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I hate making a new login that I have to remember for things I might not even use. It would be nice if you could create the website first, then only sign up if

I hate making a new login that I have to remember for things I might not even use. It would be nice if you could create the website first, then only sign up if you liked it and wanted to save it. This stops me from testing cool looking projects like this all the time :( EDIT: that being said, I love that you can edit the landing page itself, that at least gives me some idea of how it works, although then if I turn it into something interesting I have to start over when I sign up.

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WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
Hit the edit button, bottom right for a small sample. Agree on onboarding. You also have to re-enter your email after you click your email link which was annoying. But... this is 100% nitpicking. I think they crushed launch at making this appealing.
- flanbiscuit 5y ago
  > Hit the edit button, bottom right for a small sample. I didn't even notice that! What a cool idea to be able to test out the site by editing the home page itself
  - WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
    Would be disgusting chaos but also would be cool to let anyone edit the page so it is forever changing -- obviously working out the issues of blocking/hiding texts. Or social, imagine how much fun it would be to leave stickers/stamps on approved friend's websites.
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PinkPigeon 5y ago
So I think this is an excellent point. I'd love to do something like that for my product as well. However, there are a few considerations, some of bigger consequence than others: - How do you keep users from losing their data when they leave and come back? Cookies with an ID are a brittle solution. You could have a unique link, where the user's work is saved right up until they want to register - How do you deal with the inevitable onslaught of people using an open system? If you're bootstrapping like me, I don't think I could possibly handle the influx of an HN frontpage's worth of people simultaneously hammering the system - When do you clean house? You won't necessarily know whether someone wants to build a site, disappear for a month and then come back to it. Feels unlikely, but it's still possible. All of this would be solved by having (at the very least) a quick email-only signup, which auto-generates a password and a welcome email, but also takes you straight into the system. It's a small barrier to entry, but perhaps one that's worth putting in place to avoid hammering the server(s) too much? What do you think of video content showing off the system, could that help as a sort of interim solution?
- SamWhited 5y ago
  I never watch videos personally, but that's more because most of them are terrible and don't help than anything (they either just talk about it and never show the actual product, or take 5 minutes introducing themselves before the 1 minute demo, etc.). I'm sure it could be done right though, but I'd bet other people have also been trained not to click videos. The email gate sounds good (except don't generate a password that will then be visible in plain text, generate a one-time login that can't be reused after a certain amount of time and give the user the option to set a password later if they want one); sites could expire after a bit and a real account (where the site doesn't expire) could only be created if/when the user chooses to create a password and you can't save or use features that could trigger emails until you've verified your email or something.
  - PinkPigeon 5y ago
    Yeah, I can't stand those videos. With anything I do, it's straight to the content and as short as possible always. Though I agree with you about videos in general. I always prefer text-based tutorials. But many friends of mine are video fiends, so I always make both :)

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WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago

Hit the edit button, bottom right for a small sample. Agree on onboarding. You also have to re-enter your email after you click your email link which was annoying. But... this is 100% nitpicking. I think they crushed launch at making this appealing.

flanbiscuit 5y ago
> Hit the edit button, bottom right for a small sample. I didn't even notice that! What a cool idea to be able to test out the site by editing the home page itself
- WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
  Would be disgusting chaos but also would be cool to let anyone edit the page so it is forever changing -- obviously working out the issues of blocking/hiding texts. Or social, imagine how much fun it would be to leave stickers/stamps on approved friend's websites.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

PinkPigeon 5y ago

So I think this is an excellent point. I'd love to do something like that for my product as well. However, there are a few considerations, some of bigger consequence than others: - How do you keep users from losing their data when they leave and come back? Cookies with an ID are a brittle solution. You could have a unique link, where the user's work is saved right up until they want to register - How do you deal with the inevitable onslaught of people using an open system? If you're bootstrapping like me, I don't think I could possibly handle the influx of an HN frontpage's worth of people simultaneously hammering the system - When do you clean house? You won't necessarily know whether someone wants to build a site, disappear for a month and then come back to it. Feels unlikely, but it's still possible. All of this would be solved by having (at the very least) a quick email-only signup, which auto-generates a password and a welcome email, but also takes you straight into the system. It's a small barrier to entry, but perhaps one that's worth putting in place to avoid hammering the server(s) too much? What do you think of video content showing off the system, could that help as a sort of interim solution?

SamWhited 5y ago
I never watch videos personally, but that's more because most of them are terrible and don't help than anything (they either just talk about it and never show the actual product, or take 5 minutes introducing themselves before the 1 minute demo, etc.). I'm sure it could be done right though, but I'd bet other people have also been trained not to click videos. The email gate sounds good (except don't generate a password that will then be visible in plain text, generate a one-time login that can't be reused after a certain amount of time and give the user the option to set a password later if they want one); sites could expire after a bit and a real account (where the site doesn't expire) could only be created if/when the user chooses to create a password and you can't save or use features that could trigger emails until you've verified your email or something.
- PinkPigeon 5y ago
  Yeah, I can't stand those videos. With anything I do, it's straight to the content and as short as possible always. Though I agree with you about videos in general. I always prefer text-based tutorials. But many friends of mine are video fiends, so I always make both :)