6 ms·

How to build the best of breed web apps

80 points by kinlan 15y ago

gazrogers 15y ago
I'm not sure I want to take advice on design from a site which thinks that flipping paper pages is a suitable metaphor for a browser. It's clever but, in my opinion, it's a poor interface. Wasn't there a link on here recently about poor skeuomorphic interfaces?
- cynwoody 15y ago
  Thanks for teaching me a new word. My initial hurdle was figuring out how to turn the page. Clicked in a bunch of different places to no avail. Fiddled with the little dots. Finally discovered the arrow keys work. Duh! What followed was reasonable, but hardly remarkable, advice. However, an ordinary blog post or a PDF would have worked much better than that cute but stupid skeuomorphism.
dm8 15y ago
Is there any open source project/jquery plugin for flipping book pages?
- vkjelseth 15y ago
  Turn.js looks pretty good and was on HN about a week ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3555152 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3555152
hengli 15y ago
Gah, I want to read the contents of this book but the design is so terrible.
Alind 15y ago
Actually, regardless the design of this site, contents are good though
tnuc 15y ago
Oh the irony. If only the web app about web apps was usable.
- ddrager 15y ago
  Yikes - I would like to read this but I can't even save it to Instapaper for my reading time on my mobile device. Irony...
- tomkr 15y ago
  I agree with the sentiment, the interface seems to be aimed at looking nice more than being usable, which would make it so much easier to use as a reference. But if you follow the check-list in the "book", it is not actually a web app itself. It's aimed at someone reading its content, not really using it as an application. So I guess they kind of found a loophole for themselves. I do think it's really pretty though.
grannyg00se 15y ago
This is pretty bad. I tried with CSS turned off and it was still unusable. Trying to deal with this makes me want to go to craigslist for some counter style. Balance out the excessives.
jrvarela56 15y ago
what is this? i just see some wood panel and two circles
rufugee 15y ago
It's about 1000% better than anything I've ever done, it's free, and the content is good. Seems like the guy is trying to help people build better web apps...that is a noble intent IMHO. Why not offer constructive criticism instead of all this negativity?
ThomPete 15y ago
A good read with good tips and well designed (aesthtically) Don't listen to the haters. This is good stuff with valuable content.
- Natsu 15y ago
  I would have read more of it, but I got too annoyed trying to get the pages to flip properly. It doesn't help that they interfere with my mouse gestures plugin...
robomartin 15y ago
My question would be about SEO. Don't you run the risk of making a site that looks like a single (or just a few) pages regardless of how deep your content might be?

80 points by kinlan 15y ago

I'm not sure I want to take advice on design from a site which thinks that flipping paper pages is a suitable metaphor for a browser. It's clever but, in my opinion, it's a poor interface. Wasn't there a link on here recently about poor skeuomorphic interfaces?

cynwoody 15y ago
Thanks for teaching me a new word. My initial hurdle was figuring out how to turn the page. Clicked in a bunch of different places to no avail. Fiddled with the little dots. Finally discovered the arrow keys work. Duh! What followed was reasonable, but hardly remarkable, advice. However, an ordinary blog post or a PDF would have worked much better than that cute but stupid skeuomorphism.

dm8 15y ago

Is there any open source project/jquery plugin for flipping book pages?

vkjelseth 15y ago
Turn.js looks pretty good and was on HN about a week ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3555152 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3555152

hengli 15y ago

Gah, I want to read the contents of this book but the design is so terrible.

Alind 15y ago

Actually, regardless the design of this site, contents are good though

tnuc 15y ago

Oh the irony. If only the web app about web apps was usable.

ddrager 15y ago
Yikes - I would like to read this but I can't even save it to Instapaper for my reading time on my mobile device. Irony...
tomkr 15y ago
I agree with the sentiment, the interface seems to be aimed at looking nice more than being usable, which would make it so much easier to use as a reference. But if you follow the check-list in the "book", it is not actually a web app itself. It's aimed at someone reading its content, not really using it as an application. So I guess they kind of found a loophole for themselves. I do think it's really pretty though.

grannyg00se 15y ago

This is pretty bad. I tried with CSS turned off and it was still unusable. Trying to deal with this makes me want to go to craigslist for some counter style. Balance out the excessives.

jrvarela56 15y ago

what is this? i just see some wood panel and two circles

rufugee 15y ago

It's about 1000% better than anything I've ever done, it's free, and the content is good. Seems like the guy is trying to help people build better web apps...that is a noble intent IMHO. Why not offer constructive criticism instead of all this negativity?

ThomPete 15y ago

A good read with good tips and well designed (aesthtically) Don't listen to the haters. This is good stuff with valuable content.

Natsu 15y ago
I would have read more of it, but I got too annoyed trying to get the pages to flip properly. It doesn't help that they interfere with my mouse gestures plugin...

robomartin 15y ago

My question would be about SEO. Don't you run the risk of making a site that looks like a single (or just a few) pages regardless of how deep your content might be?