6 ms·

https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/ is fast. I've never been to Georgia, I don't live in the US, I don't even need hardware. But I still enjoy j

https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/ is fast. I've never been to Georgia, I don't live in the US, I don't even need hardware. But I still enjoy just clicking on random links and seeing a swift response.

ethanfinni 4y ago
Wow! Does anyone know what is built on and how it is this fast?
gilbetron 4y ago
That is cool! Anyone know the tech behind it?
- eastbayjake 4y ago
  They appear to be using the Backbone.js/Marionette framework, which is super hardcore but also dates when this site was probably developed (I can't remember the last time I saw Backbone in the wild!) https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fwww.mcmaster.com%2f https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fwww.mcmaster.com%2f
- tracyhenry 4y ago
  It looks like something achievable with SPA frameworks such as next.js
  - culi 4y ago
    Might also be using the native Context Index API.[0] That's usually used to allow sites to be downloaded and browsed offline. I think that's how SVGOMG does it too [0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Content_Index_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Content_Ind...
    - easrng 4y ago
      The Content Index API only tells the browser that a page is available offline, you still have to cache it with a serviceworker.
      - culi 4y ago
        Good tip, thanks
  - chrisweekly 4y ago
    In the spirit of clarification / correction (vs pedantry), SPA is a client-side web architecture pattern, whereas Next.js is a web framework best known for its support for rendering outside the browser (SSR and SSG).
    - tracyhenry 4y ago
      Thanks. Terminology aside, what I referred to was exactly Next.js's pre-rendering (SSR & SSG) and prefetching. I feel like without them it'll be harder to achieve OP's interactivity with just React/Vue.
      - fullstackchris 4y ago
        React / Vue is also irrelevant here however. It all depends how your actual prod code is built in the end. (For example you can use React with Next.js and still do all the SSR SSG stuff) In this case you're writing React for your server side rendered pages as opposed to the 'traditional' pattern of an SPA where everything happens in the client.
- snapdaddy 4y ago
  Looking at the page code, it appears that their main 'secret' is pre-loading the images for the page that are one-level deeper.
redanddead 4y ago
What I like about it is that it's a no-BS e-commerce store, get in and get out. I've seen people shopping for hardware on reddit say that the navigation is clunky and confusing, and IIRC they said the products are price-gouged? I'd be curious to know what other users here with an eye for design think of it, and if they know of similar websites, as I've been working on a hardware e-commerce store (mainly for my own use) that uses a lot of the same principles of no-BS shopping, I'm supposed to present it to my mentor next week Also, a lot of the speed is pretty standard with most frameworks, they did a good job of blending in the slow loading bits into something that feels fast. Overall It's a great website and I'm sure it makes lots of sales
- qkucy 4y ago
  Mech engineer here. We truly buy everything we can for our company from here. If you order by 6pm and select ground shipping, it comes the next day by 11am, and we’re in Boston where the closest warehouses are NJ and Chicago. Also they have the best return policy. If you don’t like it, send it back and they will reimburse you without asking a single question. Lastly, part of the no-BS aspect is that no brands are given most of the time. You need test leads for a bench top multimeter? They offer whatever length or specs you want, and any of the ones you choose will be high quality and most likely made in the US (in my example, all their test leads are Pomona brand). The ability not to have to sift through Amazon reviews or decide whether a premium brand is worth it is easily worth the extra cost.
  - maccard 4y ago
    > Also they have the best return policy. If you don’t like it, send it back and they will reimburse you without asking a single question. Sometimes I forget how good we have it in Europe. In the EU we have a pretty close to universal [0] 14 day no questions asked return period for all online purchases. You occasionally get a crappy retailer who tries to push back but one link to this document stops that pretty quickly. [0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/indexamp_en.htm https://www.google.com/amp/s/europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/c...
dzek69 4y ago
Funny, for me it is much slower than average website. I'm on a phone right now. Will try from a desktop tomorrow
- quadcore 4y ago
  Could it be HN that's slowing it down?
- ipaddr 4y ago
  Unusable on a phone too bad.
xeromal 4y ago
I love that. That's my homestate and I hope GA continues to grow and thrive.
Jcowell 4y ago
And it supports App clips that are just as swift and not bogged down by the app clip size.
pupdogg 4y ago
Pretty amazing company. They're a big Ruby on Rails shop. At least they were back in 2016. FYI, I was offered a position there but didn't take it up due to long commute.
Nk26 4y ago
I don't know if they still have it but they used to have a giant catalog that was the same thing in paper form. Super thin paper thousands of pages of just random stuff.
- jffry 4y ago
  You can flip through one from 2012 on the Internet Archive! https://archive.org/details/mcmaster-118_202012 https://archive.org/details/mcmaster-118_202012
Vladimof 4y ago
McMaster is really cool, but not for the quick response time of their website (its actually not very fast)... the wide variety of parts available is why I like them.
roflyear 4y ago
And they have great products. Little expensive but you will know you're getting good product 100%.
knighthack 4y ago
Is it just me, or did they custom/hand-draw all the illustrations for the hardware being sold? And man, the UI is brilliant. Straight and to the point - just enough complexity to handle what they're selling, without the clunkiness of Amazon's UI.
- jawmes8 4y ago
  Yep and the downloadable 3D files are especially helpful when designing with those parts in mind!
ravenstine 4y ago
In a similar vein, I enjoy looking through ULine's website: https://www.uline.com/ https://www.uline.com/ Everything looks satisfyingly clean and useful. I almost never buy anything from them, but sometimes I end up the site and go down a rabbit hole.
- kazinator 4y ago
  They still have paper catalogs, I think; you should get that.
  - cyberge99 4y ago
    This is also an easy way to get your local postman to hate you. Last I recall, the catalog was almost equivalent to two phonebooks in size.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
willyt 4y ago
RS components https://uk.rs-online.com/web/ https://uk.rs-online.com/web/ is the British equivalent. Also used to have an epic paper catalogue that came in 5 volumes.

ethanfinni 4y ago

Wow! Does anyone know what is built on and how it is this fast?

gilbetron 4y ago

That is cool! Anyone know the tech behind it?

eastbayjake 4y ago
They appear to be using the Backbone.js/Marionette framework, which is super hardcore but also dates when this site was probably developed (I can't remember the last time I saw Backbone in the wild!) https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fwww.mcmaster.com%2f https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fwww.mcmaster.com%2f
tracyhenry 4y ago
It looks like something achievable with SPA frameworks such as next.js
- culi 4y ago
  Might also be using the native Context Index API.[0] That's usually used to allow sites to be downloaded and browsed offline. I think that's how SVGOMG does it too [0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Content_Index_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Content_Ind...
  - easrng 4y ago
    The Content Index API only tells the browser that a page is available offline, you still have to cache it with a serviceworker.
    - culi 4y ago
      Good tip, thanks
- chrisweekly 4y ago
  In the spirit of clarification / correction (vs pedantry), SPA is a client-side web architecture pattern, whereas Next.js is a web framework best known for its support for rendering outside the browser (SSR and SSG).
  - tracyhenry 4y ago
    Thanks. Terminology aside, what I referred to was exactly Next.js's pre-rendering (SSR & SSG) and prefetching. I feel like without them it'll be harder to achieve OP's interactivity with just React/Vue.
    - fullstackchris 4y ago
      React / Vue is also irrelevant here however. It all depends how your actual prod code is built in the end. (For example you can use React with Next.js and still do all the SSR SSG stuff) In this case you're writing React for your server side rendered pages as opposed to the 'traditional' pattern of an SPA where everything happens in the client.
snapdaddy 4y ago
Looking at the page code, it appears that their main 'secret' is pre-loading the images for the page that are one-level deeper.

redanddead 4y ago

What I like about it is that it's a no-BS e-commerce store, get in and get out. I've seen people shopping for hardware on reddit say that the navigation is clunky and confusing, and IIRC they said the products are price-gouged? I'd be curious to know what other users here with an eye for design think of it, and if they know of similar websites, as I've been working on a hardware e-commerce store (mainly for my own use) that uses a lot of the same principles of no-BS shopping, I'm supposed to present it to my mentor next week Also, a lot of the speed is pretty standard with most frameworks, they did a good job of blending in the slow loading bits into something that feels fast. Overall It's a great website and I'm sure it makes lots of sales

qkucy 4y ago
Mech engineer here. We truly buy everything we can for our company from here. If you order by 6pm and select ground shipping, it comes the next day by 11am, and we’re in Boston where the closest warehouses are NJ and Chicago. Also they have the best return policy. If you don’t like it, send it back and they will reimburse you without asking a single question. Lastly, part of the no-BS aspect is that no brands are given most of the time. You need test leads for a bench top multimeter? They offer whatever length or specs you want, and any of the ones you choose will be high quality and most likely made in the US (in my example, all their test leads are Pomona brand). The ability not to have to sift through Amazon reviews or decide whether a premium brand is worth it is easily worth the extra cost.
- maccard 4y ago
  > Also they have the best return policy. If you don’t like it, send it back and they will reimburse you without asking a single question. Sometimes I forget how good we have it in Europe. In the EU we have a pretty close to universal [0] 14 day no questions asked return period for all online purchases. You occasionally get a crappy retailer who tries to push back but one link to this document stops that pretty quickly. [0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/indexamp_en.htm https://www.google.com/amp/s/europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/c...

dzek69 4y ago

Funny, for me it is much slower than average website. I'm on a phone right now. Will try from a desktop tomorrow

quadcore 4y ago
Could it be HN that's slowing it down?
ipaddr 4y ago
Unusable on a phone too bad.

xeromal 4y ago

I love that. That's my homestate and I hope GA continues to grow and thrive.

Jcowell 4y ago

And it supports App clips that are just as swift and not bogged down by the app clip size.

pupdogg 4y ago

Pretty amazing company. They're a big Ruby on Rails shop. At least they were back in 2016. FYI, I was offered a position there but didn't take it up due to long commute.

Nk26 4y ago

I don't know if they still have it but they used to have a giant catalog that was the same thing in paper form. Super thin paper thousands of pages of just random stuff.

jffry 4y ago
You can flip through one from 2012 on the Internet Archive! https://archive.org/details/mcmaster-118_202012 https://archive.org/details/mcmaster-118_202012

Vladimof 4y ago

McMaster is really cool, but not for the quick response time of their website (its actually not very fast)... the wide variety of parts available is why I like them.

roflyear 4y ago

And they have great products. Little expensive but you will know you're getting good product 100%.

knighthack 4y ago

Is it just me, or did they custom/hand-draw all the illustrations for the hardware being sold? And man, the UI is brilliant. Straight and to the point - just enough complexity to handle what they're selling, without the clunkiness of Amazon's UI.

jawmes8 4y ago
Yep and the downloadable 3D files are especially helpful when designing with those parts in mind!

ravenstine 4y ago

In a similar vein, I enjoy looking through ULine's website: https://www.uline.com/ https://www.uline.com/ Everything looks satisfyingly clean and useful. I almost never buy anything from them, but sometimes I end up the site and go down a rabbit hole.

kazinator 4y ago
They still have paper catalogs, I think; you should get that.
- cyberge99 4y ago
  This is also an easy way to get your local postman to hate you. Last I recall, the catalog was almost equivalent to two phonebooks in size.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

willyt 4y ago

RS components https://uk.rs-online.com/web/ https://uk.rs-online.com/web/ is the British equivalent. Also used to have an epic paper catalogue that came in 5 volumes.