5 ms·

Ask HN: Please review my web app for web designers with no programming skills

17 points by todd3834 17y ago

todd3834 17y ago
I wanted to create something that would let users easily take care of the day to day tasks of building a website. The first two items that came to mind were slideshows and contact forms since I used to get hired to create those repeatedly in my freelance days. I know solutions exist for each of those individually but I wanted to create a simple portal where web designers could have a toolbox for creating their sites. I plan on adding more items but I'm just starting with those solid two. No business model or anything yet, I'm just trying to see if anyone finds it useful. Please let me know what you all think! And I would love suggestions for more simple scripts to add to it.
zephyrfalcon 17y ago
I'd rather see an app for programmers with no web design skills... <0.5 wink>
- todd3834 17y ago
  Hmm... maybe your on to something! haha.
  - jpeterson 17y ago
    *you're
- trusko 17y ago
  I was about to write the same :D
- codejoust 17y ago
  That's exactly what I was thinking... (Designers?)
- ABrandt 17y ago
  Any ideas how you could solve this problem? IMHO, generating a clean UI is harder to do than a slideshow.Although, maybe doing something as simple as fitting a design to a grid could be beneficial.
- wlievens 17y ago
  Seriously. If you solve this, you're rich :-)
dskhatri 17y ago
Catchy app name! Some suggestions: - The "Start Building Stuff" menu is too wide (1/3 of the page width). When a user selects to build a contact form or a slideshow, you could hide this menu or offer a smaller menu instead. - I signed in but still get the "Join Today" button on the home page. - The button on the top right that reads "Free Account, Click Here for Dashboard" could be redone for a logged in user. Maybe "Welcome firstName! Start Here". Would your typical user understand what a "dashboard" is? - Finally, a comment you'll probably hear a lot: let a user start building without having to join. As a final step, you could ask the user to join.
- todd3834 17y ago
  Thank you dskhatri. - I really like the idea of showing a smaller toolbar when a users selects an item to start working with. - Your right, I will hide all instances of join now for logged in users. - I love the Welcome, start here. That would be much easier to understand - No joining would be awesome but I guess I'll have to think through how to implement that. I guess I could send a link to let them edit it later...
- cubicle67 17y ago
  For me the big orange button on the top right reads "Log In To My Accoun" (the button is not wide enough to fit the t) I'm running FF 3.0 (hey, it's a work machine) on Ubuntu 9.04 with default fonts/settings etc [Edit: On the email demo, the second section says "Date Selector and Captcha" but the selector on the form asks for a shoe colour, not the date]
Androsynth 17y ago
I would put a 'demo' or 'samples' link in the header nav bar. When I clicked on the 'view demo' links, I had to go back to the homepage to view the other demos.
- todd3834 17y ago
  Good point, def. will add that.
Osmose 17y ago
If you're targeting web designers without programming skills, you may do well mentioning something to that effect on the home page. My first thought when looking at it was that it was for people who have never made a website. Also, the "than before" in the blurb on the left seems awkward to me. Perhaps take it out?
adelevie 17y ago
I don't like the idea that web sites are just implementations of scripts. They are applications. Someone sells a photo album application, not a photo album script with a pretty html+css layout.
izak30 17y ago
From my POV (SaaS CMS for Designers and their Clients) You are filling a gap. That gap is "Designers who want to fiddle with code a little bit". Most of our designers would rather be done after a PSD, but some want to tinker with it a little more (we call them front-end developers if they know HTML and CSS... and dabble in javascript)
lftl 17y ago
I'd link the text "watch my screencasts" to your blog page. At first I thought you actually didn't have any screencasts done. I'd consider highlighting them more as well, maybe making them have a section like the demos and featured as prominently.
jaw 17y ago
nitpicking: "allow you build websites" rather than "allow you to build websites" looks like a typo to me (which is an unfortunate first impression)
teej 17y ago
Aesthetics: the color scheme is murdering my eyes. Use a simple palette and use colors that work well together. I prefer to start with http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://colorschemedesigner.com/ Logistics: You have _5_ calls to action on your front page. Pick one and drive it home. Focus on _1_ and either remove or tone down the others. Idea: definitely seems reasonable. Without signing up, I don't really have any concept of how it works.
- jdietrich 17y ago
  Agreed. The idea is great, but the user experience isn't. For a product aimed at the confused and less-web-literate, the landing page is a bit of a nightmare. It's confusing, hard to read and has no clear call to action. The requirement to sign up before using the tool is a completely unnecessary barrier to entry. Let me use your tool to design my widget, then ask me for my e-mail address to receive the code. Posterous is an object lesson in the power of having a completely frictionless signup process.
tcarnell 17y ago
...Be careful: Are you sure this is something people need? Is this something YOU believe web designers want? What problem does this solve? Ultimately, how will get get money from it? I think maybe the 'eye candy' has taken up more time than the quality of the product. Always remember Google, a plain white page, a form field and a 'search' button...worth billions... Go for it!! get users, get feedback, improve it etc, but be sure you can answer the above questions... Also, from my experience, dont rely on friends/family for useful feedback/support - find people that have the right way of thinking and draw from them...

17 points by todd3834 17y ago

I wanted to create something that would let users easily take care of the day to day tasks of building a website. The first two items that came to mind were slideshows and contact forms since I used to get hired to create those repeatedly in my freelance days. I know solutions exist for each of those individually but I wanted to create a simple portal where web designers could have a toolbox for creating their sites. I plan on adding more items but I'm just starting with those solid two. No business model or anything yet, I'm just trying to see if anyone finds it useful. Please let me know what you all think! And I would love suggestions for more simple scripts to add to it.

zephyrfalcon 17y ago

I'd rather see an app for programmers with no web design skills... <0.5 wink>

todd3834 17y ago
Hmm... maybe your on to something! haha.
- jpeterson 17y ago
  *you're
trusko 17y ago
I was about to write the same :D
codejoust 17y ago
That's exactly what I was thinking... (Designers?)
ABrandt 17y ago
Any ideas how you could solve this problem? IMHO, generating a clean UI is harder to do than a slideshow.Although, maybe doing something as simple as fitting a design to a grid could be beneficial.
wlievens 17y ago
Seriously. If you solve this, you're rich :-)

dskhatri 17y ago

Catchy app name! Some suggestions: - The "Start Building Stuff" menu is too wide (1/3 of the page width). When a user selects to build a contact form or a slideshow, you could hide this menu or offer a smaller menu instead. - I signed in but still get the "Join Today" button on the home page. - The button on the top right that reads "Free Account, Click Here for Dashboard" could be redone for a logged in user. Maybe "Welcome firstName! Start Here". Would your typical user understand what a "dashboard" is? - Finally, a comment you'll probably hear a lot: let a user start building without having to join. As a final step, you could ask the user to join.

todd3834 17y ago
Thank you dskhatri. - I really like the idea of showing a smaller toolbar when a users selects an item to start working with. - Your right, I will hide all instances of join now for logged in users. - I love the Welcome, start here. That would be much easier to understand - No joining would be awesome but I guess I'll have to think through how to implement that. I guess I could send a link to let them edit it later...
cubicle67 17y ago
For me the big orange button on the top right reads "Log In To My Accoun" (the button is not wide enough to fit the t) I'm running FF 3.0 (hey, it's a work machine) on Ubuntu 9.04 with default fonts/settings etc [Edit: On the email demo, the second section says "Date Selector and Captcha" but the selector on the form asks for a shoe colour, not the date]

Androsynth 17y ago

I would put a 'demo' or 'samples' link in the header nav bar. When I clicked on the 'view demo' links, I had to go back to the homepage to view the other demos.

todd3834 17y ago
Good point, def. will add that.

Osmose 17y ago

If you're targeting web designers without programming skills, you may do well mentioning something to that effect on the home page. My first thought when looking at it was that it was for people who have never made a website. Also, the "than before" in the blurb on the left seems awkward to me. Perhaps take it out?

adelevie 17y ago

I don't like the idea that web sites are just implementations of scripts. They are applications. Someone sells a photo album application, not a photo album script with a pretty html+css layout.

izak30 17y ago

From my POV (SaaS CMS for Designers and their Clients) You are filling a gap. That gap is "Designers who want to fiddle with code a little bit". Most of our designers would rather be done after a PSD, but some want to tinker with it a little more (we call them front-end developers if they know HTML and CSS... and dabble in javascript)

lftl 17y ago

I'd link the text "watch my screencasts" to your blog page. At first I thought you actually didn't have any screencasts done. I'd consider highlighting them more as well, maybe making them have a section like the demos and featured as prominently.

jaw 17y ago

nitpicking: "allow you build websites" rather than "allow you to build websites" looks like a typo to me (which is an unfortunate first impression)

teej 17y ago

Aesthetics: the color scheme is murdering my eyes. Use a simple palette and use colors that work well together. I prefer to start with http://colorschemedesigner.com/ http://colorschemedesigner.com/ Logistics: You have _5_ calls to action on your front page. Pick one and drive it home. Focus on _1_ and either remove or tone down the others. Idea: definitely seems reasonable. Without signing up, I don't really have any concept of how it works.

jdietrich 17y ago
Agreed. The idea is great, but the user experience isn't. For a product aimed at the confused and less-web-literate, the landing page is a bit of a nightmare. It's confusing, hard to read and has no clear call to action. The requirement to sign up before using the tool is a completely unnecessary barrier to entry. Let me use your tool to design my widget, then ask me for my e-mail address to receive the code. Posterous is an object lesson in the power of having a completely frictionless signup process.

tcarnell 17y ago

...Be careful: Are you sure this is something people need? Is this something YOU believe web designers want? What problem does this solve? Ultimately, how will get get money from it? I think maybe the 'eye candy' has taken up more time than the quality of the product. Always remember Google, a plain white page, a form field and a 'search' button...worth billions... Go for it!! get users, get feedback, improve it etc, but be sure you can answer the above questions... Also, from my experience, dont rely on friends/family for useful feedback/support - find people that have the right way of thinking and draw from them...