5 ms·

Show HN: Serverless Page Builder

41 points by hopeful2 8y ago

o_____________o 8y ago
By serverless it looks like you mean literally in-browser and not the usual microservice nomenclature, yes? I like "Go and Talk" as a phrase but think it will lead to some confusion amongst technically literate people. I assumed your platform was built around the language Go (and something else) at first, which I assumed was running as a microservice.
- extra88 8y ago
  Yes, they might do more to make it distinctive, writing it as Go-and-Talk or conistently using a particular color and font. The "Play Slides" buttons don't seem to do anything but left and right arrow keys will navigate through the page sections presented as slides. Actually trying it is a scavenger hunt: go to the footer on a page and click the gray-on-black "Edit" link.
  - hopeful2 8y ago
    Thank you for your time, and for discovering the edit link at the bottom of the page. The link submitted should really be https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html for people to try the editor (possibly on tablets and mobile phones) and provide feedback. "Play Slides" button does not navigate the sections, and a proper label should be "View as Slides". Clicking this button will create or destroy the slide instance, and thus enable/disable navigation by left and right arrow keys (or swiping on mobile devices).
- hopeful2 8y ago
  Thank you for your time. Somehow I couldn't add a comment when the link was submitted, and the link should really be https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html for people to go straightly to the editor, try it and provide feedback. Your assumption is correct. Our platform uses the language Go heavily, and provides an API for the client side apps. The page builder is a coordinator of the client side apps to interact with the API, and to interact with third party API (such as Github and Gitlab for remote data storage and media library integration. ) By serverless I mean the page builder is standalone, and is part of the serverless solution. It does not rely on a database server or a CMS such as WordPress.
ben509 8y ago
After poking around your page for a while, as someone mentioned, it's a scavenger hunt to actually find out how to use it. You _really_ need to rework those tutorials. I'd honestly scrap most of them and write a user guide in narrative form. I know your product is aimed generating, essentially, slideshows, but that's a terrible way to present user documentation. Some of them are indicative of poor design: under Overview, you write "Finding Toolbars", and we need to know this because they're "At Top and Left, Out of View Initially." Don't hide the toolbars and you don't need to tell me where to find them. You have an entire slide "The State of Section Application" explaining how an on-off button works. If you have to explain it, just explain it in the UI: App is Off. [Start up.] App is On. [Shut down.] "Starting a new site" -- It looks like you just copied random stuff from another page. (Or is someone playing with the app and editing your site?)
- hopeful2 8y ago
  Thank you indeed for your comments. My intention was to get feedback on the editor itself. Your comment on the tutorials (demos) is actually a bonus to us. We will rename the menu item to demo and write separate tutorials and documentation in narrative form as you suggested. The purpose of some sections is to demonstrate site wide section, and may not be in logical order in the demo. The demos are talking points when we provide training to the end users. They can edit the sections and remember a thing or two while they practice. The meaningful words and phrases are better than ipsum lorem. The comments on toolbar are good points too. We have recently changed the workflow for users to edit their content on their own website, on an editable page (index.goandmake.html) next to the published page (index.html). They can navigate to a page and edit. This makes oauth2 integration much harder, but is more intuitive than loading and editing data of a separate domain. so the toolbar can be visible by default, and hidden after user clicks a button. we are going to act on this. It is good you noticed it and brought it up. Highly appreciate your inputs.
  - ben509 8y ago
    Thanks! Best of luck with your project!
hopeful2 8y ago
It is too late to edit the link now. The link submitted should really be https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html for people to try out the editor and provide feedback. I am particularly interested in whether it works on tablets and smart phones.
kevsim 8y ago
Looks like a good start! One comment though - if I correctly understand how you’re using “serverless” in this case (which I believe is literal - the whole thing resides in the browser), isn’t this just an implementation detail? It’s great for you since you have no infrastructure cost, but should your users care? My apologies if I’m missing the point.
- hopeful2 8y ago
  I used the term "serverless" as people here are mostly developers and already know this term. The page builder is part of the serverless web publishing solution. It can generate website themes with editable pages, each theme in a separate repository. People can import/upload the repository, navigate to the page to edit, and make a website quickly. This is an example work-in-progress theme https://toffee-and-coffee.gitlab.io/index.goandmake.html https://toffee-and-coffee.gitlab.io/index.goandmake.html. It is ready for people to play with too. For end users we show how simple and easy it is, and we do not emphasize on "serverless". End users do not care. They may not even know what is a server or database. But people do love simple and easy ways. When we talk to potential users, one of the first questions is "how to install it"? They are amused by the idea to start editing without installation. One of our users runs her own online retail business in addition to looking after school age children. She has been hoping for a website to show her products since 10 years ago, and is quite excited about being able to edit something on the phone when she has spare time. She has a laptop but has hardly anytime to use it during the day. For people always on the go like her who have little access to a desktop/laptop computer, the serverless page builder is a great convenience. People can edit, preview result, even without internet connection. When the page is done, just upload and publish, even from a phone. Most static site generators won't run on a phone. The page builder does.

41 points by hopeful2 8y ago

By serverless it looks like you mean literally in-browser and not the usual microservice nomenclature, yes? I like "Go and Talk" as a phrase but think it will lead to some confusion amongst technically literate people. I assumed your platform was built around the language Go (and something else) at first, which I assumed was running as a microservice.

extra88 8y ago
Yes, they might do more to make it distinctive, writing it as Go-and-Talk or conistently using a particular color and font. The "Play Slides" buttons don't seem to do anything but left and right arrow keys will navigate through the page sections presented as slides. Actually trying it is a scavenger hunt: go to the footer on a page and click the gray-on-black "Edit" link.
- hopeful2 8y ago
  Thank you for your time, and for discovering the edit link at the bottom of the page. The link submitted should really be https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html for people to try the editor (possibly on tablets and mobile phones) and provide feedback. "Play Slides" button does not navigate the sections, and a proper label should be "View as Slides". Clicking this button will create or destroy the slide instance, and thus enable/disable navigation by left and right arrow keys (or swiping on mobile devices).
hopeful2 8y ago
Thank you for your time. Somehow I couldn't add a comment when the link was submitted, and the link should really be https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html for people to go straightly to the editor, try it and provide feedback. Your assumption is correct. Our platform uses the language Go heavily, and provides an API for the client side apps. The page builder is a coordinator of the client side apps to interact with the API, and to interact with third party API (such as Github and Gitlab for remote data storage and media library integration. ) By serverless I mean the page builder is standalone, and is part of the serverless solution. It does not rely on a database server or a CMS such as WordPress.

ben509 8y ago

After poking around your page for a while, as someone mentioned, it's a scavenger hunt to actually find out how to use it. You _really_ need to rework those tutorials. I'd honestly scrap most of them and write a user guide in narrative form. I know your product is aimed generating, essentially, slideshows, but that's a terrible way to present user documentation. Some of them are indicative of poor design: under Overview, you write "Finding Toolbars", and we need to know this because they're "At Top and Left, Out of View Initially." Don't hide the toolbars and you don't need to tell me where to find them. You have an entire slide "The State of Section Application" explaining how an on-off button works. If you have to explain it, just explain it in the UI: App is Off. [Start up.] App is On. [Shut down.] "Starting a new site" -- It looks like you just copied random stuff from another page. (Or is someone playing with the app and editing your site?)

hopeful2 8y ago
Thank you indeed for your comments. My intention was to get feedback on the editor itself. Your comment on the tutorials (demos) is actually a bonus to us. We will rename the menu item to demo and write separate tutorials and documentation in narrative form as you suggested. The purpose of some sections is to demonstrate site wide section, and may not be in logical order in the demo. The demos are talking points when we provide training to the end users. They can edit the sections and remember a thing or two while they practice. The meaningful words and phrases are better than ipsum lorem. The comments on toolbar are good points too. We have recently changed the workflow for users to edit their content on their own website, on an editable page (index.goandmake.html) next to the published page (index.html). They can navigate to a page and edit. This makes oauth2 integration much harder, but is more intuitive than loading and editing data of a separate domain. so the toolbar can be visible by default, and hidden after user clicks a button. we are going to act on this. It is good you noticed it and brought it up. Highly appreciate your inputs.
- ben509 8y ago
  Thanks! Best of luck with your project!

hopeful2 8y ago

It is too late to edit the link now. The link submitted should really be https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html for people to try out the editor and provide feedback. I am particularly interested in whether it works on tablets and smart phones.

kevsim 8y ago

Looks like a good start! One comment though - if I correctly understand how you’re using “serverless” in this case (which I believe is literal - the whole thing resides in the browser), isn’t this just an implementation detail? It’s great for you since you have no infrastructure cost, but should your users care? My apologies if I’m missing the point.

hopeful2 8y ago
I used the term "serverless" as people here are mostly developers and already know this term. The page builder is part of the serverless web publishing solution. It can generate website themes with editable pages, each theme in a separate repository. People can import/upload the repository, navigate to the page to edit, and make a website quickly. This is an example work-in-progress theme https://toffee-and-coffee.gitlab.io/index.goandmake.html https://toffee-and-coffee.gitlab.io/index.goandmake.html. It is ready for people to play with too. For end users we show how simple and easy it is, and we do not emphasize on "serverless". End users do not care. They may not even know what is a server or database. But people do love simple and easy ways. When we talk to potential users, one of the first questions is "how to install it"? They are amused by the idea to start editing without installation. One of our users runs her own online retail business in addition to looking after school age children. She has been hoping for a website to show her products since 10 years ago, and is quite excited about being able to edit something on the phone when she has spare time. She has a laptop but has hardly anytime to use it during the day. For people always on the go like her who have little access to a desktop/laptop computer, the serverless page builder is a great convenience. People can edit, preview result, even without internet connection. When the page is done, just upload and publish, even from a phone. Most static site generators won't run on a phone. The page builder does.