirmed it says "Apache-2.0 license" in light-
       | grey, small font in the middle of the page.
        
         | exod983 wrote:
         | Hi, Chris here from Tremor. Many thanks for the feedback! I
         | wasn't aware that it is not directly understood as an open-
         | source library by our website hero title
        
           | simonbarker87 wrote:
           | I totally missed it as well, got to the bottom of the page,
           | saw something about pre-release and assumed it was paid for.
           | This comment above is what has made me go back and bookmark.
        
       | jszymborski wrote:
       | Anyone know what the just-CSS version of this would be? Like
       | Bootstrap for Dashboards?
        
         | exod983 wrote:
         | Regarding the charts, you would have to use low-level chart
         | libraries, such as VisX or D3
        
           | simonbarker87 wrote:
           | chartscss.org could cover off basic stuff
        
           | bdcravens wrote:
           | There are server-rendered charts, but those have more or less
           | fallen out of vogue since there's no interactivity.
        
           | exod983 wrote:
           | Highcharts seems also really customizable
        
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       (page generated 2023-07-28 23:00 UTC)