Penpot Desktop Project

[carolina.portugal]

Hello @Adrian_Ling right now we are looking for a developer to improve the desktop app:

Penpot Desktop: Looking for a new developer

[image] What’s Happening As of April 23rd this year, SudoVanilla has made major changes to how things work in it’s infrastructure and development as part of it’s major update on it’s new domain. A major decision was made at this time to it’s desktop development which includes it’s projects like Nexus Polestar, Electron templates, and most importantly Penpot Desktop. All desktop development was dropped and deprecated. This means Penpot Desktop was no longer getting updates that is needed, even…

[Belar]

For anyone looking for the source code of the Penpot Desktop project, the code hosting must have moved because it is now available at https://ark.sudovanilla.org/Korbs/Penpot-Desktop. It is still discontinued, though.

I looked into the project and can share the good news that it still runs. I also wonder if it should be revived and in what form.

In its current state, the Penpot Desktop is like a Penpot browser. It is similar to opening the Penpot app (the official or a self-hosted one) with a Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge etc.), but with a dedicated UI. That means customisation is possible around the app, but limited in the app itself. That may be enough, but it depends on the expectations towards a Penpot desktop app.

With that, I thought I would check with others on how they see Penpot’s desktop experience. What do you expect from a Penpot desktop application? How would it benefit you compared to opening the app in a browser?

[ellice909]

In the desktop app, I would really like to be able to detach the pallets and tools from the left/right of the program and drag them to my left and right monitors where they can sit and float. This allows me to leave my center screen to see the artboard only. I design desktop apps, so having to judge my design with sidebars cluttering-up my viewing area in the center screen slows me down.

Perhaps being able to turn on, or have a filter to only show desktop-installed fonts. I am not a fan of some of the goofy stock fonts in the app; they are just clutter to scroll past.

I can help with testing possibly. I would be happy if you took the torch on this one. Having an app that can be installed on a computer also comes across as more “legit” software for a company, than trying to explain to the c-suite you are doing some important design on a website (they don’t understand web app). It is like a perception thing.

Thank you.

[Belar]

The revived Penpot Desktop is live.

The project’s current home is a repository on Github: GitHub - author-more/penpot-desktop. There is a legacy release available there already, regular releases will soon follow.

My current focus is upgrading the application and sorting out administration tasks. For the future work, I plan to publish a roadmap that will show what is in the pipeline. The roadmap will include issues and suggestions from the past threads and comments on Penpot Desktop.

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@ellice909 Thank you, I will look into these features.

Interesting, it seems there are a few non-technical benefits to a desktop app, like the outside perception that you mentioned. I also saw comments about reduced distraction and improved work separation. Good to know.

[aenism]

Thank you for taking over the devlopment. To me, the most important considerations for using a dedicated desktop app are;

• custom fonts
• familiar OS level application features like accessing Settings from title bar
• better performance (not sure if this is true)
• lesser browser chrome to maximize work canvas size

[Beryesa]

If you’d like to flatpak it again (the old one is here for reference) I’d like to help maintain the package/updates
See Submission | Flathub Documentation

[Belar]

The revived Penpot Desktop received this week its second release, hence I thought I would post an update.

The highlights of these releases are:

• Component updates, especially Electron.

• Completion of multiple administrative tasks, plus the start of the new documentation,

• The very first feature that is a dedicated tab reload button, mentioned multiple times by the Penpot community.

You can see the full list of changes in the releases directory.

Following the previous update, there is now a “roadmap” where you can follow the development and see where it’s heading. I’m still experimenting with the format, will see how this issues board works out.

Thank you everyone for the support and feedback. Stay tuned for the next one.

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Thank you @aenism. There is local/system fonts support planned, which may be related to the custom fonts you mentioned. The intent to keep things OS-like and lean is very much there, it’s a process though. As for better performance, experiences vary in the matter, but the app should let you run Penpot to its full extent.

Thank you for the offer @Beryesa. Flathub publishing is on my radar, unfortunately support for it in the Electron Builder isn’t there (Flatpak - electron-builder) and I haven’t reviewed other options yet. It’s in the backlog, but with a standard priority since there are multiple installation options available for Linux already. What would you need to maintain the Penpot Desktop’s Flathub repo?

[Beryesa]

It’s still possible to publish an electron flatpak, albeit more boilerplate, see Electron - Flatpak documentation
The version will need to be updated on the flathub repo, and while there’s the automated release checker, it still needs to be merged, I’d like to help there if you don’t want to bother with an extra repo.

The only other QoL addition would be a config option to disable the built-in updater, since I doubt it’d work inside the sandbox, but it’ll be updated from the desktop store just like the other apps.

There’re multiple options indeed, and the AppImage is practical, but not more practical or discoverable than a single click on the store, without manual desktop integration and a little more universal than the AppImage

If there’s an app that you’d like to be distributed on Flathub, the best first course of action is to approach the app’s developers and ask them to submit it. Please remain respectful, patient and courteous when making such requests.

You can also submit it yourself following the submission process outlined above, or start a topic on the Flathub forum to find interested volunteers.

I can submit if you are interested

Lastly, possibly a permission from the Penpot team to use the name “Penpot Desktop” on flathub (trademark rules) since it’s not official, yet

[Belar]

@Beryesa

It’s still possible to publish an electron flatpak, albeit more boilerplate, see Electron - Flatpak documentation
The version will need to be updated on the flathub repo, and while there’s the automated release checker, it still needs to be merged, I’d like to help there if you don’t want to bother with an extra repo.

I believe that’s the way to go. Electron-builder does only single-file bundles and there is no ETA on repositories support. You are welcome to work on it, I saw the PR draft, if you need anything (e.g. CI changes, new repo) let me know and I will look into it.

By the way, I added an issue to track the feature. We can continue development discussion there.

@Beryesa

The only other QoL addition would be a config option to disable the built-in updater, since I doubt it’d work inside the sandbox, but it’ll be updated from the desktop store just like the other apps.

Sure, I’m thinking an environment variable flag. Would that suffice?

@Beryesa

There’re multiple options indeed, and the AppImage is practical, but not more practical or discoverable than a single click on the store, without manual desktop integration and a little more universal than the AppImage

Agreed, I was referring only to the priority. It will be great to have it on Flathub and later Snap.

@Beryesa

I can submit if you are interested

The way I would see it, if you are up for it, is that you would handle Flatpak end-to-end. It looks like a community-contribution friendly process and the app won’t be locked out in any case.

@Beryesa

Lastly, possibly a permission from the Penpot team to use the name “Penpot Desktop” on flathub (trademark rules) since it’s not official, yet

Yes, although it’s named like that in the official resources (website, documentation), this is something that’s on my mind too.

[RenanMayrinckDesign]

Just a quick heads-up to the Penpot devs. Let’s update the “Penpot Desktop App” link to be the new github repo listed by @Belar, so users will go directly to where the project is and can check out the latest updates, info and some other stuff.