Am I missing something in Pinegrow? I cannot move freely anything on the screen

General Questions
1

Hello,

I was expecting to be able to move any objects on the screen and have the CSS automatically calculating the padding and so on but it looks like everything has to be put into blocks/grids.

Am I missing something? Having the freedom to move things around would be as cool as having some kind of wireframing software the HTML export. ie: Let’s say I want a text exactly in a specific visual position, I would have loved to be able to move it with my mouse right there, same for images and more.

Thanks

2

No - You’re not missing anything. Pinegrow as of yet does not work in that manner for direct manipulation on the page. It’s hard to perceive if or when that might be possible.

Here is a relative thread from 3.5+ years ago with comments by @Matjaz.
CSS Properties — Direct user manipulation on page of basics properties — via Drag etc.

There was also talk of a Designer-centric Pinegrow app 2.5+ years ago
with comments by @Matjaz also.

• Pinegrow Offspring -- Pine Seedling -- Designer App Coming? - #5 by matjaz
• Pinegrow Offspring -- Pine Seedling -- Designer App Coming? - #91 by matjaz

Hard to tell what will be coming now that they are onto another dot trail v6.x.xxxxxx . Given the lean nature of the initial v6 the new dot releases must be bringing something worthwhile. ;–)

3

Yes this is really sad because if Pinegrow could let us drag something anywhere we like on the page, we then have all the power of the latest design software like Adobe XD.
This would be a killer feature to have as I find it very difficult to use without this.

4

Wow, tat would be some serious AI :wink:

5

Oh my!

So worth the wait… for comic value alone.

Our forums very own (unofficial, unpaid) archivist, yet again fails to comprehend the way THIS app is progressing and totally miss out the new features.

Still it’s nice to see you’ve returned to share some of your caring presence and oversight with us other forum users.

Quite looking forward to the next positive input.

And @Bennyboy , have you checked out the tutorials yst?

6

Your answer is a bit weird because you do not take into consideration the competition but your own perspective with what you currently have in hands.
There was a new figma + quest release where you can pixel place(figma) and export your HTML(quest). Hence why I was coming forward with this point. You also have on the other side TeleportHQ which export your entire layouts to all the newest Frameworks. If you do not speak about what is around you and just focus on what you have, you cannot really progress in terms of knowledge. Just saying…You see this as negative, as see these points as absolutely positive in terms of software development. Things are moving forward very fast, if you really want to be shocked look at the new Uizard feature where you draw on paper, scan it, upload it to the software and the UI layout is built. All inputs are positive unless you feel yourself threatened by the newest technologies.

7

it is possible as it is already built elsewhere

8

Hi @Bennyboy , im not sure who your replying too, but is there a reason why your not using those great new apps you list?

What else were you hoping Pinegrow would do that they cant?

And if they do all the stuff you want,the way you want, why dont you just run with them?

Or arE you still exploring the web dev scene?

Personally, Pinegrow can now do more than I can, so need to learn more technologies in order to better leverage its capabilities, but…I havent had the time due to external factors.

But its still good to see it progressing, the way its Devs want it to.

9

Hi @Bennyboy, visualising what you described made me feel amazed (anything is possible), sorry if it felt other way… We have the power of imagination, which can always take us high…

Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the other tools, definitely will check them out… Just wanted to confirm, did you say one of these tools let you move “elements” on a visual view that auto-generates css for the movement of it like in a liquid layout? Which tool was it?

Also, just looking at the title of this thread, it seems like you are not able to freely move your elements on your page view? This is not true in pinegrow, as you can move them on the page view, of course you shouldn’t move a div under a para. Is your page generated dynamically via JS?

10

Yes the reason is because there is 1 feature I like in all of them.
ie: Pinegrow: I like Boostrap 5 and material js.
-Teleleport HQ: I love the vue js export (but it is free)
-Figma/ Question: I like the pixel placement to HTML export.

They all have something good and I keep jumping between apps which cause me to spend $$$ a lot more…hence why I would love to have some of the features in Pinegrow so I only pay for one.

Yes Pinegrow for sure is progressing as I started on the version 3. I like the V6 but still would love to see more. But I understand that it is very complex to program such apps, do not worry I understand that.

This is why my thread was not about attacking the product, just asking if I was “Missing” something because many of the front devs I worked with asked me the exact same questions many times over. So I decided to ask everyone if perhaps there was an hidden feature I have never looked into.

Hope you understand now.

11

My apology too Akayy, I took your reply the wrong way ::slight_smile:

It is really a fast moving world, and to be honest, I am starting to panic. When I see drawings on paper turned into wireframes it scares me a lot I would love to work faster but that AI stuff may go against us by making it super easy for our customers to turn ideas onto working products…very scary indeed! lol

12

Yes great, I totally get your point :slight_smile:

I came to Pinegrow, after exploring several options, culminating in Macaw which promised a lot of the design centric/easy export features you mention.-but a lot of those export features/JS libraries didnt even exiat then!

so that was about V 1.15 or 1.27 of Pinegrow.

It’s come a long way!
My web requirements are pretty basic compared to most and it has sort of outgrown me, rather than I have outgrown it.

I need to play catch up.

But as the Devs say, they See PG as one tool in a webdev tool chain. Hence no FTP tooling etc built in as they already exist elsewhere.

But as you say, there are many good parrallel routes to PG and modern tech is…

F A S T!

Cherry picking the bits you want from various Apps to create your tool chaini is a good way but expensive.
But maybe choose one Best Design layout tool and incorporate that with PG?

You Posted some really good info, that TeleportHQ looks really good too.
But it’s a bit like going to a supermarket for Breakfast serial…
So many different boxes, prices,sizes that you end up giving up and running home with bread instead.
Choice/feature/plan/size overload

(Seen how many varieties of bread?
Maybe I should have said apples!..
Wait! HOW MANY Appl types?..)

Currently PG works the way it works as that was the devs wishes/focus at the time and they used it to get thier own work done.

And its based on the technologies they chose at the time (local app,node,chromium engine etc) so I guess it would be a bit of a major rework/new app to go off down the design centric route.

Still, who knows what they might do in the future :slight_smile:

They’ll have seen your feedback (and that other guy’s :wink: )

And, yes, I guess youve seen the tutorials then :smiley: if youve been using it since V3.

Ive not even started on the new V6 docs/turrials yet, so am not really qualified to say anything on the latest.

Soon though. As soon as the Volcanoes in my life settle down.

13

I’m was not posting with the desire or intent to disparage Pinegrow. I was merely giving some relative context to the direct question that was asked within this thread by the person inquiring about said features.

But honestly why should I or anyone be faulted if they are not as easily impressed by certain new features, as an example the “Surprise Me” button. If anyone understands the basic underlying premise of how easily such a feature can be accomplished within a page then no matter how sophisticated or grossly embellished it’s described it then is just not as impressive to some regardless of being called magic or not.

But I can certainly see how certain groups of people will think such a feature will be immensely helpful.

  • Designers whom may struggle at times with design / inspiration
  • Developers seeking some semblance or guidance with esthetics

But yes, personally I expected more overall from this release. I trust that some of these new features will also eventually make their way towards vanilla development. Which has been suggested already along with hoping to see more coming features scoped in that general direction. I have no doubt there is an overall plan in place by the developers that is being actively worked towards realization.

Now that more developers are being on-boarded to the team I’m sure that realization of the overall PG plan and objective can be better expedited and broadened going forward. Case in point that is largely how the code editor was replaced and implemented.

You obviously continue to go out of your way to target me personally. Even so I certainly won’t be run off by your childishness and direct attempts to personally disparage and defame me almost every time I post on this forum. Though that same childishness by you certainly plays a role in my lack of desire of wanting to participate on the forums since you desire to make it a hostile environment towards me.

Your actions continue to be directly contrary to the basic forum rules. You may recall that your last assault thread directly upon me was completely deleted and you were warned for your actions. I guess you don’t have the ability to learn, move on, restrain your emotions or refrain from such actions. Sadly it seems like @matjaz is the only person willing to moderate your nonsense.

14

I was trying to understand your reply but I cannot see anyone on this thread attacking you personally so my only belief is that you may have posted your reply in the wrong thread :slight_smile:

1 Like
15

I am responding to the person and post in the upper right corner of my response. It’s ok that you don’t understand the context or historical nature of this persons actions towards me since those whom do will understand fully. So you needn’t concern yourself with it. :—)

Anyway good luck with your on page visual controls inquiry and request, it would certainly be nice. I’m sure such controls may in someway surface eventually in the main app or perhaps more likely another PG app.

1 Like
16

…Moving on.

Anyway, thanks for the good points @Bennyboy , I shall check out those other links.
I haven’t explored them yet, but yeah, It should be interesting to see how those other apps work, how they export to different frameworks etc.

I am obviously biased as I use PineGrow to learn technologies as well as it does force me to manually … do things and learn the tech behind them - as well as use its visual design features, which, will not magical whizz bang wow, insta-web-page… ensure I have some idea of how it all works behind the scenes.

But your suggestions of instant page creating things is what drew me to these apps in the first place, but, I find that the approach PG takes I like.

But… Hell yeah!
Id like to play with an insta wonder web app too, but Id like to think that there is always a place for a more hands on tool like PG as well.

Curious, I will explore … like when the volcanoes in my life subside.
So, lets not hold our breathe there then :slight_smile:

Cheers for the ideas.

17

Hi @Bennyboy,
Well, it doesn’t work exactly how you want, but you can select an element on the screen, then go to the Style panel and set the display to relative or absolute, depending on page structure. Next, use the sliders in the position section to move the item exactly where you want it. This is basically what is happening with those other builders. You have to be a little cautious with page flow, and I wouldn’t recommend doing this a lot. It can lead to some unexpected results.
Cheers,
Bob

18

In fact, that explanation was more a joke than a 100% “serious” explanation of how it works.
In these (tough) times where everyone praises the benefits of artificial intelligence and neural networks, we thought that talking about natural design intelligence could bring a little :grin: on the faces and a little :sun_with_face: in the minds of our readers.

But as they say, a joke explained is a joke missed! Too bad :slight_smile:

1 Like
19

:joy: It did not pass me, I likewise used the tweet for dramatic effect. I understood the tweet was tongue and cheek mostly. You could even joke that certain new features almost became self aware :—). Though in general you guys have certainly marketed the “Surprise me” in a more serious manner, which is fine it certainly has merit and could be expanded further across features.

Indeed everyone is rushing to make, implement and market AI, ML, NN, etc. By the same token everyone is still rushing after the no-code ideal. Certainly interesting times in the world regarding technology and still Covid.