--- title: "Inspirational Templates" url: "https://www.bekk.christmas/post/2019/16/inspirational-templates" authors: ["Runar Ovesen Hjerpbakk"] published: "2019-12-16" updated: "2024-11-07T13:05:28Z" language: "en-US" type: "article" tags: ["Open source"] --- # Inspirational Templates I ❤️ open source. ## In short Open source app templates can serve as starting points for new products, giving teams a ready-made source base to learn from, adapt, and build on. The article highlights how these templates help developers, designers, architects, and managers move faster and reuse proven ideas, with Xamarin Forms examples collected at snppts.dev. - **For:** Developers, designers and managers building cross-platform mobile apps - **Good to know beforehand:** Basic familiarity with cross-platform mobile development _AI-generated_ [I ❤️ open source as a manager.](https://ben.balter.com/2015/11/23/why-open-source/) It fills my heart with joy knowing bugs can be fixed by teams other than my own, that perhaps we're not the biggest consumer of our software and that my team can get public recognition of their hard work. I ❤️ open source as a developer. Public code is a showcase of my skills and interests and since most easy problems have already been solved, I can concentrate on providing my unique value to the projects I care about most. I ❤️ open source as an architect. Many cloud-ready architectures are openly being worked on by the cloud providers, forever competing on making their particular pit of success steeper and deeper. As an example, the [eShopOnContainers](https://github.com/dotnet-architecture/eShopOnContainers) sample contains an always updated implementation of a cross-platform microservice architecture powered by containers and services in Azure. ![eShopOnContainers Architecture](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ah2n1vfr/bekk-blogg-prod/5388009e1d1d4804b3f8d21b21f6f3e8c3be6c39-1511x802.png) I ❤️ open source as a designer who knows little of design. After all, [everything is a remix](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd-dqUuvLk4) and the basic elements of creativity are _copy_, _transform_ and _combine_. Open source implementations of apps or services can be wonderful sources of inspiration and learning. ![File -> New Project...](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ah2n1vfr/bekk-blogg-prod/4709f2ded8b1c4c15086058b7a40cd7ae902a809-1280x720.jpg) When thinking of your next app, you probably start with an idea based on some existing app: > It's like Shazam, but for food. ![Hotdog - Not Hotdog](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ah2n1vfr/bekk-blogg-prod/5117e17751299ba30679aa2d9bf91458066f14ab-974x508.jpg) While creating _Hotdog - Not Hotdog_, wouldn't it be nice to use the source of another app as a starting point? In the world of cross-platform mobile development, you have many choices to do exactly that! For Xamarin Forms, [snppts.dev](https://snppts.dev/snippet/simplest-weather) has a curated collection of app starting points. From [the world's simplest weather app](https://snppts.dev/snippet/simplest-weather) to [ridesharing](https://snppts.dev/snippet/uber-clone) or your very own [streaming service](https://snppts.dev/snippet/netflix-clone), they all come with a complete source repository giving you a perfect starting point for your next app. ![snppts.dev](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ah2n1vfr/bekk-blogg-prod/95fa17e5cc79d7074e0e1dac14ef2e54eccf6574-2248x1236.jpg) But most of all, [I ❤️ open source](https://github.com/sankra) as a human being. It makes me and every other designer, manager or developer more productive. We build upon the knowledge of those who came before, helping each other to not make the same mistakes and enable those who come after to start at a better place than we did. Inspirational templates help us deliver digital products faster, better and cheaper. How will you help tomorrow's remixer? ## Relevant resources recommended by the author - [Snppts.dev](https://snppts.dev) - [.NET Application Architecture](https://github.com/dotnet-architecture/eShopOnContainers)