Also, this website is open source in addition to the project. It's here on github: https://github.com/jenius/roots.cx
We released something built on the same stack (jade, stylus, coffeescript) that's a bit more lightweight, more geared towards building prototypes called [proto](https://github.com/droptype/proto). Because it's focused on building small prototypes, it saves everything to gists and provides a viewer at http://proto.es/{gist-id}.
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On a related note, I'm currently using Grunt.JS with few plugins for Compass, CoffeeScript and Live Reload. Similar to Guards (ruby based), it's the plugin ecosystem that makes it valuable and able to suit multiple needs.
Needless to say, roots sounds interesting.
Mimosa seems less opinionated, supports everything. Has modules. Ugly website.
Brunch seems less opinionated, supports everything. Has skeletons, plugin API. Nice website.
Grunt seems like the roll-your-own option and is probably more well supported than the others...?
Mimosa is very pluggable (http://mimosajs.com/modules.html), moreso than Brunch, but slightly less so than grunt, though, to be honest, my grunt experience is slim. That said, grunt obviously has quite the ecosystem of plugins that all the others lack.
– The text shadows on the main page are a bit much. 1px offset is sufficient and the shadow color probably doesn't need to be so light.
– Grey boxes around text are too tight and probably shouldn't be so rounded.
– Headers on home-page are either too big or aren't given enough space. Whitespace! Don't be afraid to use it.
– Darker shadows on headers have the same problem – too much offset – just looks tacky.
– Title and description on homepage looks crammed into the top. Give it more space. Maybe smaller text.
– Red headers are way too bright. Tone it down.
– The bathroom-tile background image is kind of weird.
– Body text is too wide throughout the docs.
– More whitespace throughout the design would help (between all typographic elements), especially given your choice of a large, open typeface.
Crazy kinds of awesome to get that kind of feedback! I'll take a look at all that stuff. Big site update content-wise with my next release and I can make some changes then.
as for feedback:
* would love it if you'll add TypeScript support somehow. I come from the Java / Scala world and it will be an easier transition to node dev this way
* best download to launch-in-browser sequence Iv'e seen yet. (roots create foo, cd foo, roots watch) browser actually opens for you, nice touch.
* you seem to put a lot of effort on usability and convenience, please continue.
* good documentation and usage print-outs
* the js client side package manager is a great addition, any dependency management there?
I made a plugin interface just for things like adding typescript support. I know pretty much nothing about typescript through, are there any good node compilers out there? It would be incredible if you made a plugin for it - if not I'd be happy to try to tinker one together myself.
npm install -g typescript
tsc helloworld.ts
Will give it a shot :)
p.s. I would add a tweet button on the site, I actively looked for it, although I'm lazy I tweeted anyway, but this might give you some extra shout-outs, especially for the shot grace period you are on HN front page
Regards