Retool is plowing ahead with all kinds of new stuff which is great!
However, docs are falling behind in some areas (and doing well in others.) Here is where I would like to see some improvement.
Online documentation and search. Retool recently moved to a new format and search engine for the docs. Frankly it was not as nearly good as the old one. The last three searches I did failed to find relevant info (some of which I knew used to do there) and I am less than 50% success overall. The new animations snippets are nice though.
The component docs are still very sparse. We need better property descriptions as well as examples of how and when to use each property and setting. The docs on the table should be a small tome if they are complete.
Lot's of full walkthrough videos. For instance, the table should get dozens of videos showing how to use each aspect of it. There should be someone at Retool that does nothing but make videos all day. And of course the old videos need to be updated as I am sure they are confusing new people.
I learned Vue.js by taking a 40+ hours course online with one of those online academy services. It would be nice if Retool put something like that together - a real soup to nuts tutorial that takes someone from "What's Retool?" to "I have just built a full CMS and accounting system in Retool!". I have thought of doing it myself, but it is not my skillset. Maybe Retool could sponsor someone?
So many great Retool features - but with everything hidden in sub sub menus its hard to know whats possible and what isn't anymore. The time spent fiddling with things has definitely increased with all these features.
Agree on the docs too - usability has really decreased in the docs imo.
I wish for every new Retool feature there was someone following behind making a tutorial video. Kind of like how Webflow does: Link block | Webflow University
I'm also not the biggest fan of all the new templates that are basically the same application but just with different fake data sets. I get it for SEO, but for people who are already Retool customers and trying to get inspiration this is a bit frustrating. Is there anyway to filter the landing pages out? These are all just the same app:
I feel like the base product of the IDE is getting left behind as a result of the creation of new features. I can think of many situations where the developer experience could be improved easily, but just isn't.
As you mention, documentation and videos are distinctly lacking. A tiny (but telling) example is that you can't access the documentation or community from your own homepage, but the same page offers access to LLMs and vector databases.
There are lots of ways of doing a single thing, but it's hard to work out what is best practice. An example might be a modal form which can edit and delete, achieved by removing the "id" formDataKey to avoid pKey clashes. Is this a good way? I don't know.
With the advent of the postgreSQL backend there need to be more tutorials that include it.
@stewart.anstey This is probably more on getting used to on my end but you can access the documentation and community page (Ask Retool Developers) using the support bubble on the bottom right of your own homepage.
Same area when you're editing an app or using an app. There's a tiny support button on the bottom right area of the screen. Not too obvious for new developers.
Thank you, everyone! Lots of great feedback & ideas in here I am sharing this internally as well; we really do appreciate hearing your feedback. If I hear of any projects that sound related to this topic, I'll do my best to share updates here
For the video content specifically, I've surfaced this feedback to the product team. I'm not sure what the timeline will be, but we are aware the Youtube channel and video content need a refresher!
We've explored the idea of integrating the Retool forum more with the product, and I'll share this insight with our team. For the time being, you can get to the forum by clicking Share Feedback or Ask Retool Developers, as jocen noted, from the question mark icon.
While our internal teams work on updates to our docs, video content, app templates, etc, please don't hesitate to reach out on the forum with any and all questions that come up as you're building or trying new features!
I am sharing this internally as well; we really do appreciate hearing your feedback. If I hear of any projects that sound related to this topic, I'll do my best to share updates here