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If you're looking for a low-cruft, minimalist alternative to Reddit or Twitter that's focused on live conversation, check out https://sqwok.im https://sqwok.im

by holler 6y ago

If you're looking for a low-cruft, minimalist alternative to Reddit or Twitter that's focused on live conversation, check out https://sqwok.im https://sqwok.im Disclaimer I am building it. Key Points: - Minimalist design with focus on readability & usability. - Real-time messaging meets news aggregator - All posts have a built-in chat room including presence, typing activity, etc. - Fast, open, simple - Anyone can view posts simply by opening the url, minimal click to start talking. Create sharable chat rooms on the fly essentially - Follow other users in real time & join them in conversation. - No voting - Relevance is based on chat activity and excluded voting entirely.

thatguy0900 6y ago
" No voting - Relevance is based on chat activity and excluded voting entirely." Won't this just mean that the top comments will always be flamewars?
- holler 6y ago
  hey good question, and it is experimental so we'll see how far it goes, but I think you could get more granular to detect things like unique message author/over rolling time period, account age, perhaps a private vote people could add or other metrics to try and filter out noise.
  - holler 6y ago
    To follow up with that, I want to try and mimic real life as much as possible, and avoid the incessant dopamine feedback loop that voting/liking promotes. That's sort of my guiding idea, to keep it razor focused just on conversation.
fsnowdin 6y ago
I checked out your website and the premise seems to be pretty solid. I've been browsing 4chan lately and while the place is certainly a cesspool most of the time, I loved the ephemeral and almost real-time discussion format. sqwok seems like something I'd use. However, I think you might have heard this already, what the hell is the sqwok name. How do you even pronounce it let alone memorize it!? I think you know what my suggestion is.
- raunakdag 6y ago
  Looks like squawk. a parrot/pirate type thing, no?
- holler 6y ago
  Thank You! The desire for ephemeral real-time discussion is what really drove the idea... As for the name (lol), at the time I was trying to think of something that represented what it was about, and came across the word "squawk". That name is pretty common but I liked the play on it "sqwok" because it's 5 characters, easy to spell & remember. I decided to roll with it, but have a backup just in case!
ducktective 6y ago
Can you talk about the tech stack you used to build it? How much time did it take? Is this a solo project? Thanks
- holler 6y ago
  Hey, the entire project is running aws services w/serverless py api, websockets, ember.js frontend, about a year to build so far... This is the 2nd go-around with an older v1 that was scrapped & rebuilt.
  - ducktective 6y ago
    How long do you estimate it takes to design a reddit-like website for someone with beginner experience in webdev?
    - levi- 6y ago
      Depends on the person.
samizdis 6y ago
I like it. Thanks, and I hope that it goes well.
- holler 6y ago
  thank you
oftenwrong 6y ago
Very nice concept and design. One thing I partially dislike about hn/reddit/youtube/etc is that most of the discussion has already occurred once I have arrived at a post. Although I admit that I find reading others' online discussions addictive, having a more real-time chat attached to a post like on sqwok is appealing. It means anyone can jump in and steer the discussion at any time, and not just be forced to tack on a comment at the bottom that will likely never be seen, buried under the weight of the existing discussion. I have some feedback: 1. One part of the interface confused me. From the "trending" tab I clicked on a post in the list. Then, I clicked the left-facing chevron above the post, which to me looked like a "back" button. After clicking, I was taken to the page of the user that made the post I was on. I expected to be taken back to the main trending list. This applies to both the desktop layout and to the mobile layout. 2. An aspect of the design that rubs me the wrong way is the amount of persistent screen space dedicated to the content of a post in the desktop layout. The content of the post is generally pretty small, yet it takes up over half of the screen, and it appears there is no way to collapse it (?). Once I've viewed the content of the post, I no longer need to see it, and would probably just want to engage in discussion in the chat with full focus. However, I'm still stuck with the main post taking up over half of the screen, and the chat boxed into its smaller panel. In the mobile layout of sqwok, the user can click onto the chat tab, and the chat is given the full screen. I like that for a text or image post. On the other hand, for a video post I may want to view the video and read the comments at the same time.
- holler 6y ago
  thank you for checking it out & the thoughtful feedback, I appreciate it! 1) I've received this same feedback about the chevron being confusing before and I think this cements that it needs to be updated to work like a back button on both desktop/mobile. I think that makes sense since the author of the post can be clicked on right below that. 2) I agree with this that it'd be nice to have a way to adjust the screen space and make just the chat focused on desktop, and perhaps a split screen mode on mobile. I think it's a good idea and will have to explore building that. One thing I'm not sure of is where/how to display the content of the post in a chat-centric desktop mode? I was thinking either horizontal strip along top of the chat, or maybe a minimized box floating top-right of the chat (like picture-in-picture style)? Thanks again, it's very helpful!
johnisgood 6y ago
"Loading more posts", i.e. no pager/paging. That is not good. How do I go back to where I left off (easily)? I do not like infinite scrolling for many reasons. This being one of them.
- holler 6y ago
  hey, I definitely agree with you & I've thought about the scroll position issue recently. I want to improve it either by supporting both infinite scroll and paging, or find a way to build a hybrid that displays a page, while also having the scroll position retained. I'm with you, just have to balance what things to tackle in what order.
louisch 6y ago
Don't know whether it's intentional but there seems to be a 20 character limit on the username length currently
- holler 6y ago
  hey, thanks for checking it out, and yes there is a 20 char limit on the username length for now.. I looked around at other social sites and that seemed to be about the common length. Were you hoping to have a much longer name? I do plan to add a "display name" that can be whatever length

by holler 6y ago

thatguy0900 6y ago

" No voting - Relevance is based on chat activity and excluded voting entirely." Won't this just mean that the top comments will always be flamewars?

holler 6y ago
hey good question, and it is experimental so we'll see how far it goes, but I think you could get more granular to detect things like unique message author/over rolling time period, account age, perhaps a private vote people could add or other metrics to try and filter out noise.
- holler 6y ago
  To follow up with that, I want to try and mimic real life as much as possible, and avoid the incessant dopamine feedback loop that voting/liking promotes. That's sort of my guiding idea, to keep it razor focused just on conversation.

fsnowdin 6y ago

I checked out your website and the premise seems to be pretty solid. I've been browsing 4chan lately and while the place is certainly a cesspool most of the time, I loved the ephemeral and almost real-time discussion format. sqwok seems like something I'd use. However, I think you might have heard this already, what the hell is the sqwok name. How do you even pronounce it let alone memorize it!? I think you know what my suggestion is.

raunakdag 6y ago
Looks like squawk. a parrot/pirate type thing, no?
holler 6y ago
Thank You! The desire for ephemeral real-time discussion is what really drove the idea... As for the name (lol), at the time I was trying to think of something that represented what it was about, and came across the word "squawk". That name is pretty common but I liked the play on it "sqwok" because it's 5 characters, easy to spell & remember. I decided to roll with it, but have a backup just in case!

ducktective 6y ago

Can you talk about the tech stack you used to build it? How much time did it take? Is this a solo project? Thanks

holler 6y ago
Hey, the entire project is running aws services w/serverless py api, websockets, ember.js frontend, about a year to build so far... This is the 2nd go-around with an older v1 that was scrapped & rebuilt.
- ducktective 6y ago
  How long do you estimate it takes to design a reddit-like website for someone with beginner experience in webdev?
  - levi- 6y ago
    Depends on the person.

samizdis 6y ago

I like it. Thanks, and I hope that it goes well.

holler 6y ago
thank you

oftenwrong 6y ago

Very nice concept and design. One thing I partially dislike about hn/reddit/youtube/etc is that most of the discussion has already occurred once I have arrived at a post. Although I admit that I find reading others' online discussions addictive, having a more real-time chat attached to a post like on sqwok is appealing. It means anyone can jump in and steer the discussion at any time, and not just be forced to tack on a comment at the bottom that will likely never be seen, buried under the weight of the existing discussion. I have some feedback: 1. One part of the interface confused me. From the "trending" tab I clicked on a post in the list. Then, I clicked the left-facing chevron above the post, which to me looked like a "back" button. After clicking, I was taken to the page of the user that made the post I was on. I expected to be taken back to the main trending list. This applies to both the desktop layout and to the mobile layout. 2. An aspect of the design that rubs me the wrong way is the amount of persistent screen space dedicated to the content of a post in the desktop layout. The content of the post is generally pretty small, yet it takes up over half of the screen, and it appears there is no way to collapse it (?). Once I've viewed the content of the post, I no longer need to see it, and would probably just want to engage in discussion in the chat with full focus. However, I'm still stuck with the main post taking up over half of the screen, and the chat boxed into its smaller panel. In the mobile layout of sqwok, the user can click onto the chat tab, and the chat is given the full screen. I like that for a text or image post. On the other hand, for a video post I may want to view the video and read the comments at the same time.

holler 6y ago
thank you for checking it out & the thoughtful feedback, I appreciate it! 1) I've received this same feedback about the chevron being confusing before and I think this cements that it needs to be updated to work like a back button on both desktop/mobile. I think that makes sense since the author of the post can be clicked on right below that. 2) I agree with this that it'd be nice to have a way to adjust the screen space and make just the chat focused on desktop, and perhaps a split screen mode on mobile. I think it's a good idea and will have to explore building that. One thing I'm not sure of is where/how to display the content of the post in a chat-centric desktop mode? I was thinking either horizontal strip along top of the chat, or maybe a minimized box floating top-right of the chat (like picture-in-picture style)? Thanks again, it's very helpful!

johnisgood 6y ago

"Loading more posts", i.e. no pager/paging. That is not good. How do I go back to where I left off (easily)? I do not like infinite scrolling for many reasons. This being one of them.

holler 6y ago
hey, I definitely agree with you & I've thought about the scroll position issue recently. I want to improve it either by supporting both infinite scroll and paging, or find a way to build a hybrid that displays a page, while also having the scroll position retained. I'm with you, just have to balance what things to tackle in what order.

louisch 6y ago

Don't know whether it's intentional but there seems to be a 20 character limit on the username length currently

holler 6y ago
hey, thanks for checking it out, and yes there is a 20 char limit on the username length for now.. I looked around at other social sites and that seemed to be about the common length. Were you hoping to have a much longer name? I do plan to add a "display name" that can be whatever length