4 ms·

Ask HN: Review my app: Firetweets

21 points by iampims 16y ago

It's written in Python and runs on Google Appengine. http://firetweets.appspot.com/ It's tracking a dozen of topics — for which I'd like to keep up with what’s new. Other topics (ruby, python, appengine…) are coming soon, but the amount of spam or assimilated spam for these topics on Twitter is significantly higher than for the current ones. I'm working on a solution to reduce noise, and duplicates, but in the mean time, if this micro-service is useful for somebody, that'd make my day. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

js4all 16y ago
Great idea. I will use it in the future. The yellow background however is stressing. If you like yellow to be your signature color, use it on a single element like a header strip or so. Also, go get a custom domain for it. When your app gets popular and you do that later, many people have to update their links.
- mishmash 16y ago
  > The yellow background however is stressing. Agreed. It's a lovely shade of yellow, but in front of maximized window on a 24" monitor, my eyes physically squinted a little when switching to it. :)
  - iampims 16y ago
    I'll revert to white and put the yellow background as an option. I indeed didn't realize it might be a little too aggressive on a 24" monitor :) edit: changed to white. I'll provide the theme switcher in the next release :)
    - js4all 16y ago
      Wow, that was fast. Much better, thanks.
    - mishmash 16y ago
      Yes much better, thanks. BTW, I like the implementation and good luck with it.
- iampims 16y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. The background was originally white, and easier on the eyes, but it wasn't distinctive enough. The site looked like almost every other site. The yellow paint coat gives it charisma, but I might have over done it a little bit. As for the custom domain name, I wanted to test it first before buying a domain. I used to buy the domain first and write the app afterwards. But most of the time, I was left with a domain name and no app. But yes, you're right, doing things properly requires a domain name. That'll give me the opportunity to change the name — since firetweets was just chosen randomly a long time ago.
  - xsltuser2010 16y ago
    Distinction by design is easy, but your site is distinctive because it is a simple and useful tool. The 'distinctive' style will grow with its use becoming more clear and widespread. Besides that, it really doesnt look like every other site. Almost all other sites are spoiled with eye sugar.
    - iampims 16y ago
      I'm glad to hear that you see this as a useful tool. I've found a handful of interesting links I hadn't seen mentioned in most popular sites — HN, Reddit,… And as for simplicity, I'll quote St Exupery: >A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. I certainly don't believe that this design is perfect, but it fades away to let the content shine.
adrianwaj 16y ago
I had an idea, which could fit in with a future phase of this app. Grabbing links from twitter lists and reposting with page title, link, and underlying tweet. It's about surfacing what's hot in certain user circles, for example, you might find twitter lists concerning the topics already displayed on Firetweets. The final display might end up somthing like: http://hackerbra.in/links http://hackerbra.in/links -- some lists of interest http://twitter.com/tlrobinson/hackernews http://twitter.com/tlrobinson/hackernews http://twitter.com/DHS/hacker-news http://twitter.com/DHS/hacker-news.
- iampims 16y ago
  That's an interesting idea. Somewhere on my hard drive lingers an app that grabs all the links from your Twitter timeline and is supposed to send you a daily digest. I hadn't thought of including the tweet itself, but it can't hurt to have some context and hadn't thought of using lists either. Before thinking about phase two, I'd like to grow the site a little bit, but I will certainly keep this in mind. Thanks for the suggestion :)
  - adrianwaj 16y ago
    Good for you. Check out http://help.tweetmeme.com/2009/04/07/api-documentation/ http://help.tweetmeme.com/2009/04/07/api-documentation/ as well. Also, check out this idea: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1556280 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1556280 -- might be a new app for you to do..
    - iampims 16y ago
      I wasn't aware that Tweetmeme has an API. Might be really handy! Thanks :)
      - adrianwaj 16y ago
        If you end up with @usernames - consider linking to my site http://twitya.com/#username http://twitya.com/#username
- 16y ago
iampims 16y ago
The site now lives at http://www.poplinks.me/ http://www.poplinks.me/ and has been "rebranded" accordingly.

21 points by iampims 16y ago

js4all 16y ago

Great idea. I will use it in the future. The yellow background however is stressing. If you like yellow to be your signature color, use it on a single element like a header strip or so. Also, go get a custom domain for it. When your app gets popular and you do that later, many people have to update their links.

mishmash 16y ago
> The yellow background however is stressing. Agreed. It's a lovely shade of yellow, but in front of maximized window on a 24" monitor, my eyes physically squinted a little when switching to it. :)
- iampims 16y ago
  I'll revert to white and put the yellow background as an option. I indeed didn't realize it might be a little too aggressive on a 24" monitor :) edit: changed to white. I'll provide the theme switcher in the next release :)
  - js4all 16y ago
    Wow, that was fast. Much better, thanks.
  - mishmash 16y ago
    Yes much better, thanks. BTW, I like the implementation and good luck with it.
iampims 16y ago
Thanks for the feedback. The background was originally white, and easier on the eyes, but it wasn't distinctive enough. The site looked like almost every other site. The yellow paint coat gives it charisma, but I might have over done it a little bit. As for the custom domain name, I wanted to test it first before buying a domain. I used to buy the domain first and write the app afterwards. But most of the time, I was left with a domain name and no app. But yes, you're right, doing things properly requires a domain name. That'll give me the opportunity to change the name — since firetweets was just chosen randomly a long time ago.
- xsltuser2010 16y ago
  Distinction by design is easy, but your site is distinctive because it is a simple and useful tool. The 'distinctive' style will grow with its use becoming more clear and widespread. Besides that, it really doesnt look like every other site. Almost all other sites are spoiled with eye sugar.
  - iampims 16y ago
    I'm glad to hear that you see this as a useful tool. I've found a handful of interesting links I hadn't seen mentioned in most popular sites — HN, Reddit,… And as for simplicity, I'll quote St Exupery: >A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. I certainly don't believe that this design is perfect, but it fades away to let the content shine.

adrianwaj 16y ago

I had an idea, which could fit in with a future phase of this app. Grabbing links from twitter lists and reposting with page title, link, and underlying tweet. It's about surfacing what's hot in certain user circles, for example, you might find twitter lists concerning the topics already displayed on Firetweets. The final display might end up somthing like: http://hackerbra.in/links http://hackerbra.in/links -- some lists of interest http://twitter.com/tlrobinson/hackernews http://twitter.com/tlrobinson/hackernews http://twitter.com/DHS/hacker-news http://twitter.com/DHS/hacker-news.

iampims 16y ago
That's an interesting idea. Somewhere on my hard drive lingers an app that grabs all the links from your Twitter timeline and is supposed to send you a daily digest. I hadn't thought of including the tweet itself, but it can't hurt to have some context and hadn't thought of using lists either. Before thinking about phase two, I'd like to grow the site a little bit, but I will certainly keep this in mind. Thanks for the suggestion :)
- adrianwaj 16y ago
  Good for you. Check out http://help.tweetmeme.com/2009/04/07/api-documentation/ http://help.tweetmeme.com/2009/04/07/api-documentation/ as well. Also, check out this idea: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1556280 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1556280 -- might be a new app for you to do..
  - iampims 16y ago
    I wasn't aware that Tweetmeme has an API. Might be really handy! Thanks :)
    - adrianwaj 16y ago
      If you end up with @usernames - consider linking to my site http://twitya.com/#username http://twitya.com/#username
16y ago

iampims 16y ago

The site now lives at http://www.poplinks.me/ http://www.poplinks.me/ and has been "rebranded" accordingly.