Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

by darkhorse13 • 2 years ago

193 77 2 years ago

bberenberg• 2 years ago

I feel like this falls into an uncanny valley between requiring the skill to cognitively model forms in your mind as text, which is fairly close to coding and using a form builder UI.

bthallplz2• 2 years ago

Yeah, it'd be great if over time they/a community provided a system for visualizing the form logic and a form builder GUI so you can go full-circle with this (building via code and GUI and saving/versioning/forking forms via source).

mx20• 2 years ago

SurveyJS already has all that and uses JSON. It's also MIT licensed, instead of this non commercial license.

breck5• 2 years ago

uncanny valley

Yes, but he's very close to the obvious solution that will spark web 4.0.

Closest I've seen yet.

turnsout• 2 years ago

Say more!

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Would love to catch a chat with you about this if you don't mind. My email is tahmid(dot)hm(dot)dev(at)gmail.com.

anon1094• 2 years ago

It looks interesting. Do you not have a free plan or even a trial?

cpb• 2 years ago

It's free for local use from npm.

mmastrac• 2 years ago

This style of form is aggravating to fill out, but kudos on making it beautiful.

If you want to be kind to your users, allow them to scroll through the entire form, see it on one screen and ideally skip ahead without filling out required options but block submission.

diggan3• 2 years ago

This style of form is aggravating to fill out,

In what sense?

I suppose for me it kind of matters how many questions are being asked. I'm fine with this UX if it's a specific question or two, but for a whole questionnaire with 14 questions or more, then I'd also prefer to be able to get an overview first.

movedx• 2 years ago

> This style of form is aggravating to fill out,
In what sense?

You just answered your own question.

I want to see what I'm getting my self in for so that companies/entities can't trick me into filling out a questionnaire with 50 questions in that, "Will only take a minute!" It's easy to get people to get answer enough questions that they reach the point that stopping now would mean everything they've just done is a waste of their time, so they keep going. It's abusive.

Give me everything up front and let me decide if I have the time to commit to that.

Terretta3• 2 years ago

It's been studied that fewer people start the big form than a multi-stage form of uncertain size but more people finish it.

nine_k3• 2 years ago

This style of forms only makes sense when the next pages depend on previous pages, that is, when it's a tree of possible steps, not a linear path.

Not the case here though.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

You can actually have more than one form field within the same slide. I haven't made that very obvious, but one of the advantages here compared to Typeform is the flexibility.

rafram• 2 years ago

This is more like a DSL with Markdown embedded for the textual parts, but still cool.

An actual Markdown syntax extension for forms would be interesting. [_____] for text fields?

bthallplz2• 2 years ago

Yeah, is anyone familiar with other DSLs for form/survey building and logic?

For my work, where we produce lots of surveys and reuse parts of them/run near duplicates monthly, I've been curious to see if there's any dual code and GUI options out there to allow for survey programming to be version controlled and forked, etc.

diggan3• 2 years ago

Yeah, is anyone familiar with other DSLs for form/survey building and logic?

This would be one: https://github.com/leemeichin/ask_awesomely

That's a client library for interacting with now defunct Typeform I/O, so it won't work anymore. But maybe the DSL itself could be an inspiration, or you could wrangle a fork of the library to create the forms locally.

lukasb• 2 years ago

Yeah I'm curious if the Markdown form syntax here is totally new or if other people have done something similar. I'm building an app that extends Markdown with Excel-like formulas (think function calls, not arithmetic) and have considered having formulas that instantiate form elements.

nbbaier• 2 years ago

Sounds like a really interesting app!

verdverm2• 2 years ago

MDX is great for this, you can intermix JS/TS, JSX, and Markdown

https://mdxjs.com/

You can write any components normally and pass them in to be available in MDX. You can make forms and much more

aitchnyu• 2 years ago

Whats the appeal of Markdown anyway when we are not using Notepad? My ide has same number of keystrokes for `<h3>` and `###`? Might as well go all in on JSX.

nine_k3• 2 years ago

Almost literally what you describe: https://createhtmlform.com/ Apparently not open source though.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

I thought about the ____ syntax, but found it quite hard to fit in extra parameters in a nice way.

mg2• 2 years ago

It looks like it could be made leaner.

This:

    name* = TextInput(
        | question = What is your name?
        | description = 
          Let's get started with the survey. First, please tell
          us your full legal name according to your passport.
    )

Could be just this:

    name* = TextInput
        # What is your name?
        Let's get started with the survey. First, please tell
        us your full legal name according to your passport.

steve_adams_86• 2 years ago

But then how would you support choices or conditions for example?

notpushkin• 2 years ago

Maybe something like this for choices?

    fruits = MultiChoiceInput
        # What are your favourite fruits?
        - [ ] Apples
        - [ ] Oranges
        - [ ] Bananas

Personally I'd prefer good old MDX though:

    <MultiChoiceInput
        name="fruits"
        hideIf={name.value !== "FruitLover"}
        options={["Apples", "Oranges", "Bananas]}
    />

mg2• 2 years ago

Well, you can define the syntax however you like in a new DSL, right?

I like the syntax notpushkin proposed and would extend it a bit like this:

    fruits* = MultiChoiceInput
        # Pick two out of three fruits
        Fruits are healthy, so let's pick two fruits
        you will eat every morning for the coming week
        - [ ] Apple
        - [ ] Orange
        - [ ] Banana

diamondfist25• 2 years ago

This is awesome!

vunderba• 2 years ago

I could definitely see this being useful if you could easily integrate it into a static site generator pipeline like Hugo or Jekyll.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Yeah that's a great idea.

lottamus• 2 years ago

Looks interesting, but I’m having a hard time seeing why a team would adopt this over something like MDX. A comparison page between the two would be great!

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Great idea, I want to build comparison pages like that, challenging to do everything on my own, but trying to manage.

codersfocus2• 2 years ago

Why are you using Paddle? Using a MoR for a product like this is really dumb.

MoRs are common in very shady areas (gambling, adult, etc.) where getting credit card processing approval is difficult.

Yet some marketing genius has decided he can hoodwink indiehackers into giving him 12% of his revenue, while also hurting the indiehacker's sales.

breadwinner• 2 years ago

What are you talking about? Paddle charges 5% + $0.50, see https://www.paddle.com/pricing They handle chargeback, taxes in various states, etc., etc.

codersfocus2• 2 years ago

I was mistaken on their pricing, but making your customers pay 5-25% more even though you have no nexus in 99% of jurisdictions will still hurt sales to a significant degree.

And you think they’ll keep you as a customer if chargebacks are at all an issue for you?

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

This was the easiest and quickest to start with. I don't know about MoRs' reputation in general, I saw Tailwind using Paddle so figured I would too. By the way, I applied to Lemon Squeezy as well, but their verification process made me wait 2 weeks and then asked for an Instagram account, which was crazy because this is such a techy nerdy product.

j12a• 2 years ago

This syntax would be just nice to plug into WordPress Contact Form 7 plugin which is also a feasible FOSS alternative in itself.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Definitely want to build a WordPress plugin ASAP.

goforbg• 2 years ago

The telephone input takes text input?

Esras• 2 years ago

If you read the parent comment here as I did originally, about it being text as opposed to a number field, see points 18, 19, 23, and 25 on https://github.com/google/libphonenumber/blob/master/FALSEHO...

The field on the form is indeed of `type=tel`, which Mozilla helpfully points out has no validation (see the above document): https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/in...

aimazon• 2 years ago

Very good work, especially for a solo developer. Feedback:

1. Design language of the forms feels too much like Typeform, you're a talented designer: differentiate the design to establish your own identity. If the forms look like Typeform, form-fillers are not going to investigate what form software it is and use it -- which was a big part of why Typeform grew.

2. The name is terrible. Blocks? The name sounds like you decided on it for a different project (some sort of component framework using Markdown?) and then reused it for this. The domain forms.md is available to register. Anything that include "form" in the name would be a significant improvement.

Terretta3• 2 years ago

The name is terrible. Blocks? The name sounds like you decided on it for a different project (some sort of component framework using Markdown?)

`forms.md` says what it is on the label.

And `filldown` has a lot of extensions available:

https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration/results/?doma...

halfdaft• 2 years ago

how about some riff on mark down / fill in. Maybe that's more of a tagline

nine_k3• 2 years ago

differentiate the design to establish your own identity.

But maybe the Typeform design i not very original, too. Maybe it makes sense to use some design that is rather neutral, easy on the eye, automatically recognizable without an effort to parse.

I see a commendable humility in picking a clean, usable, not catchy rendering. What's original here is the form language, which is actually the centerpiece. And frankly, I wish the code examples were more colorful, bringing attention to the keywords and separating them from the static text runs. It would help understand the language structure easier.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Thank you!

1. Yeah I would say this was intentional. Typeforms are almost instantly recognizable, which is a good thing for a new product I think. I actually want to offer more than one form style though. If you look at the CSS file, everything is a variable so that I can add more styles/themes.

2. Haha you're right actually, the idea was slightly different and the name sort of stuck (it was originally blocksdb, which is worse). I don't mind blocks.md though, but marketing is definitely not my best skill.

Jonovono2• 2 years ago

Looks nice! I was using typeform to collect surveys but found the UX weird so I switched to Google Forms. Found we got more conversions too, it's just simpler to use. The one thing missing was I wanted a way to redirect someone after they completed the form. That wasn't supported so if there is anyone else in a similar boat, I made this (free) service: https://www.gfrdr.com.

compootr2• 2 years ago

cool! using an iframe & whatever their JS API has I assume?

Jonovono2• 2 years ago

Ya exactly. Just embedding iframe and then a simple listening on the form element to see if its been loaded again and then redirect.

dcreater• 2 years ago

Why is better than just a simple spreadsheet as input? Spreadsheets are still somehow very underrated

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

I love spreadsheets, but wouldn't this expose all the other responses collected so far to the person filling out the form?

breck5• 2 years ago

Oh this is right up my alley. Love it! Some really good design decisions.

My user test: https://www.loom.com/share/9287cfe4e7024330bfe752ef8b9ad9bd

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Hey, really appreciate this user test. Like I mentioned in another comment, I would love to catch a chat with you if you're interested: tahmid(dot)hm(dot)dev(at)gmail.com. Thanks again for taking the time to make a video.

compootr2• 2 years ago

Nice Design, however:

1. I don't understand why there's a pricing model for some CSS on forms. if I'm hosting the form & submission endpoint why do I need your backend (? not even sure what your role is here) 2. why not make it into a selfhosted typeform alternative; would be cooler than this saas bs

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Thank you, yes trying to figure out the best way to market this product. A self-hosted Typeform alternative is definitely an idea on that list.

nikolayasdf123• 2 years ago

nice product. but prohibitively expensive. 60$ and even more concerning "Varies" price for actual use is pretty much no-go for this product.

if you are small startup this is too expensive, if you are big company, you might as well built it yourself. got to be cheaper!

UPD: typeform charge more but they provide hosting and analytics, very convenient for people who don't want/cant to code anything. this library is "bring your own backend, analytics, etc.", need coding too, but prices are nearly same ballpark. too expensive.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Hmm I'm still trying to figure out pricing. The "Varies" Enterprise option is just there so people who are interested and I can have a proper chat because the product is so new. Definitely not a typical sales call, although I haven't done a good job to explain that.

oefrha3• 2 years ago

I don’t understand the license here https://github.com/blocksmd/blocksmd?tab=License-1-ov-file#r...

It says Business Source License 1.1 which basically means I’m free to use as long as I don’t use it to build a competitive offering. Fair enough.

But it changes to AGPL-3.0 on 2028-07-01, what? Basically now I need to open source my entire stack that has any connection to the form? Why would you change it to a more restrictive license (for anyone not looking to build a competitive offering) after a few years?

---

Unrelated, I find the DSL increasingly unwieldy as you get to more advanced features (especially styling). Might want to consider offering a JSX/TSX alternative for more advanced use cases.

uneekname2• 2 years ago

IANAL but from what I understand, folks will be able to use the current version of the software as it is currently licensed, forever. The author is making clear their intent to change the license on a certain date, at which point new versions of the software will only be available under AGPL.

I agree it's odd that folks who use this software something that isn't a "competitive offering" may have to open-source their software stack if they upgrade to a new version in 2028. But, they will always have the option to use an older version of the software that is still covered by the BSL.

oefrha3• 2 years ago

No that’s not how these license changes works. The current version is licensed under a source available license until a certain point in the future when it’s converted to an open source license, so people can use the by then possibly very outdated version freely. Or they can upgrade to the newer but still source available version if there is one. It’s meant to be an assurance that in case the business is gone by then, you the user and/or customer can still patch it yourself or rely on a community fork to keep it working.

Except here thanks to the AGPL choice, it seems to be the exact opposite of an assurance: if you use this in a proprietary setting, you’re just fucked if the business is gone and the software needs patching.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

So I did not want to open-source yet, which is why I picked BUSL-1.1, and from what I can tell, the other BUSL-1.1 I've looked at had this clause to open-source at a later date (AGPL3 is an open-source license after all).

I'm still trying to figure out the licensing around this whole thing, so this is temporary I believe.

brainless• 2 years ago

It is AGPL that most people will have an issue with. Perhaps you can select a different license for the automatic switch.

darkhorse1314• 2 years ago

Hey builder of this thing here. This blew up like crazy! Thanks for all of the feedback everyone. I'll try to reply to all of them, I think most of it is very valid. In case someone wants to reach out for questions, my email is tahmid(dot)hm(dot)dev(at)gmail.com.

devops000• 2 years ago

Cool! How could I install it in Jekyll ? It could be use for landing page form, newsletter form or custom form calculator where html is not allowed.

waishnav• 2 years ago

why would someone self host? There is always resistance in managing server on our own. So only people will buy such self hosted typeform alternatives are maybe the one who are using typeforms at scale, large businesses.

Nonetheless great design!

heyarviind2• 2 years ago

Nice product, I also built a typeform alternative which is easier to use and offers life time deal

https://formlick.com

Stanlyya• 2 years ago

Great alternative. I'm the founder of Buildform.ai which is an AI first typeform alternative. With buildform, it's faster and easy to build high-conversion conversational forms and analyze and use the data you collected.

Show HN: Typeform alternative, turns Markdown to forms

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