Sketch 43 new file format
Sketch 43 opens the door for a new set of tools
We’ve investigated the new Sketch file format at Anima and started an open-source that allows you to View Sketch 43 files in browser. So here’s a short read of what it does and doesn’t affect.
For plugins, nothing changes
The file format has no change on Sketch runtime model, so nothing changes in the studio. Some plugins, including Auto-Layout, stores data that goes into the Sketch file. Sketch handles it for the plugins, so it will have no affect on file structure.
Implications
The new file format is a zip file of the data model as Json, imported images & preview image. Which means that you can now read, write & edit Sketch files without Sketch — I.e Read/Edit the document colors, fonts, texts, layer frames, etc.
I think it’s actually a heaven for competitors that want to allow import of Sketch files (i.e. Figma, Webflow, Adobe) without the need of a plugin.
What’s still not there
Although this new format suggests more than a few goodies, you still can’t export layers to images without Sketch. In my opinion, it means Zeplin, InVision Inspect and similar tools are still required for handoff.
btw, Auto-Layout is already Sketch 43 compatible :)
Here’s an in-depth post by Or Arbel, Co-Founder & CTO @ Anima
