Open source and derived distros are poised to gain market share as customers look to achieve more with hybrid-type mobile devices, an article in TechRepublic has suggested.
Devices such as two-in-one tablets with a keyboard are growing more popular, and might benefit from, for example, a Linux-related environment, Fedora project lead Matthew Miller was reported as saying, especially if OEMs like Lenovo get behind the shift.
This means that developers will need tools that help them work cross-platform better, in an open way, to create the solutions required.
Artur Arseniev, developer of open source web builder framework GrapesJS, tells a blogger for BrowserStack that in one of the biggest challenges in web development is to make software run consistently and well across all supported devices and browsers, which may differ widely in functionality.
BrowserStack is an “important companion” to his development work in this respect.
“BrowserStack allows me to reproduce and debug those issues directly from my browser by switching only the virtual environment. Without it, it would be impossible to work on those bugs. Of course, I could always ask the reporter to try each fix on their own device, but that would be an awful experience,” Arseniev says.
GrapesJS was published during a period of great growth in website builders and people were trying to find some open source alternatives, he notes. It allows users to build HTML templates without coding.
“We have two kings of users—the ones who just want to play around with the demo and build some webpage or newsletter, and those who want to create and integrate a custom web builder inside their applications,” he says.
And he praises taking a wider view and sharing project ideas for development from day one, to build success more quickly – all concepts that benefit from a heterogeneous environment and open-source approach.
“One good thing we did for GrapesJS that I’m really proud of is to have started testing functionalities right from the beginning,” he adds. “A good test approach leads to a more stable code structure. Tests push you to create your functions in an isolated and pure manner. It’s also much harder to apply tests later than in the beginning.”
Apart from managing GrapesJS, Arseniev also works as a senior front-end developer for Casa.it and manages his own SaaS product, Grapedrop.
Read the full BrowserStack interview here.
