Package discovery for new users

Hey there! I’m pretty new to Elm, functional programming and front-end programming as well. So I have a problem with searching for new packages. I usually don’t know the right words for stuff and searching for packages on Elm Package is not really straight forward for a couple of reasons. I’m not saying it should be changed or something but we need a better way to search for stuff. I think that Elm Package can stay the way it is and it would be perfectly fine. The reason is that it would be better for elm core team if someone else took the chance and created a better tool.

So here I am with request for feedback. As a Django developer I know Django packages quite well. It is a great place to start when you look for a new library. It is independent of the Python package index(PYPI) mainly because it’s focus is only on a part of the language not the whole ecosystem. It’s main focus is to visually compare different packages among themselves. You can for example search for e-commerce solutions and see what different frameworks have to offer right away. Also it’s maintained by moderators who can remove abandoned projects so new users don’t have to manually search trough stuff that is no longer maintained.

This is solution to my problem that I experienced for last month. I started with a little side project with a goal of learning Elm along the way. What I realized that it is much harder to find the right tools without tools such as Django packages. For example Elm packages shows a few different elm-ui libraries and choosing the right one is almost impossible task for someone like me.

So I have a couple of questions

  1. Is something like this needed in the Elm community?
  2. Should I fork the Django packages and change it for Elm support?
2 Likes

True. Elm has the philosophy of plain names, but it can still be hard to find “related” packages sometimes. Personally, I’m more familiar with Ruby Toolbox, which has been nice at times for considering options.

The site is far from finished on some places you can still see Django Packages names but this is how it might look like. I named it Elm finder because Elm packages is already taken and it does not make sense to create name collisions like this.

Edit 29.4.2019: renamed elmseeds.org to elmfinder.org

Not quite the same as you are requesting, but it might be worth looking at Awesome Elm. There might be scope there to insert/expand a packages section, subdividing by topic.

There was https://elmseeds.thaterikperson.com from a long time ago with a lot of cool screencasts. Seems like a name collision?

Well that’s my bad for doing poor research. I guess I have to find a better name if I want to develop this idea further.

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