Launching Launch Elements
by Chris Nelson
We’d like to introduce you to something new we’ve been cooking up here at Launch Scout: Launch Elements. Launch Elements is a set of custom element based micro applications designed to be the easiest and best way to add features to a website. Launch Elements builds on the ideas we’ve talking about here on our blog for many moons. We saw an opportunity to try to apply these ideas to give developers and designers a better experience. We can’t wait to hear what you think about it.
What’s a custom element based micro app?
Great question! It is a micro app packaged as a custom HTML element. A micro app is designed to add some functionality to a website or a larger application. Typical examples might be a shopping cart, a contact form, or a comments section.
Packaging these kinds of apps as custom HTML elements gives us some very special super powers. First off, they are incredibly easy to use: they work exactly the same as adding any other HTML tag to a website. And because they just HTML elements, there is zero lock-in of any kind. They work regardless of any choices you want to make about hosting environment, and will happily play along with any other technology you choose.
The other super power is the ability to style them with CSS. This means you get the power to determine the look at feel of your entire site, without somebody else deciding what your contact form or shopping cart should look like.
Show, don’t tell
Here’s a video demoing our first Launch Element: Launch Cart.
Launch Elements needs you!
Launch Elements is in need of people to use what we’ve built and give us the feedback we need to make our product the best solution possible. If you are comfortable using HTML and CSS, you have all the skills needed to use Launch Elements.
