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SourceVoid Cloud: Cloud Hosting Platform for Dart, Nodejs and Static Apps

3 points by daw___ 10y ago

Scorpiion 10y ago
Hi and thanks for the post, I'm the founder of Sourcevoid. Long time reader but have not posting anything here before. Happy to answer any question if someone would like to discuss or ask something! Regards, Robert
- brudgers 10y ago
  There is a lot of written material on the web site. Yet, I still don't understand the value proposition or how or when I might use the service. Usually, I try looking at the documentation but I could not find any. Curious if there is a short description or a "Hello World" tutorial available.
  - Scorpiion 10y ago
    Hi Ben, The value proposition simply put comes down to getting more done in less time. Easy deployments and managing of apps, more focus on coding and less on server admin stuff. Before I try too much here and create a wall of text, do you understand the value proposition of competing services like Heroku, Bluemix or App Engine? On documentation, I get where you are coming from, we do have a getting started page just after you have signed up and logged in talking more about getting started. We have plans for a more dedicated docs/developer site, I think that is the type of site you were looking for. On our Github org we have a repo with Hello World samples for shelf, redstone, express, hapi, angular-dart and angular-js (the first two are Dart server frameworks). There is a step by step list of how to create and deploy an app. There is no screenshots at this point but maybe I should add that? We like the whole onboarding experience to be a good as possible, so I really appreciate that you are taking the time to share your feedback! Regards, Robert
    - brudgers 10y ago
      For what it's worth, I think it might be worth A/B testing a +--------------------+ | Hero | +--------------------+ | Step | Step | Step | | 1 | 2 | 3 | +--------------------+ layout against the "wall of text." Even if for no other reason than it would be an exercise at the other extreme of explanation. My gut is that the optimum is in the middle. But I think that a sales pitch that gets to a clear value proposition relevant to the lead's current knowledge has value.
      - Scorpiion 10y ago
        Interesting thoughts, it is a bit of challenge I must admit to explain something big and complex in a good simple way, maybe especially when you know all the engineering behind it, easy to get lost in all details. I have been thinking that maybe a video can do a lot, a screen recording with some voice over (I have an okay English accent even if it's not my native tongue) explaining the concepts and UI. The casual visitors might be able to get through a video like that whereas few really takes the time to read a long text. Thanks again for your feedback!
        brudgers 10y ago
        To a first approximation, good videos require good scripts. So writing a script for a 90 second 1,2,3 video might very well also be the design for a 1,2,3 call to action on the landing page. It may be a case where paying for a good professional designer/technical writer/explainer offers a high return on investment. Personally, I've always found writing copy about myself uncomfortable and I often tend toward long a more winded completist approach when I write. So that's where I'm coming from.
        Scorpiion 10y ago
        That is a good thought, we have discussed to maybe hire someone to do short video like that. I might be similar in that sense when it comes to writing, I'll see what we can do, but it would take some time. Shorter term I should probably try at least to provide some screenshots and maybe a basic video of the UI where I create an app and deploy it, depends on how good of a video I can make.

3 points by daw___ 10y ago

Hi and thanks for the post, I'm the founder of Sourcevoid. Long time reader but have not posting anything here before. Happy to answer any question if someone would like to discuss or ask something! Regards, Robert

brudgers 10y ago
There is a lot of written material on the web site. Yet, I still don't understand the value proposition or how or when I might use the service. Usually, I try looking at the documentation but I could not find any. Curious if there is a short description or a "Hello World" tutorial available.
- Scorpiion 10y ago
  Hi Ben, The value proposition simply put comes down to getting more done in less time. Easy deployments and managing of apps, more focus on coding and less on server admin stuff. Before I try too much here and create a wall of text, do you understand the value proposition of competing services like Heroku, Bluemix or App Engine? On documentation, I get where you are coming from, we do have a getting started page just after you have signed up and logged in talking more about getting started. We have plans for a more dedicated docs/developer site, I think that is the type of site you were looking for. On our Github org we have a repo with Hello World samples for shelf, redstone, express, hapi, angular-dart and angular-js (the first two are Dart server frameworks). There is a step by step list of how to create and deploy an app. There is no screenshots at this point but maybe I should add that? We like the whole onboarding experience to be a good as possible, so I really appreciate that you are taking the time to share your feedback! Regards, Robert
  - brudgers 10y ago
    For what it's worth, I think it might be worth A/B testing a +--------------------+ | Hero | +--------------------+ | Step | Step | Step | | 1 | 2 | 3 | +--------------------+ layout against the "wall of text." Even if for no other reason than it would be an exercise at the other extreme of explanation. My gut is that the optimum is in the middle. But I think that a sales pitch that gets to a clear value proposition relevant to the lead's current knowledge has value.
    - Scorpiion 10y ago
      Interesting thoughts, it is a bit of challenge I must admit to explain something big and complex in a good simple way, maybe especially when you know all the engineering behind it, easy to get lost in all details. I have been thinking that maybe a video can do a lot, a screen recording with some voice over (I have an okay English accent even if it's not my native tongue) explaining the concepts and UI. The casual visitors might be able to get through a video like that whereas few really takes the time to read a long text. Thanks again for your feedback!
      - brudgers 10y ago
        To a first approximation, good videos require good scripts. So writing a script for a 90 second 1,2,3 video might very well also be the design for a 1,2,3 call to action on the landing page. It may be a case where paying for a good professional designer/technical writer/explainer offers a high return on investment. Personally, I've always found writing copy about myself uncomfortable and I often tend toward long a more winded completist approach when I write. So that's where I'm coming from.
        Scorpiion 10y ago
        That is a good thought, we have discussed to maybe hire someone to do short video like that. I might be similar in that sense when it comes to writing, I'll see what we can do, but it would take some time. Shorter term I should probably try at least to provide some screenshots and maybe a basic video of the UI where I create an app and deploy it, depends on how good of a video I can make.