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Ask DN: Is Skala for Mac dead?

almost 8 years ago from , Co-Founder → A Kids Book About

It's been almost a year since Marc Edwards and Bjango published an article updating the community on Skala:

https://bjango.com/articles/skaladec2014/

Until then, except for some hints of a beta in 2015 from the product page it has been radio silence.

Is Skala still being developed? If a beta lands in the next few months, will it be relevant and compete with the active feature development of Sketch?

I pose this question not to be critical, but as a huge fan of Marc and Bjango's work I am terribly excited about new tools and his take on interface design. I really, really, really want Skala to be: a) real; and b) a huge success.

30 comments

  • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, almost 8 years ago

    Is Skala still being developed?

    Skala is definitely still in development! Lots of progress has been made, our 1.0 feature list has been locked down for over a year, and each day we move a little closer to the release.

    But, we set our sights really high and we will not release a beta until we’re happy with it. Our benchmark has always been that we have to be able to use it daily for our own design work, and we’re not there yet (I don’t think it’s fair that we expect you to try Skala out until we’re confident it’s worthy of your time).

    It's been almost a year since Marc Edwards and Bjango published an article updating the community on Skala.

    Thank you for your patience and sorry about the lack of communication. We don’t have more to say just yet — announcing features wouldn’t get us to release any sooner, and I don’t want to annoy anyone with new information until just before we ship.

    If a beta lands in the next few months, will it be relevant and compete with the active feature development of Sketch?

    Skala is different in many ways to existing tools.

    It’s also worth noting that we don’t need anyone to lose for us to win — we’re a small team, so we don’t need to take over the industry.

    We are doing our best to ensure we get the core details right, because once people start using it for production work, it’ll be much harder to make deep changes. You only get one 1.0.

    I pose this question not to be critical, but as a huge fan of Marc and Bjango's work I am terribly excited about new tools and his take on interface design. I really, really, really want Skala to be: a) real; and b) a huge success.

    Thank you! I really appreciate it. It’s definitely real, and I’m about to get back to work on Skala after I’ve finished replying to this thread.

    32 points
    • Jonathan SimcoeJonathan Simcoe, almost 8 years ago

      Thanks for the reply, Marc! Super excited for the day when Skala arrives.

      1 point
    • T LT L, almost 8 years ago

      How many people is working full time on Skala?

      0 points
      • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, almost 8 years ago (edited almost 8 years ago )

        There’s quite a few people involved in the project, especially if you take Skala Preview, Skala View (iOS and Android) and Skala Color into consideration. I think the simplest answer I can give is: More than 3. The credits currently have 11 unique names, but some have only played a minor role.

        2 points
  • Jan SemlerJan Semler, almost 8 years ago

    Maybe 6 Month ago i did an interview with him for a book i am writing. So i think it is still in development. But sketch 4 is around the corner and project comet also i think this will be a really competitive space. What i have seen so far from comet is impressive and adobe got a good pace to deliver 2016 a rock solid base for ui and ux design.

    2 points
  • c kizerc kizer, almost 8 years ago

    Why not ask @marcedwards?

    2 points
  • Dan BerkoDan Berko, almost 8 years ago

    I have to say, Skala is light years better than Sketch Mirror. I wish Skala worked with Sketch!

    1 point
  • Alexander KäßnerAlexander Käßner, almost 8 years ago

    Let's hope it's still in active development! I'm also looking forward to new Design Tools, especially when they come from awesome Designers like Marc.

    1 point
  • Andy MerskinAndy Merskin, almost 8 years ago

    You and your team are badasses, Marc. Take all the time you need! Also a happy iStat Menus user here. If anyone's not tried it yet, it's a fantastic system information tool (temps, network speeds, drive I/O, etc.)

    0 points
    • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, almost 8 years ago

      Cheers. :) We’re taking our time to get it right, but also working as fast as we can. I definitely realise we’re testing people’s patience.

      And thanks for the iStat Menus plug!

      0 points
  • Luke SeeleyLuke Seeley, almost 8 years ago (edited almost 8 years ago )

    I listen to a podcast called "Iterate" that Marc is on and in their last episode (Nov 19) he did mention it in relation to Project Comet. From all accounts, they are still actively developing it.

    0 points
  • Raphael LoderRaphael Loder, almost 8 years ago

    I wouldn't assume so, simply because Marc has always been very quiet about it over long periods of time. This could either be a really good sign or a really bad one. I tend to favor the first, since I am a fan as well ;)

    0 points
    • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, almost 8 years ago

      Thank you! It has been in development the entire time and development has been very linear — a marathon rather than a set of sprints.

      We still have a lot to do, but almost all the big decisions have been made.

      2 points
  • Kyle MitchellKyle Mitchell, almost 8 years ago

    haha what is skala? can something die before it's ever born?

    0 points