6 ms·

I had three minutes, clicked tutorial and got a modal asking me to sign up. Left the page.

by smugma 4y ago

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
thatfunkymunki 4y ago
same, what a sad tease.
vaporary 4y ago
I didn't even get three minutes; as soon as the page opened, I couldn't do anything without signing into Google or creating an account. Closed the tab.
- jacobsimon 4y ago
  Ugh fine I’ll take the bait. If you all don’t want to create an account, don’t expect to try anyone’s products! It doesn’t even make sense from a software perspective: A spreadsheet needs to belong to a user. You can’t edit a google doc or sheet without being logged in. Sure, they could create a sandbox demo of their product that works without an account, but that’s kind of an unreasonable feature expectation to thrust onto every website.
  - discordianfish 4y ago
    "Sign up to save" is a quite common pattern these days and what I would suggest they are doing here as well.
  - znt 4y ago
    Jupyter online test page, no login: https://jupyter.org/try-jupyter/retro/notebooks/?path=notebooks/Intro.ipynb https://jupyter.org/try-jupyter/retro/notebooks/?path=notebo... Online python REPL, no login: https://replit.com/languages/python3 https://replit.com/languages/python3 Another generic online REPL service, with pandas example, no login: https://onecompiler.com/python/3x7an28pr https://onecompiler.com/python/3x7an28pr ReactJS online playground, no login: https://playcode.io/react https://playcode.io/react
  - MaxPengwing 4y ago
    You can still read the tutorial without getting a Google Account, and that can be more than enough to get a feel for the product. At least enough to decide if you want to get a test account. Here the Tutorial is Login Gated. That's just going to turn people who are curious and have 2-3 min to look at it, away.
  - metalliqaz 4y ago
    I already had a google account when it came time to try Google Docs. I'm not going to make a new account somewhere just to demo what they offer. I have to be convinced before I enter my personal info
- ragnarsson 4y ago
  Modern problems require modern solutions. I keep a separate gmail id just for this. Also I signed in using gmail and redirect didn't work in firefox.
- moneywoes 4y ago
  Don’t studies show that you have to make users do something that requires friction to boost conversion? Otherwise they’re not valuable leads
llaolleh 4y ago
Thanks for letting us know. I won't even bother clicking on the link.
nvln 4y ago
With pay-per-use services propping up around AI, I'm sensing that asking users to sign up before trial will become inevitable. 1. Is this a HN only phenomenon or is there a significant drop-off in general because of the signup requirement? 2. If the drop-off is general, how are you planning to handle AI pay-per-use credit tracking without signup?
- sporedro 4y ago
  I think they are referring to the fact you can’t even try it without signing up. I don’t think people mind signing up and paying if they feel they will use it. So much stuff is released every day, I don’t want to be bothered creating an account and giving my info to everything on the internet. Give me a good demo and if I’m interested I’ll sign up.
zamfi 4y ago
I hate email signups as much as the next guy, but the truth is...if you find their value proposition so weak that you won't even enter an email address or click through a Google login button? Then maybe you're not who they want as a first customer anyway. Perhaps this is just successful self-selection, rather than merely a user-hostile behavior?
- MaxPengwing 4y ago
  no this is just user hostile and a bad sales funnel. Even Googles Tutorials are not login gated, however it expects you to get a 14 day free account to test Google Apps if you want to do the practice material. Show what you have, then gently nudge people in to the sales funnel. Dont body slam them in to i.
qhwudbebd 4y ago
It doesn't do a verification flow on the address provided, so you can just use <randomstring>@sharklasers.com or similar to try it out.
jackamadeo 4y ago
We hear you and we do want to make it possible to try the tutorial without signing up for an account. We're working on making that possible shortly. I'll update here when that's possible EDIT: this should work now. Just click the new button that says "Skip signup and let me try it out first"

I had three minutes, clicked tutorial and got a modal asking me to sign up. Left the page.

by smugma 4y ago

I had three minutes, clicked tutorial and got a modal asking me to sign up. Left the page.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

thatfunkymunki 4y ago

same, what a sad tease.

vaporary 4y ago

I didn't even get three minutes; as soon as the page opened, I couldn't do anything without signing into Google or creating an account. Closed the tab.

jacobsimon 4y ago
Ugh fine I’ll take the bait. If you all don’t want to create an account, don’t expect to try anyone’s products! It doesn’t even make sense from a software perspective: A spreadsheet needs to belong to a user. You can’t edit a google doc or sheet without being logged in. Sure, they could create a sandbox demo of their product that works without an account, but that’s kind of an unreasonable feature expectation to thrust onto every website.
- discordianfish 4y ago
  "Sign up to save" is a quite common pattern these days and what I would suggest they are doing here as well.
- znt 4y ago
  Jupyter online test page, no login: https://jupyter.org/try-jupyter/retro/notebooks/?path=notebooks/Intro.ipynb https://jupyter.org/try-jupyter/retro/notebooks/?path=notebo... Online python REPL, no login: https://replit.com/languages/python3 https://replit.com/languages/python3 Another generic online REPL service, with pandas example, no login: https://onecompiler.com/python/3x7an28pr https://onecompiler.com/python/3x7an28pr ReactJS online playground, no login: https://playcode.io/react https://playcode.io/react
- MaxPengwing 4y ago
  You can still read the tutorial without getting a Google Account, and that can be more than enough to get a feel for the product. At least enough to decide if you want to get a test account. Here the Tutorial is Login Gated. That's just going to turn people who are curious and have 2-3 min to look at it, away.
- metalliqaz 4y ago
  I already had a google account when it came time to try Google Docs. I'm not going to make a new account somewhere just to demo what they offer. I have to be convinced before I enter my personal info
ragnarsson 4y ago
Modern problems require modern solutions. I keep a separate gmail id just for this. Also I signed in using gmail and redirect didn't work in firefox.
moneywoes 4y ago
Don’t studies show that you have to make users do something that requires friction to boost conversion? Otherwise they’re not valuable leads

llaolleh 4y ago

Thanks for letting us know. I won't even bother clicking on the link.

nvln 4y ago

With pay-per-use services propping up around AI, I'm sensing that asking users to sign up before trial will become inevitable. 1. Is this a HN only phenomenon or is there a significant drop-off in general because of the signup requirement? 2. If the drop-off is general, how are you planning to handle AI pay-per-use credit tracking without signup?

sporedro 4y ago
I think they are referring to the fact you can’t even try it without signing up. I don’t think people mind signing up and paying if they feel they will use it. So much stuff is released every day, I don’t want to be bothered creating an account and giving my info to everything on the internet. Give me a good demo and if I’m interested I’ll sign up.

zamfi 4y ago

I hate email signups as much as the next guy, but the truth is...if you find their value proposition so weak that you won't even enter an email address or click through a Google login button? Then maybe you're not who they want as a first customer anyway. Perhaps this is just successful self-selection, rather than merely a user-hostile behavior?

MaxPengwing 4y ago
no this is just user hostile and a bad sales funnel. Even Googles Tutorials are not login gated, however it expects you to get a 14 day free account to test Google Apps if you want to do the practice material. Show what you have, then gently nudge people in to the sales funnel. Dont body slam them in to i.

qhwudbebd 4y ago

It doesn't do a verification flow on the address provided, so you can just use <randomstring>@sharklasers.com or similar to try it out.

jackamadeo 4y ago

We hear you and we do want to make it possible to try the tutorial without signing up for an account. We're working on making that possible shortly. I'll update here when that's possible EDIT: this should work now. Just click the new button that says "Skip signup and let me try it out first"