Dev Highlight: Vistaus

iconTime for another well deserved Dev Highlight.  If you’re on an HP TouchPad reading this article you may well be using the browser this webOS developer created.  Folks, say hello to…Vistaus!

VistausWhat’s your handle?
Heimen Stoffels is my real name, but people will know me as Vistaus or Juno Avalon.

Where do you hail from?
Almere, The Netherlands, but some time next year or the year thereafter (depends on how long the procedure for the Visa will take) I’ll move to the USA.

What was your first Palm device?
HP Touchpad and HP Pre 3.  I wanted a Palm Pre so badly when it came out but I was too young to know about importing gadgets back then. 🙁  So I went some other route instead.  When HP presented the TouchPad, my “webOS wow” which I had with the original Pre suddenly rose once again from the ashes.  So I bought a TouchPad and Pre 3.

Have you published any apps in the HP App Catalog?
I did try to publish Isis Web but they rejected it.  I later tried to submit the now discontinued Eye Of Horus. They accepted it but for me it never showed up in the Catalog.

What homebrew apps have you developed?
Isis Web.
isisbrowser2 isisbrowser

Have you written any patches?
None yet, but a few are coming very soon!  I did some stuff to optimize Luna in a way that actually works without any hiccups (unlike some other patches) and the memory issue(s) also seem solved by this.  I also have a patch ready which tweaks the animations a bit to make it look more animation-like then ever before.  Stay tuned and keep checking the forums!

What’s your daily driver phone?
My old Motorola V6 Maxx LE is my primary phone (my Pre 3 had some unsolvable network issues the last couple of months 🙁 ) and soon the Jolla Phone.  I do still have the Pre 3 for dev purposes and because sometimes I just want to type on its glorious keyboard. 😀

Which tablet do you use?
HP TouchPad

How did you get your start into programming?
I goofed around with Visual Basic in Junior High.  Later on I started learning HTML and CSS, both of which I still posses to date.  I also played around with Python for a bit but for unknown reasons I neglected learning it.  I do intend to start learning it again some time in the future.  Later on, when I got into webOS, I started learning Enyo and am still learning it while programming.

Do you develop for other platforms?
None at the moment (aside from the WWW).

What projects are you supporting in the future?
Isis Web for the HP Touchpad.  I intend to redevelop it in Enyo 2 some time but Enyo 2 seems a bit harder to learn than Enyo 1. 🙁  I do have a few other projects planned for the future but I’m yet to start working on them.

Well, it’s ok with us if you keep secrets but only if you keep pivotCE in the loop!  Thanks for the interview, Vistaus, and good luck on your future projects.

If you would like to try Isis Web feel free to head on over and hit the download link.  The discussion is here.

#webosforever

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