We are happy we can find out our customers’ reviews on the product we create. This is a great opportunity for Webix to become better, to grow, and to improve.
Today we are talking to Andreas Schindler, he is an experienced developer and he has already used Webix for several projects. Let’s find out what Webix can improve from the point of view of Andreas.
Hi Andreas! Good to see you. Tell us, please, about your job, your position, and your role in the company.
I’m the owner and CEO of the company Schindler IT. We deliver digitalization solutions in many industries with a focus on data analytics. At the moment, we are using Webix for several projects, where we need to build a UI for different kinds of data and data visualization. Overall, using Webix is a satisfying and horrible experience at the same time. It’s awesome how effectively I can build UI and things I need with it. But at the same time, getting TypeScript work with Webix is very often extremely time-consuming and difficult.
What do you need Webix for? Where do you use it?
There are two projects at the moment. One is an enterprise warehouse project management system. It’s about gathering requirements and timing how data should be joined and visualized. Webix is the foundation for that. For the other one, we use Microsoft Dynamics 365. Microsoft can’t do everything I want to do in the UI, so we build in additional forms and user controls for Microsoft using Webix.
Why did you decide to use a JavaScript UI library like Webix in your project?
Webix allows me to build the UI I need. For visualization, Webix does an excellent job. I spend little time on the UI, as long as it is working as expected. But if not, I spend days trying to figure out how to set Type definitions to Webix. The biggest issue we have is that most of the samples are outdated. For instance, there are no basic examples of how to use Webix Chat in TypeScript. So the whole process of making things appears to be quite difficult.
Thank you for this feedback. Our team will focus on improving the situation. Which criteria were the most important for you when you were choosing a library?
The ease of use and flexibility.
Where do you usually look for information to help you in your work?
Google. Sometimes valuable answers are found in the forum, but I wouldn’t say that the documentation is helpful. It is quite generic and useful to get started. But there is much more of what you could say on how the proxy works or how TypeScript integration works, what are best practices. The documentation is incomplete, to my mind.
What do you love about Webix most of all? What are the most important features for you?
The ease of building the UI. It is so simple to get a complex UI done.
What would you recommend Webix to improve?
Some small things, like for example, when you import the library, like Webix Pro, and start using it, you can’t use the reference to access it. Another thing is TypeScript. I have too many errors. Some parameters don’t even work in the context. So, Webix is giving me a hard time with TypeScript. The incomplete documentation and TypeScript support definitely need improving.
Thank you Andreas for this talk. We appreciate such honest feedback from our customers. We wish you good luck with your products.
If you are ready to tell us about your favorite Webix widgets or you want to concentrate on the difficulties of dealing with them, please, contact us. We will be happy to talk to you.
