Current situation:
The home page currently has just a hero section with this strapline:
“Web dev got simple again. Build rich, interactive UIs entirely in Elixir using Hologram’s declarative component system. Your client-side code is intelligently transpiled to JavaScript, providing modern frontend capabilities without relying on any JavaScript frameworks.”
What I’m planning:
I want to update the strapline to better highlight both the core value (Elixir-to-JS transpilation) and the bigger vision (cross-platform development from a single codebase, local-first auto-sync data store). I’m also planning to add multiple small sections focusing on specific value propositions, each with a brief description and code snippet.
Questions for you:
What do you think is Hologram’s most compelling value proposition? What would make you go “wow, I need to try this”?
What would appeal to different types of developers? (e.g., Elixir devs tired of JS, full-stack devs wanting simplicity, teams wanting cross-platform)
What should be featured on the home page? What aspects of Hologram should I highlight?
What kind of code snippets would be most effective? What would make you want to dive deeper?
I think these three things combined will be pure gold and help you stand out
Being able to work with or alongside Phoenix will also be advantageous - if people don’t have to choose then that lowers the barrier to entry significantly.
I also really like how you’ve repeatedly said DX is important to you - there’s already a lot to learn when people come to Elixir (Elixir, OTP, a bit of Erlang, Phoenix) so making things as simple (and natural and intuitive) as possible can’t be a bad thing.
A “wow” application using Hologram. For example: Liveview has Livebook.
Edit: Before Livebook, the “wow” application that won me over to Liveview is Live Dashboard. I think your homepage is good enough; you only need an application to showcase the strength of Hologram.
Headline: A dead simple way to build instant, fullstack Elixir apps.
Subheadline: Power your web / mobile / desktop app with one codebase and an unparalleled UX and DX.
Callouts:
Instant apps with automatic data sync
Easily build local-first apps, made famous by the likes of Linear and Superhuman. Every user action feels instant. Data automatically syncs to the client, say goodbye to complicated fetch patterns and waiting for a server roundtrip.
Simplicity meets scalability
One codebase, one language. Start quickly with a prototype. Scale to millions with Elixir and the BEAM.
Write once, run everywhere
The dream come true. Publish your app to the web, mobile, and desktop in record speed, no App Store intermediaries required.
—
I think a Hologram.Page code snippet would be helpful on the home page since that shows the main pieces. Could be a simple counter example or a todo page with add / delete.
I like the idea of a demo app that features its unique abilities. I also think there should be a Todo example repo just so people can get a feel for how the pieces fit together.
Yeah I hesitated on “dead” as well but some adjective here I think would be good. I like “super” too.
I think it’s a good idea to give some point of reference to a “canonical” example of a local-first app. Linear is one that a lot point to. I think that term is still new to some though maybe it’s reached enough popularity by now.
Quick question - what’s wrong with the phrase “dead simple”? I’m not a native English speaker, but I always thought it meant “extremely simple” (like “dead serious” or “dead wrong”). Actually, I had this phrase in my inspirations for the new hero strapline!
That’s right. IMO, it makes for a kind of nice juxtaposition that grabs attention. I think the counter argument would be using the word “dead” in a description of your product might not be optimal even if its meaning is entirely different in context.
I’m not sure about anywhere else but in that context here in the UK it is predominantly used by preteens/children. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone use it in that way since I was in junior school, but as I said it might be different in other countries.
Another thing to consider might be those going through a bereavement - they might be having a ‘good’ day and decide to check out Hologram, to maybe help take their mind off things, and so anything that might remind them of death is probably not ideal. When my brother died it was a massive shock and hit us all for 6, and I remember vividly how even small innocuous things said in complete innocence could bring back the grief.
It’s not something that bothers me personally now but could be worth considering, and I’d say it generally not being used by adults (unless speaking to children) is probably the primary reason I’d personally avoid it.
Either way I don’t think it’s a massive deal, but I hope the above helps
I think some sort of demonstration of Hologram on the home page would be nice. I actually quite like the current page but it doesn’t really do much to show what Hologram is capable of because it’s not interactive at all. That ball demo you had posted seemed to get a lot of attention, so maybe something in that direction.
I wonder, is it possible to port the compiler to JS? You could do a JSFiddle type thing with Elixir code purely client-side. That would be very cool.
I think this must be a UK thing; I have never heard of this connotation.
Porting the compiler is not practical, but the editor experience you’re describing is technically possible. I could bundle the transpiled Elixir standard library for client-side execution, though that would likely result in a several-megabyte bundle.
A more practical approach might be to lazy-load the bundle on-demand - for example, when a user clicks “Run” or starts interacting with the code editor. This would keep the initial page load lightweight while still enabling the full client-side experience you’re describing.
I saw this the other day and thought it was very cool - imagine a ‘hologram’ (of even just the logo) which is as interactive and organic feeling as this:
The Hologram logo as a hologram could create an amazing effect - you could have the whole logo as a hologram, with the triangle cycling (phasing and snapping, to give it a dynamic feel) and then mouse events through it pixelate and spread the area, perhaps also slowing down time/the cycling effect.
I reckon something like that could help supercharge the hype!
I love the idea, added it to my redesign inspirations! For now I have to choose my battles wisely due to limited amount of time I have. Eventually I’d like the home page to really blow people away, but that’s for another stage of the project. So many great possibilities when you can run the code client-side including access to WebGL API as in the “Fluid Glass” example!
You can do a pretty nice holographic effect in pure CSS. Not really a selling point for Hologram specifically but it would be thematically appropriate for a landing page.
WebGL (and hopefully soon finally WebGPU) are very cool but kinda orthogonal to Hologram’s MO. Also OpenGL (and therefore WebGL) is without question the worst API I have ever had the displeasure of using and even writing a wrapper around it would be utterly exhausting I suspect.
To be clear what I was suggesting is something interactive that the user can edit. If porting the compiler is too much (or too slow) you could also just run an endpoint that compiles the component to JS and sends it back to the client. Is the compiler safe to run in an environment like that?
Unfortunately, the compiler isn’t safe to run in that kind of environment. The user-submitted component would need to be compiled server-side to generate the .beam file, which means they could write any macro that executes at compile-time with full system access - filesystem, network, environment variables, etc. Safely sandboxing that would be challenging and would require heavy containerization with strict resource limits, adding significant complexity and cost.
That said, something like that would be really cool to have. Maybe there are some libraries out there that solve this problem somehow - if you know of any, I’d love to hear about them!
