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Don't be afraid to charge people money for your service! Your free plan is way too generous. Personally, I would replace the free plan with a working demo, so p

Don't be afraid to charge people money for your service! Your free plan is way too generous. Personally, I would replace the free plan with a working demo, so people can kick the tires. But definitely lower the free plan to one design. I think you need to address the line that says "Requires an HTML5 compliant browser." For one, it's not clear enough whether you mean the builder needs HTML5 or the output requires it. In any event, I think you should frame it by telling the user which browsers will work -- those are terms they'll better be able to understand, especially considering you're aiming for the market of people who don't know what they're doing online. Anyway, there's my two cents. Good luck.

matt1 15y ago
Thanks for your feedback, especially on the pricing. As I mentioned below, I know its due for a change, but have received wide range of advice so I'm holding off for now. I removed the "Requires an HTML5 compliant browser" -- It sounded fancy at the time, but agree that it's confusing. Appreciate it --
- dpcan 15y ago
  I can see someone going in here, modifying one design about a 100 times, exporting them all, and then just keeping those archived. You may want to allow the ability to create unlimited designs for free, but you only get to hit the export button 3 times :)
  - matt1 15y ago
    Yeah, that's an option too. But again, what's the pricing model? $19/month for unlimited exports?
    - dpcan 15y ago
      Maybe. Who is your customer? How many designs a month does your typical customer create? If it's an independent designer / web developer, then they may create 2 websites a month for $2k - $4k per month per customer, and that's only 2 designs. Then there are people who just slap up websites for $300 a piece, and may do 5 or 6. But who's the customer? Sure, you might say that if I'm making $2k to $4k per website, and do about 2 a month, then I should be able to "afford" $20 per month, but that's really not the way a developer thinks. Everyone wants $20 per month from us. It seems like everything is becoming a service. I also don't know if I'll do a single website for ANYONE next month. BUT, I can sure tell you that I'll do 10 before the year is up, so if I could just buy a 10 pack, that would make sense to me. Lastly, I ran into some frustrating bugs while using the demo. I couldn't subscribe at this point because I couldn't do something as simple as line up 2 blocks side by side. I try to drag them so they touch each other, but it keeps bouncing back and leaving a space. Something as simple as this becomes a deal breaker at the moment. The tool itself is still broken.
      - matt1 15y ago
        As far as the blocks go: that's a feature, not a bug. Since everything revolves around the 960 grid system, which doesn't support blocks side by side, you can't do it within the editor. But, as imply, that's useful in a lot of cases, so it might be something to look at. You're comments are great, btw. Thank you.
dpcan 15y ago
I completely agree. With a service like this, I think someone would know instantly whether or not they were going to use this service in the future, and having the option to do 3 designs just delays the inevitable - that they will pay. BUT, having 3 designs also gives people time to forget about the service. In my opinion, instead of $19.95 per month, I would rather buy design "packs". - $19 for 10 designs - $49 for 100 designs - $99 for 300 designs - $499 for 100,000 designs (you're good to go plan)
- matt1 15y ago
  I'd venture to say that for most people 10 designs is more than they'll ever use. You could pay $19 once and use the service forever (because you can just delete your old designs if you ever hit the limit). At least that was my reasoning for choosing a SaaS model, which I admit has flaws too. One idea that someone mentioned was to buy usage time. You pay $19 and get access to the tool for a month. Or you pay $99 and get access for a year. That way if you only use it periodically you're not locked into a recurring plan. It's ghetto SaaS, but a few folks said they'd prefer it.
  - dpcan 15y ago
    It's just got to be dead simple. The reason I keep commenting is because I want to be your customer. This tool is exactly something I would need throughout the year. For example. Today. Our company just received approval back on a graphic design for a new site that has a homepage and an inner page format which are different. Now, we have to turn it into a CSS/HTML layout that we can plug into a WordPress theme. I want to use this tool right now, but I don't want to commit to $20 per month AND I don't think I want to pay $20 just for the 1 design AND I was frustrated with the fact that I couldn't get those blocks to line-up side by side which will be required for this particular design. You see, when a design is created and approved, this tool MUST be able to work with that design. I don't see many instances where I will use a layout editor then try to squeeze a design into it and hope the client approves.

matt1 15y ago

Thanks for your feedback, especially on the pricing. As I mentioned below, I know its due for a change, but have received wide range of advice so I'm holding off for now. I removed the "Requires an HTML5 compliant browser" -- It sounded fancy at the time, but agree that it's confusing. Appreciate it --

dpcan 15y ago
I can see someone going in here, modifying one design about a 100 times, exporting them all, and then just keeping those archived. You may want to allow the ability to create unlimited designs for free, but you only get to hit the export button 3 times :)
- matt1 15y ago
  Yeah, that's an option too. But again, what's the pricing model? $19/month for unlimited exports?
  - dpcan 15y ago
    Maybe. Who is your customer? How many designs a month does your typical customer create? If it's an independent designer / web developer, then they may create 2 websites a month for $2k - $4k per month per customer, and that's only 2 designs. Then there are people who just slap up websites for $300 a piece, and may do 5 or 6. But who's the customer? Sure, you might say that if I'm making $2k to $4k per website, and do about 2 a month, then I should be able to "afford" $20 per month, but that's really not the way a developer thinks. Everyone wants $20 per month from us. It seems like everything is becoming a service. I also don't know if I'll do a single website for ANYONE next month. BUT, I can sure tell you that I'll do 10 before the year is up, so if I could just buy a 10 pack, that would make sense to me. Lastly, I ran into some frustrating bugs while using the demo. I couldn't subscribe at this point because I couldn't do something as simple as line up 2 blocks side by side. I try to drag them so they touch each other, but it keeps bouncing back and leaving a space. Something as simple as this becomes a deal breaker at the moment. The tool itself is still broken.
    - matt1 15y ago
      As far as the blocks go: that's a feature, not a bug. Since everything revolves around the 960 grid system, which doesn't support blocks side by side, you can't do it within the editor. But, as imply, that's useful in a lot of cases, so it might be something to look at. You're comments are great, btw. Thank you.

dpcan 15y ago

I completely agree. With a service like this, I think someone would know instantly whether or not they were going to use this service in the future, and having the option to do 3 designs just delays the inevitable - that they will pay. BUT, having 3 designs also gives people time to forget about the service. In my opinion, instead of $19.95 per month, I would rather buy design "packs". - $19 for 10 designs - $49 for 100 designs - $99 for 300 designs - $499 for 100,000 designs (you're good to go plan)

matt1 15y ago
I'd venture to say that for most people 10 designs is more than they'll ever use. You could pay $19 once and use the service forever (because you can just delete your old designs if you ever hit the limit). At least that was my reasoning for choosing a SaaS model, which I admit has flaws too. One idea that someone mentioned was to buy usage time. You pay $19 and get access to the tool for a month. Or you pay $99 and get access for a year. That way if you only use it periodically you're not locked into a recurring plan. It's ghetto SaaS, but a few folks said they'd prefer it.
- dpcan 15y ago
  It's just got to be dead simple. The reason I keep commenting is because I want to be your customer. This tool is exactly something I would need throughout the year. For example. Today. Our company just received approval back on a graphic design for a new site that has a homepage and an inner page format which are different. Now, we have to turn it into a CSS/HTML layout that we can plug into a WordPress theme. I want to use this tool right now, but I don't want to commit to $20 per month AND I don't think I want to pay $20 just for the 1 design AND I was frustrated with the fact that I couldn't get those blocks to line-up side by side which will be required for this particular design. You see, when a design is created and approved, this tool MUST be able to work with that design. I don't see many instances where I will use a layout editor then try to squeeze a design into it and hope the client approves.