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Which bit of the UI/UX... The spreadsheet bit is all kinda - make it like Excel/Google docs as much as you can... The main frontpage is because Hypernumbers s

Which bit of the UI/UX... The spreadsheet bit is all kinda - make it like Excel/Google docs as much as you can... The main frontpage is because Hypernumbers self-hosts on Hypernumbers. Laying out a product page inside a spreadsheet is a bit of challenge as you can imagine :) We are still figuring out how to make that part of it easier. Its more of a meta-problem than just polish it up...

pclark 16y ago
erm, pretty much everywhere. one example - you have a "free trial" button, but below that a required form field, swap them over, surely? the free demo button doesn't work - goes to a page not found or sits there saying "building your site" i feel like this "Making it easier to collect, collate and consolidate data and figures." is a really really poor description of what your product is. have you tested that it resonates? i don't seem to be able to drag charts to move them, if i click the graph once it shows me formula, i click away to change view and it selects whichever cell i clicked in, i press cmd + z to undo and nothing happens. everything feels like a lot of work, for example all the buttons need much much faster tool tips. why when i hover over one doesn't it tell me what that button is in the silver bar to the right? why are some things formula and others lightbox ui controls (eg: add a link) feels like consistency for that stuff is ++ Site > Settings > Pages is honestly terrifying. draw some inspiration from Numbers.app? :)
- samcollins 16y ago
  I agree. It's a good idea, and I can see it having advantages over your competitors, but those advantages are negated when hard to access. UI needs to be cleaner and following all expected conventions (this isn't a new UI). Is there a reason the landing page is 730px wide? It feels like everything got crammed in pretty hard. I'm excited about what this could do, but it needs some time on the design before I'm comfortable playing around with it to evaluate properly.
- gordonguthrie 16y ago
  I will not respond to these point by point - but I will transcribe them into my review list.
- gordonguthrie 16y ago
  The graphs aren't like Excel - we create graphs in cells (or merged cells) with a function like =graph(rows, cols, options) - so you can't drag them...
  - revorad 16y ago
    That's an interesting way to do it. Although the ability to move graphs around in Excel seems useful, I do it mostly to get the graph out of the way. How about having a cell/column on the side dedicated to graphs so that you can still use your =graph() implementation but it doesn't obstruct the spreadsheet view? You could even have a toggle button to hide it.
    - gordonguthrie 16y ago
      The reason for sticking to the =function(params) approach is it makes it easy to build things like =twitter.button("hypernumbers") <-- actual function and =google.maps(points) and other cool inline stuff - which then seamlessly clicks over to webpages/forms. You do want to be able to create dynamic webpages and putting graphs out on separate tab/page/things is a bit tricky because it all gets tangled up in permissions. You can always put them on their own page..
benwerd 16y ago
Why does it self-host the front page on Hypernumbers? Either: 1. Hypernumbers offers this kind of web page as a feature, in which case you've got a problem because the pages have trouble looking good (and therefore won't virally advertise the service in the way they might if they had a little more style cred). 2. Hypernumbers doesn't offer this kind of web page as a feature, in which case you shouldn't try to make it fit - I'd suggest dropping some money over at 99 Designs for a more professional-looking front page. You're going to need something slicker to sell this. In either case, it's non-obvious that the page is self-hosted. It's obviously a pride point, so you might want to point that out! I'd also love to be able to play with the spreadsheet UI, or at least a little piece of it, directly on the front page. Show off what makes you awesome! I'd also take another look at your copywriting, both on the page and in your video. You've described it as "the Team spreadsheet" - why is "Team" capitalized? Also, the contact details in the top bar makes it sound like there's only one person in the company. Is that true? (I should say that this isn't a comment on the product itself, which sounds very handy.)
- gordonguthrie 16y ago
  1 - yes hypernumbers allows you to publish a spreadsheet page as a webpage with a single click (as mentioned in the video, on the demo and on the front page). Its not a pride point it is practical. We try and use hypernumbers everyday for as many tasks as possible to feel as much customer pain as possible. We are a very small company - my name is on it because we are optimising for communication from customers and I want people to phone/Skype me...

pclark 16y ago

erm, pretty much everywhere. one example - you have a "free trial" button, but below that a required form field, swap them over, surely? the free demo button doesn't work - goes to a page not found or sits there saying "building your site" i feel like this "Making it easier to collect, collate and consolidate data and figures." is a really really poor description of what your product is. have you tested that it resonates? i don't seem to be able to drag charts to move them, if i click the graph once it shows me formula, i click away to change view and it selects whichever cell i clicked in, i press cmd + z to undo and nothing happens. everything feels like a lot of work, for example all the buttons need much much faster tool tips. why when i hover over one doesn't it tell me what that button is in the silver bar to the right? why are some things formula and others lightbox ui controls (eg: add a link) feels like consistency for that stuff is ++ Site > Settings > Pages is honestly terrifying. draw some inspiration from Numbers.app? :)

samcollins 16y ago
I agree. It's a good idea, and I can see it having advantages over your competitors, but those advantages are negated when hard to access. UI needs to be cleaner and following all expected conventions (this isn't a new UI). Is there a reason the landing page is 730px wide? It feels like everything got crammed in pretty hard. I'm excited about what this could do, but it needs some time on the design before I'm comfortable playing around with it to evaluate properly.
gordonguthrie 16y ago
I will not respond to these point by point - but I will transcribe them into my review list.
gordonguthrie 16y ago
The graphs aren't like Excel - we create graphs in cells (or merged cells) with a function like =graph(rows, cols, options) - so you can't drag them...
- revorad 16y ago
  That's an interesting way to do it. Although the ability to move graphs around in Excel seems useful, I do it mostly to get the graph out of the way. How about having a cell/column on the side dedicated to graphs so that you can still use your =graph() implementation but it doesn't obstruct the spreadsheet view? You could even have a toggle button to hide it.
  - gordonguthrie 16y ago
    The reason for sticking to the =function(params) approach is it makes it easy to build things like =twitter.button("hypernumbers") <-- actual function and =google.maps(points) and other cool inline stuff - which then seamlessly clicks over to webpages/forms. You do want to be able to create dynamic webpages and putting graphs out on separate tab/page/things is a bit tricky because it all gets tangled up in permissions. You can always put them on their own page..

benwerd 16y ago

Why does it self-host the front page on Hypernumbers? Either: 1. Hypernumbers offers this kind of web page as a feature, in which case you've got a problem because the pages have trouble looking good (and therefore won't virally advertise the service in the way they might if they had a little more style cred). 2. Hypernumbers doesn't offer this kind of web page as a feature, in which case you shouldn't try to make it fit - I'd suggest dropping some money over at 99 Designs for a more professional-looking front page. You're going to need something slicker to sell this. In either case, it's non-obvious that the page is self-hosted. It's obviously a pride point, so you might want to point that out! I'd also love to be able to play with the spreadsheet UI, or at least a little piece of it, directly on the front page. Show off what makes you awesome! I'd also take another look at your copywriting, both on the page and in your video. You've described it as "the Team spreadsheet" - why is "Team" capitalized? Also, the contact details in the top bar makes it sound like there's only one person in the company. Is that true? (I should say that this isn't a comment on the product itself, which sounds very handy.)

gordonguthrie 16y ago
1 - yes hypernumbers allows you to publish a spreadsheet page as a webpage with a single click (as mentioned in the video, on the demo and on the front page). Its not a pride point it is practical. We try and use hypernumbers everyday for as many tasks as possible to feel as much customer pain as possible. We are a very small company - my name is on it because we are optimising for communication from customers and I want people to phone/Skype me...