6 ms·

Forzak: A website that curates high-quality educational content

48 points by aryanfzk 5y ago

ericol 5y ago
Without even commenting on the design, hiding the urls is a dark pattern.
- jacobmischka 5y ago
  That, and using a button to open a link with JavaScript is almost humorously atrocious.
  - aryanfzk 5y ago
    Its so I can log Mixpanel events
    - jacobmischka 5y ago
      You don't need a button for that, and I don't find that an acceptable excuse anyway since I don't care about that as a user.
- aryanfzk 5y ago
  I made this in a couple hours, just trying to get something out. Will get better. Plus I'm not a designer or a programmer, my speciality is physics. So really learning on the go.
  - inetsee 5y ago
    Curation implies some knowledge of the material being curated. If you're not a programmer, why should you be relied on to recommend educational materials related to programming?
    - aryanfzk 5y ago
      I have friends who are experts in the other fields.
didibus 5y ago
So it's a bunch of links to YouTube videos and it forces you to sign up/login to add more? Am I missing something, this seems laughable, the linked content don't even seem that great, there's so few of them. Doing an AwesomeXYZ repo on GitHub would have been just as easy and more approachable. Sorry, but just get yourself a book or go to Khan Academy, this isn't the curration I was hoping for.
- aryanfzk 5y ago
  What type of curation would you like? Just say it and I'll get it done ASAP Thanks, Aryan :))
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
bitwidget 5y ago
I rarely login to comment on hackernews, but is this just a simple html page with links to youtube videos?
- aryanfzk 5y ago
  You gotta start somewhere right?
southerntofu 5y ago
I came here to say i was disappointed, but there's a plot twist. I was expecting something similar to Wikipedia except for popular education, not an encyclopedia for people who are already educated in the field. So first i was somewhat rebutted that the website didn't work without Javascript. Then clicking a few links and ending up on Youtube asking me to login made me sad, if only because i don't have a Google account (setting aside political concerns). BUT at the same time it seems you're not really used to making websites and i'm glad you're getting started! It's refreshing to read HTML that's obviously handcrafted and is not some ** Single Page Application that takes megabytes of JS to load, hijacks your browser history and randomly doesn't work. You may be interested to read about the <details> and <summary> elements they'll allow you to have your collapsable listings without relying on client-side scripts (yes it's a native HTML5 feature). You may also want to make real links (<a href="...">) instead of a button with some JS to go somewhere. If you want to keep the "open in new tab" thing, target="_blank". Using real links will allow crawlers (archive.org, google..) to understand your website, as well as making it usable when javascript doesn't work. Then there's tricks to make your page lighter, because it's almost 1MB for just a few links. You could use a single CSS framework instead of two, and drop JS entirely. Click-to-open menu can be done without JS (using checkboxes for instance) but there's so little in your menu you can actually keep the menu open (no need for hamburger). Maybe also reduce your favicon? It's 10 times bigger than the full logo. Overall i'm really happy people are starting to make websites for their personally-curated library! And now we can argue about why you would link to Youtube, a platform known for advertisements and suddenly removing videos. And why we should even login to access educational content, why you need a privacy policy... ;) EDIT: I just noticed "Forzac Inc" in the legalese. If you're doing this as an individual and you're not saving/tracking personal data, you don't need such legalese a simple contact address is enough (if only from the domain WHOIS). If it's just you personally curating content for educational purposes, good, don't worry too much and keep on improving no matter what rude HN comments say. On the contrary if you're thinking of making a business out of it, just don't.
thunderbong 5y ago
I was genuinely curious to see this after reading all the comments. My God, this is seriously low effort! I'm shocked it's on the front page.

48 points by aryanfzk 5y ago

ericol 5y ago

Without even commenting on the design, hiding the urls is a dark pattern.

jacobmischka 5y ago
That, and using a button to open a link with JavaScript is almost humorously atrocious.
- aryanfzk 5y ago
  Its so I can log Mixpanel events
  - jacobmischka 5y ago
    You don't need a button for that, and I don't find that an acceptable excuse anyway since I don't care about that as a user.
aryanfzk 5y ago
I made this in a couple hours, just trying to get something out. Will get better. Plus I'm not a designer or a programmer, my speciality is physics. So really learning on the go.
- inetsee 5y ago
  Curation implies some knowledge of the material being curated. If you're not a programmer, why should you be relied on to recommend educational materials related to programming?
  - aryanfzk 5y ago
    I have friends who are experts in the other fields.

didibus 5y ago

So it's a bunch of links to YouTube videos and it forces you to sign up/login to add more? Am I missing something, this seems laughable, the linked content don't even seem that great, there's so few of them. Doing an AwesomeXYZ repo on GitHub would have been just as easy and more approachable. Sorry, but just get yourself a book or go to Khan Academy, this isn't the curration I was hoping for.

aryanfzk 5y ago
What type of curation would you like? Just say it and I'll get it done ASAP Thanks, Aryan :))
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

bitwidget 5y ago

I rarely login to comment on hackernews, but is this just a simple html page with links to youtube videos?

aryanfzk 5y ago
You gotta start somewhere right?

southerntofu 5y ago

I came here to say i was disappointed, but there's a plot twist. I was expecting something similar to Wikipedia except for popular education, not an encyclopedia for people who are already educated in the field. So first i was somewhat rebutted that the website didn't work without Javascript. Then clicking a few links and ending up on Youtube asking me to login made me sad, if only because i don't have a Google account (setting aside political concerns). BUT at the same time it seems you're not really used to making websites and i'm glad you're getting started! It's refreshing to read HTML that's obviously handcrafted and is not some ** Single Page Application that takes megabytes of JS to load, hijacks your browser history and randomly doesn't work. You may be interested to read about the <details> and <summary> elements they'll allow you to have your collapsable listings without relying on client-side scripts (yes it's a native HTML5 feature). You may also want to make real links (<a href="...">) instead of a button with some JS to go somewhere. If you want to keep the "open in new tab" thing, target="_blank". Using real links will allow crawlers (archive.org, google..) to understand your website, as well as making it usable when javascript doesn't work. Then there's tricks to make your page lighter, because it's almost 1MB for just a few links. You could use a single CSS framework instead of two, and drop JS entirely. Click-to-open menu can be done without JS (using checkboxes for instance) but there's so little in your menu you can actually keep the menu open (no need for hamburger). Maybe also reduce your favicon? It's 10 times bigger than the full logo. Overall i'm really happy people are starting to make websites for their personally-curated library! And now we can argue about why you would link to Youtube, a platform known for advertisements and suddenly removing videos. And why we should even login to access educational content, why you need a privacy policy... ;) EDIT: I just noticed "Forzac Inc" in the legalese. If you're doing this as an individual and you're not saving/tracking personal data, you don't need such legalese a simple contact address is enough (if only from the domain WHOIS). If it's just you personally curating content for educational purposes, good, don't worry too much and keep on improving no matter what rude HN comments say. On the contrary if you're thinking of making a business out of it, just don't.

thunderbong 5y ago

I was genuinely curious to see this after reading all the comments. My God, this is seriously low effort! I'm shocked it's on the front page.