Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderThe original project is abandoned, but a recently updated fork is available at github.com/prikhi/pencil. I prefer Pencil to more commonly referenced options like Balsamiq. Looks like no commits in a few months, but hopefully the form is still going. An open source UX tool focused on software application workflow prototyping rather than GUI layout is an asset to the software development community.
Penpot is really amazing https://penpot.app Similar to Sketch or Figma but Open Source https://github.com/penpot/penpot Have a try if you haven't! I wish one day I could replace my Figma workflows
This was a great option a few years ago, but I wouldn't recommend this. It seems stagnated, based on legacy infrastructure, doesn't really fit into modern UI usage patterns anymore, and doesn't collaborate easily. At some point I thought they would overtake a combination of Gliffy and StarUML, but right now even draw.io is a better option.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 578
- Total comments
- 129
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-03-01 | Pencil - FOSS Mockup Tool (Mac/Win/Lin) | tylermauthe | 3 | 0 |
| 2013-04-15 | Pencil Project, a free GUI prototyping tool that's available for all platforms. | dous | 1 | 0 |
| 2014-04-17 | Pencil: A cross-platform open source GUI prototyping tool | adefa | 2 | 0 |
| 2016-11-07 | Pencil: open-source GUI prototyping toolFirst breakout · Best thread | cheiVia0 | 320 | 79 |
| 2021-05-05 | Pencil Project – open-source GUI prototyping toolHall induction | pabs3 | 180 | 34 |
| 2023-03-01 | Pencil – an open-source GUI prototyping toolLatest 20+ point return | app4soft | 72 | 16 |