March 4, 2019

1053 words 5 mins read

hql287/Manta

Flexible invoicing desktop app with beautiful & customizable templates.


repo name	hql287/Manta
repo link	https://github.com/hql287/Manta
homepage	https://www.getmanta.app
language	JavaScript
size (curr.)	8341 kB
stars (curr.)	4765
created	2017-11-13
license	GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0

A desktop application for creating invoices with beautiful and customizable templates.

Screenshots • Features • Downloads • Technologies • Why? • Goals • Development • FAQ • Acknowledgement

Screenshots

Here’s a few screenshots of Manta. See more

Business Template

Minimal Template

Form

Invoice

Translation

Do you speak multiple languages? We need your help!

If you’re interested in translating Manta, please see the detailed instruction here. The following languages are currently being translated, if you would like to Manta to support another language, please submit your request here.

Features

🎚 Flexible form. You can turn on/off field and save as default setting.
🏗 Drag & drop for reordering items. This makes editing easier.
📐 Use SVGs for logo for better printing.
🎨 Custom designed & highly customizable templates.
🏷 Custom statuses for invoices.
📊 Export PDF for print or email.
🔒Complete Privacy. You financial data stays where it belongs.
💯 Totally Free.

Downloads

macOS	Windows	Linux
Download v1.1.4	Download v1.1.4	Download v1.1.4

More Download Options

Supported Platforms

Following platforms are supported by Electron:

macOS The minimum version supported is macOS 10.9.

Windows Windows 7 and later are supported

Linux:

Ubuntu 12.04 and later
Fedora 21
Debian 8

More information.

Note that on Linux, some users might experience a GPU bug where the select options rendered as a black box, see issue #128 of Manta and issue #4322 of Electron. This can be fixed by disabling hardware acceleration like so:

manta --disable-hardware-acceleration

Remember that doing this might lead to some degradation of the app’s performance. This is why “the fix” is not included by default.

Technologies

Why

The main reason I decided to build this is because I need a simple tool to create good looking invoices, estimates, and receipts but couldn’t find one that suits my needs. I don’t do invoicing for a living but I do need it occasionally so an ideal invoicing app just needs to be good at one thing and one thing only, which is making invoices. I really don’t need a full-fledged bookkeeping or accounting software.

I believe there are many people such as freelance designers, developers, photographers or writers… also have such need. However, most (if not all) products I found have these these problems:

Complexity

Most invoicing products nowadays is web-based, which means you’ll need to maintain a new account (possible a monthly fee, too) just to create an invoice.
Sure, there some open-source products that can be self-hosted, but that will introduce a new layer of complexity to your workflow. Who will setup the product? Who will maintain the server? Who will cover the cost? …
You will always need internet connection to be able to create your invoices. It can be slow sometimes.

Privacy

When you use a web service, most of the time, you’re giving away your data whether you want it or not. Financial data is sensitive and I believe that no one should know about your data except yourself.

Goals

With that in mind, I know that Manta would need to satisfy these criteria:

🚀 Fast!!!
👍 Friendly UI & UX
🎉 Has nice looking templates
🔒 Does not touch user’s data
💰 Free! :)

If you think Manta delivers these, let me know by putting a star on this project 😉

Development

It’s very easy to get started with these 3 steps:

Clone this project to your local machine.
Open terminal and cd into the cloned folder, usually cd Manta.
Run yarn install to install dependencies.
Run yarn dev in one tab to start webpack-dev-server.
Run yarn start in another tab to open the app.

This is still in beta and it’s far from perfect so feedbacks, issues or PRs are greatly appreciated! :)

Note that on Linux you will need additional dependencies to provide the icns2png and gm commands. Ubuntu/Debian users can run: sudo apt install -y icnsutils graphicsmagick.

FAQ

Is this app built with Electron?

Yes, it’s built on top of Electron. Please see the Technologies section for more info.

What boilerplate did you use

None. This is my attempt to integrate Electron with React from scratch. The idea was to get a better understanding of how things work together, especially Webpack. But I do take cue from other projects.

What CSS/UI Framework did you use?

I wrote all the CSS myself. I only use Bootstrap for prototyping at first. But I gradually encapsulate most of the style to the component with the help of styled-components. There is some places still use Bootstrap mostly for layout purpose but I’ll get rid of it eventually.

Where did you get the icons?

ionicons. They’re great!

Why did you name the project Manta? It has nothing to do with invoicing.

It’s actually very common to associate an animal with your brand. There’s a reason behind the Twitter bird, the famous MailChimp Freddy or the Docker whale … It’s called the Baby-Face bias. You can read more about it in the book Designing for Emotion by Aaron Walter. In my case, I was inspired by the movie Racing Extinction and by naming this project Manta, I hope to raise people’s awareness on some environmental issues mentioned in the movie. You can read more about it here

I like Manta’s logo, did you design it?

Yes, I actually did all the illustrations as well as the templates that you see in the app.

Are you available for hire?

Yes, I’m exploring new opportunities at the moment. Please let me know what you have in mind.

How do I contact you?

If you find an issue, please report it here. For everything else, please drop me a line at hi@getmanta.app

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Crowdin for providing an open-source license for Manta. Feel free to check out their website for more information about this amazing localization management platform.