What is the deal with all these "I made an app using trigger.io" blog posts that seem to have been paid for by trigger.io? I don't think I've seen a mention of trigger.io yet that doesn't grossly misrepresent phonegap as being some difficult, arcane, "only greybeards can use it" monstrosity.
>I decided to go with Trigger.io to achieve my goal, as I wanted to spare myself endless hours spent on configuring environment (as opposed to PhoneGap/Appcelerator)
Huh? Have you tried phonegap? How does "click next on a couple of installers and extract a single zip file" take hours of configuration?
>Trigger.io provides you with a pleasant environment, where you don’t have to touch command line at all! It works as an app within your browser, from localhost. I do understand that a lot of folks may prefer “hacker-style” black terminal over Trigger’s clean and minimalistic web app, but for me clicking a button that i can see instead of typing a command is a much better experience, especially at the beginning.
I can't figure out what on earth he is trying to compare it to here. What html/js mobile app framework involves typing commands in "hacker style black terminals"? With phonegap you just click "run as android application" (or whatever you want to run it as).
While not the case here, I've noticed that when a YC company launches, many other YC companies which used their alpha/beta/whatever product pipe up about how great it is. I can only trust that all those reviews are genuine and that the product/service being launched really is awesome and better than competitive solutions, though the jaded side of me that has been exposed to too much marketing sometimes wonders.
The first step you've linked there for PhoneGap Android is to install Eclipse. The first step for PhoneGap iOS is to install XCode (=> OS X). The first step for PhoneGap Windows Mobile is to install Visual Studio Express (=> Windows).
Regardless of whether you choose to point-and-click or use the command line, Trigger's web-based approach seems to have a huge advantage over all that installation/configuration. Heroku for cross-platform apps, as it were; of course you can assemble everything yourself, but it's a lot more work to get to the "it's easy now" stage which this blog gets to very quickly using Trigger.
It does seem Trigger are sending out T-shirts (see below) - it doesn't count as paid in my book, but then maybe the T-shirts are _really_ nice :-)
>The first step you've linked there for PhoneGap Android is to install Eclipse
Uh huh? You've never used an IDE before? And that makes you think clicking next in an installer is hours of configuration?
>Trigger's web-based approach seems to have a huge advantage over all that installation/configuration
See, this is exactly what I mean. You are welcome to say "I prefer editing my code in a web browser", and I will certainly believe that (although I'll obviously assume you are insane). But trying to characterize the alternative of "using an editor" (which everyone already does for every other kind of development) as some arduous task is absurd.
>but it's a lot more work to get to the "it's easy now" stage which this blog gets to very quickly using Trigger.
No, it isn't. That's precisely the point. I just did it yesterday, that's why I know. It took 5 minutes to have a nicely documented example app up and running ready for me to edit it. I typed 0 commands. Deliberately misrepresenting software X is a bad way to sell people on software Y. It just makes you seem dishonest, and then your opinion isn't trusted.
Just wanted to point out that Trigger.io doesn't require you to code in a web browser as this comment implies. We don't provide any kind of IDE, web or otherwise.
We do provide a cloud build service so you don't compile the apps locally. You interact with that via command-line tools or our UI toolkit.
I was pleasantly surprised to see this write-up when I woke up this morning and then sad when I read your first sentence :(
We frequently blog about app development ourselves at blog.trigger.io but this write-up is nothing to do with that and we certainly don't pay for 3rd parties to post on their blog. What made you think that's what's going on here?
You're entitled to your opinion as is the author of this blog post... until accusations become libelous. The blog post was someones experience with PhoneGap. Don't you think people have differing experiences?
But... to each their own. The Internet's haz one big opinion.
You might want to look up libel in a dictionary before tossing it around. And the blog was not someone's experience with phonegap, it was someone's experience with trigger.io, they just happened to repeat some made up nonsense about phonegap in it.
I agree that setting up PhoneGap isn't hard, but if this is a marketing ploy... well, it worked on me. Trigger.io appears to have SMS support, which PhoneGap no longer does, so I'm going to check it out.
That said, it irks me that I'd have to pay $3600/year to support more than 2 platforms.
>I decided to go with Trigger.io to achieve my goal, as I wanted to spare myself endless hours spent on configuring environment (as opposed to PhoneGap/Appcelerator)
Huh? Have you tried phonegap? How does "click next on a couple of installers and extract a single zip file" take hours of configuration?
>Trigger.io provides you with a pleasant environment, where you don’t have to touch command line at all! It works as an app within your browser, from localhost. I do understand that a lot of folks may prefer “hacker-style” black terminal over Trigger’s clean and minimalistic web app, but for me clicking a button that i can see instead of typing a command is a much better experience, especially at the beginning.
I can't figure out what on earth he is trying to compare it to here. What html/js mobile app framework involves typing commands in "hacker style black terminals"? With phonegap you just click "run as android application" (or whatever you want to run it as).
This is how hard it actually is to setup phonegap: http://docs.phonegap.com/en/1.8.1/guide_getting-started_andr...