I think as long as it is a fun project (and not for real world applications) such experimental design is just fine. But yeah misclicking due to popups or other stuff is always annoying.
I can share a bit on this one.
I’m doing hybrid apps for the last 8 years and stick to Cordova on my day job but also tried Flutter and RN for a bit.
As I’ve seen some other comments about the iOS/Android look and feel (swiping gestures, etc.), Ionic (or the Cupertino package in Flutter) is the way to go. Without this, it would be a lot of trouble. However, as the recent iOS 26 update has shown, neither Ionic nor Flutter is going to support the new liquid glass design (yet). Since we never went with “our app must exactly match the (apple) design guides” this is not a problem for us but I’m sure others would love to be able to adapt the new liquid glass style.
I also never heard of any app being rejected due to being a hybrid app or not having the correct look and feel. Of course, you might see/feel that it’s not a native app but who cares.
Back in the days we even used a OTA plugin (it was a MS plugin, don’t remember the name) to automatically ship new .js/.html files without going through the review process. If I remember correctly Ionic still provides something like this.
When it comes to native stuff it get’s tricky. As always it really depends on the use case of the app. In our case we develop a navigation app using a native SDK to show a map + turn-by-turn nav + offline maps etc. This is probably the most non ideal use case for a hybrid app. We developed a few plugins to share data between js /native to initialize the map etc. However, the idea of sharing business logic is long gone. There’s so much stuff that’s happening natively and each time we implement it on Android, we have to switch to iOS and implement the Swift version of it.
Some others have also mentioned that a single person now has to know three platforms (iOS, android and Cordova (in our case with ionic + angular). This is true and the real downside. I’m quite familiar with iOS and android yet I’d never call myself a native iOS / Android developer. Yet, I’ve to write so much native code regarding permission handling, geolocation, threading (Ui/non-ui) and there’s always a ton to stuff happening from version to version (e.g. 16 KB Page Size on Android, iOS support for rotation the device/adaptive layout on iPadOS, etc). This is where a lot of time is lost. And the time is not only lost there but also with unmaintained outdated community plugins you suddenly need to understand and fix.
> You may be held up by a problem in a dependency such as poor documentation. It is tempting to start filling in the missing docs, but try to resist that temptation. Better to make minimal personal notes for now and, after you’ve made good progress, considering scheduling time to contribute some docs to the dependency.
I agree with most of the article, but this part keeps me thinking. Scheduling to contribute later will almost never work. Either I do it now or never. The task is lost in a list of infinitely many tasks. Also, contributing to a dependency (if I understand this correctly) is always something that helps at least two: yourself - doing something good, helping to improve someone’s work, getting something done - and the person who works on the dependency project. The other gets (positive) feedback and knows someone uses their product/software/library
Native apps can in many ways be better than web apps but they definitely lack the client side control that a web app (or any website) comes with.
The user is sadly just a consumer and the product at the same time without an opinion.
What I also don’t like are companies that more and more push the user into using the native (I.e. installed) app over the website. I use almost all apps in browser (YouTube, LinkedIn) and the LinkedIn website has a “this content is only visible in the LinkedIn app” banner that is so prominent, it’s disgusting. You’re unable to see details of people changing their job / completing a degree and you’re unable to see the list of “visitors of your profile” (even though this is a silly feature).
On iOS I use YouTube in the browser for a single reason: ads are not shown and/or skippable by reloading the site. Sometimes I use the YouTube app on an iPad and the advertisement experience is so bad. I highly recommend using YouTube in browser (Safari).
Since I’m also somewhat addicted to short, but only use YouTube, I’ve built a chrome+safari extension that allows me to watch X shorts (for longer than 1sec) before closing the page and redirecting me to a different page (whatever you want). This is quite helpful.
You can check it out [here](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/youtube-shorts-trac...). I also use it on iOS via the Safari extension but I haven’t published it yet.
Cool product and great landing page. This is quite off topic: how did you make the code animation in the Feature Flag as Code section? I reminded me of prezi.com (with their slide animations). Would love to know!
I called this Opportunity FOMO for myself. I always wish to jump on the bandwagon with the next idea/project instead of sticking to the one I currently work on.
I decided for myself that there’s no need to buy a domain up front. I don’t even let myself look for potential domain names or start asking ChatGPT to provide me with some naming ideas. Most of the time, the project don’t even reach MVP state. During development and research I also learn more about my project and similar products thus helping me decide on a good name.
I think that the problem is not that you lose momentum but rather that you start with momentum. I prefer having a clear mind and no need to rush (this happens when I’m excited about the project / have the initial momentum). This helps me a lot at deciding what I want/need/should/must do and what not. It also helps me to prioritize the project over/below family, friends, and house.
It helped me a lot that every time a have a new idea or want to start a new side-project that I wait at least two days before I dig deeper and get really started. Only then I really know if I really want this or if it’s just the initial hype/momentum.
> Your API key is stored locally in your browser and never shared. Text content is only sent to Google's Gemini API for translation. No user data is tracked or stored by this extension.
If I understand correctly, your extension simply sends all text directly to Gemini w/o any privacy layer in between that would redact user data? With that Gemini probably learns way more on you that one would want. E.g. using the extension while being logged in to your online banking might lead to Gemini getting information on your financial situation. Or am I missing something?
I’m using Raycast and have custom shortcuts for apps as well although I have to say that I really like your UI and animations. That’s something I’d love to become better at.
Keep up the great work!
And it looks like you do not have any website for Dory?
Thank you. A few years ago there was Ghostnote but the app is bot being developed anymore and does not work on newer macOS versions.
I’m looking forward to port the app to Windows as I’ve never developed anything for Windows yet and am really interested in how window management works there
I‘m building Sticker, a simple note-taking app for Mac that lets you add markdown based notes to applications, files and other windows.
The note is only shown when the connected file, window or app is selected / has focus.
Currently, I use it myself to add notes to specific files and projects, e.g. adding a note to my tax folder for 2025 instead of creating a txt file or adding a ToDo to a specific workspace when opened in VS Code.
The notes are completely file/markdown based and can be simply synced with other devices. This way, it’s also possible to edit the note outside of Sticker.
Yes, thankfully there is. You can reduce the transparency in the Accessibility settings.
I’d wish that the computation load / battery drain would also be reduced by reducing the transparency. However, I think that the computation will still take place.
Just have a look at Cursor.ai or zed.dev. Cursor is based on VS Code and integrates different models right into your codebase. It has access to your codebase, knows your code (after indexing) and is able to directly apply changes to your code or run commands on your integrated terminal. You can directly accept/decline changes. You can reference existing code / files. You can link documentation, you can write a default prompt and default settings (previously .cursorrules).
It's faster than opening chatgpt in browser, writing your promt, waiting for the reply, scanning and scrolling through the reply, copying it, inserting it manually, going back to say something doesn't work.
I stared on building my first macOS (SwiftUI) window-based sticky notes app. It’s a combination of the default Sticky Notes app and the Notes app, making it possible to stick notes to a specific window or file.
Attaching a note to a window shows the note when this specific application window is started/active, e.g. an IDE window with your repository selected.
I’m also planning on extending this by adding browser tab notes as well as email (document) notes.
I always felt like collecting all my todos / notes in a single notes app is not enough. Sometimes you want to remember something just for the next time you open this app/window. Attaching the note directly onto the window makes sure you won’t forget on it.
This brought to my mind to do something similar for digital advertisement, i.e. collecting various ads on the web and (automatically) label them through their metadata.
I’m not quite sure yet we’re this could go. I imagine different categories: SaaS ads, video game ads, company ads, e-commerce ads, and so on, all categorized by company, date, site, etc. You could then see how ads changed for a specific tag/category over time or how ads for a single company, say SAP, changed.