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Show HN: FlyByChat, the site I'm working on. Looking for feedback.

13 points by bdr 16y ago

arram 16y ago
Nice - the location features are something I definitely wanted while messing around on Chatroulette and Omegle.
petervandijck 16y ago
Nice idea, but it hangs on "finding partner", which kind of sucks (I closed the window after about 30 secs)
- bdr 16y ago
  I think the hanging is probably that there was no one else looking. You don't have cookies disabled, do you?
  - sev 16y ago
    Might be a good idea to let the user know that's the case so that they don't mistake it with hanging.
bdr 16y ago
Submitter here. Thanks for checking out my site. I'm looking for feedback on all levels: the UI and implementation, the product idea, and the market. Particular questions: do you "know what to do" when you get to the site? Is it ugly? What would make you use a site like this? The idea here is to iterate in the same space as ChatRoulette, towards the goal of becoming the best place to meet new people online. There are some obvious directions to go in, like adding video, dating features (FB' Interested In/Looking For), and locale support, and maybe some not so obvious ones, but I'd like to hear what you think.
- veemjeem 16y ago
  isn't omegle anonymous chat too?
  - bdr 16y ago
    ? Yes, Omegle supports anonymous chat.
- Tchalvakspam 16y ago
  I just wanted to note that this is the first hit on google for flybychat, so you might want to update it with a little current info at some point.
mechanical_fish 16y ago
To me (Safari 5/Mac) this site is a big blue screen with no content except an "About" link that doesn't work. I waited five to ten seconds before giving up. I'm using a 3G connection which may be flaky, so maybe I'm just suffering from extreme latency. Nevertheless, you should probably try to show at least a sentence on initial page load to keep me curious enough to suffer through another few seconds...
- bdr 16y ago
  Yeah, the site works on Safari 5, so it must be latency. In particular, sometimes the external Facebook JS takes a long time to load. I'll add a loading message. Thanks!
spking 16y ago
I'd suggest making a single, clear call to action. Perhaps "Chat anonymously with a random partner" would be the best option to drive attention to first, since it requires the least effort and commitment from the user. I'd make the button say something like "Start a Chat Now!", with smaller subtext to the effect of "100% Anonymous and Fun".
- bdr 16y ago
  Good feedback. I was worried about that. Thanks.
  - veemjeem 16y ago
    You should tell people that the global chat room isn't anonymous, and that their facebook profile will be linked in the chat room. It's always bad when users have to find out from other users that they aren't anonymous.
ent 16y ago
The ui is very nice, I really like the ability to add more chat windows side by side. The obvious problem is that there don't seem to be very many people online.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- bdr 16y ago
  Thank you. This post is the first place I've announced the site, so it makes sense that there aren't a lot of people on. I think I'll try to get some more now.
jrnkntl 16y ago
I'd like to see when my chat partner is actually active (like in typing) and stuff or update the title bar of the window. also an option to enlarge the chat window would be nice.
- bdr 16y ago
  When you say enlarge, are you thinking of resizing the windows horizontally?
veemjeem 16y ago
On chrome, it looks a little strange. The chat window is all compressed into one line. http://imgur.com/ldNpV http://imgur.com/ldNpV
- bdr 16y ago
  It doesn't do that on mine. :| What OS + version of Chrome are you using? What happens if you resize the browser window? Thanks for taking the time to get a screenshot, I appreciate that.
malloc 16y ago
Looks great, the site. Would add sound notification on message arrival (optional).
Yesh 16y ago
- UI is nice. Excellent idea. Was able to quickly use the site and chat with two people. - The space to say something is small. - Can improve on giving more visual feedback - First panel should be anonymous chat - Easy way to enter your anonymous profile - There was a javascript alert window that pop up (maybe debug message or something) - .. Unable to connect.. - .. Down for maintenance ... - The icon to add more panel should be more clear. It sort of surprise me. - Ability to maximize a panel (I suppose I can delete the other panels)
- bdr 16y ago
  Thanks. Yeah, it was down for maintenance for a few minutes there.

13 points by bdr 16y ago

arram 16y ago

Nice - the location features are something I definitely wanted while messing around on Chatroulette and Omegle.

petervandijck 16y ago

Nice idea, but it hangs on "finding partner", which kind of sucks (I closed the window after about 30 secs)

bdr 16y ago
I think the hanging is probably that there was no one else looking. You don't have cookies disabled, do you?
- sev 16y ago
  Might be a good idea to let the user know that's the case so that they don't mistake it with hanging.

bdr 16y ago

Submitter here. Thanks for checking out my site. I'm looking for feedback on all levels: the UI and implementation, the product idea, and the market. Particular questions: do you "know what to do" when you get to the site? Is it ugly? What would make you use a site like this? The idea here is to iterate in the same space as ChatRoulette, towards the goal of becoming the best place to meet new people online. There are some obvious directions to go in, like adding video, dating features (FB' Interested In/Looking For), and locale support, and maybe some not so obvious ones, but I'd like to hear what you think.

veemjeem 16y ago
isn't omegle anonymous chat too?
- bdr 16y ago
  ? Yes, Omegle supports anonymous chat.
Tchalvakspam 16y ago
I just wanted to note that this is the first hit on google for flybychat, so you might want to update it with a little current info at some point.

mechanical_fish 16y ago

To me (Safari 5/Mac) this site is a big blue screen with no content except an "About" link that doesn't work. I waited five to ten seconds before giving up. I'm using a 3G connection which may be flaky, so maybe I'm just suffering from extreme latency. Nevertheless, you should probably try to show at least a sentence on initial page load to keep me curious enough to suffer through another few seconds...

bdr 16y ago
Yeah, the site works on Safari 5, so it must be latency. In particular, sometimes the external Facebook JS takes a long time to load. I'll add a loading message. Thanks!

spking 16y ago

I'd suggest making a single, clear call to action. Perhaps "Chat anonymously with a random partner" would be the best option to drive attention to first, since it requires the least effort and commitment from the user. I'd make the button say something like "Start a Chat Now!", with smaller subtext to the effect of "100% Anonymous and Fun".

bdr 16y ago
Good feedback. I was worried about that. Thanks.
- veemjeem 16y ago
  You should tell people that the global chat room isn't anonymous, and that their facebook profile will be linked in the chat room. It's always bad when users have to find out from other users that they aren't anonymous.

ent 16y ago

The ui is very nice, I really like the ability to add more chat windows side by side. The obvious problem is that there don't seem to be very many people online.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
bdr 16y ago
Thank you. This post is the first place I've announced the site, so it makes sense that there aren't a lot of people on. I think I'll try to get some more now.

jrnkntl 16y ago

I'd like to see when my chat partner is actually active (like in typing) and stuff or update the title bar of the window. also an option to enlarge the chat window would be nice.

bdr 16y ago
When you say enlarge, are you thinking of resizing the windows horizontally?

veemjeem 16y ago

On chrome, it looks a little strange. The chat window is all compressed into one line. http://imgur.com/ldNpV http://imgur.com/ldNpV

bdr 16y ago
It doesn't do that on mine. :| What OS + version of Chrome are you using? What happens if you resize the browser window? Thanks for taking the time to get a screenshot, I appreciate that.

malloc 16y ago

Looks great, the site. Would add sound notification on message arrival (optional).

Yesh 16y ago

- UI is nice. Excellent idea. Was able to quickly use the site and chat with two people. - The space to say something is small. - Can improve on giving more visual feedback - First panel should be anonymous chat - Easy way to enter your anonymous profile - There was a javascript alert window that pop up (maybe debug message or something) - .. Unable to connect.. - .. Down for maintenance ... - The icon to add more panel should be more clear. It sort of surprise me. - Ability to maximize a panel (I suppose I can delete the other panels)

bdr 16y ago
Thanks. Yeah, it was down for maintenance for a few minutes there.