4 ms·

Show HN: Our video series teaches anyone how to build & deploy a web app

23 points by theli0nheart 15y ago

mhartl 15y ago
The videos don't seem to play in Firefox. They work fine in Chrome.
- TobbenTM 15y ago
  Same with Opera.
amccloud 15y ago
I hope you teach people not to deploy Django projects with DEBUG = True ;) https://twifbook.com/should404 https://twifbook.com/should404 Otherwise it looks great! My GF bought a copy as she was interested in learning how to build "application" websites and not just wordpress blogs.
- theli0nheart 15y ago
  Nice catch. Just turned it off. Thanks for the reminder :) Hope your girlfriend enjoys the videos! If she has any issues, questions, comments, concerns, etc, we're around to answer any questions.
hv23 15y ago
Love the idea! Sent you an email I was having about payment issues a couple hours ago, any word? Looking forward to checking out the videos.
theli0nheart 15y ago
Hey HN! A while back, my co-founders and I were talking about how difficult it is for real beginners to get started making web applications. Between setting up a development environment, learning how to program, configuring servers, etc., the entire idea can seem insurmountable to someone who's never done it before. We brainstormed for a while, decided we would do a video series, and then went straight to creating videos that would teach absolute beginners how to go from nothing to deploying a site on DotCloud. Twifbook (our silly portmanteau) is the site that everyone who watches our series will launch (live) to their own domain name (we'll walk you through that as well). I want to give a huge shout-out to CodeAcademy for doing an incredible job getting the general entrepreneurial community jazzed about programming. Our goal is to put a more practical spin on it--and get people using their programming knowledge to actually launch things. Let us know what you think!
youngdev 15y ago
Do you allow to download the videos? And how come no Paypal integration as I don't feel comfortable giving away my CC.
- theli0nheart 15y ago
  1. Yep, you have full ownership. You can download them and put them on any device you want to your heart's content. 2. We're planning on Paypal integration soon. We're using Stripe right now, since it's much easier to integrate on our end.
  - ahmadss 15y ago
    I'd be curious to hear the feedback you guys are getting about using Stripe. I had the same concern as the grand-parent when I first arrived on the page, then checked your HN handles to check your backgrounds. I wonder if is a recurring theme when devs use Stripe, and if so, would a simple "secure payments by stripe" icon or logo suffice to communicate that aspect of security.
Pledge4Good 15y ago
Congrats guys. Looking forward to seeing this get huge.
dwynings 15y ago
I'd consider offering a sample of the videos, similar to what Peepcode does, so people can get a sense for the quality of the instruction.
alexobenauer 15y ago
That's an interesting pricing method for the beta period. I'd love to read a post on how that went after the beta sign-up period ends.
- dfriedmn 15y ago
  Great idea. We'll definitely follow up with something if we get good results.
- AVTizzle 15y ago
  Agreed. Came here to comment on the pricing method. Call me sheltered, but I've never seen it before. Blog post idea would be great.
ahmadss 15y ago
amazing price - looking fwd to diving in once i'm done with my udacity course this week. and thanks for implementing my feedback!
fumar 15y ago
Signed Up.
TobbenTM 15y ago
Says that I need a Mac to "use the How To Program Installer" (which I don't have), is that a big part of the deal? Do I need a Mac for anything else related to this 'course'?
- dfriedmn 15y ago
  Right now we only have an installer for the mac. The course should be similar on a Windows machine but some things are a little different (i.e. opening up the terminal). We're hoping to support Windows OS in the near-future, but for right now we only have Mac OS support. If you purchased the program, e-mail us at support AT elmcitylabs DOT com and we can either give you a full refund or help you through the process.
  - TobbenTM 15y ago
    Ok, but say that I figure out how to install Python + Django myself (on a linux box), is there anything else that would be missing from the Mac installer?
    - dfriedmn 15y ago
      You'll also need dotcloud's python library. After that, it should be fine, but sometimes there are unexpected issues. If you e-mail us, we'd be happy to help you through.
lukeholder 15y ago
Bought the series. The videos are buffering very slowly with many interruptions. My connection should be able to handle this though? http://www.speedtest.net/result/1871768101.png http://www.speedtest.net/result/1871768101.png It may be related to the mediaelement.js player. Skipping and searching is not working either. look forward to you fixing this issue.
- theli0nheart 15y ago
  It actually looks like Amazon S3 is having some issues serving media. It should be back to normal pretty soon. See https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=91111 https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=91111
- dfriedmn 15y ago
  Sorry about that. We haven't had any issues before, but we might have faster connections. We're currently serving the media from Amazon S3, but we'll switch to Cloudfront to see if that helps. If you're still having issues, e-mail us at support AT elmcitylabs DOT com
arms 15y ago
I signed up for two reasons: - I'm a seasoned PHP dev with an interest in Python + Django - I appreciate your interesting pricing scheme :) I'm also a PC user, so I hope when (if?) you release a Windows installer you'll send out an email. One criticism - I think you should have a 'confirm password' field after signing up. Good luck with this, I'm interested to see how it works out for you.
yogrish 15y ago
Good work. will signup soon.

23 points by theli0nheart 15y ago

mhartl 15y ago

The videos don't seem to play in Firefox. They work fine in Chrome.

TobbenTM 15y ago
Same with Opera.

amccloud 15y ago

I hope you teach people not to deploy Django projects with DEBUG = True ;) https://twifbook.com/should404 https://twifbook.com/should404 Otherwise it looks great! My GF bought a copy as she was interested in learning how to build "application" websites and not just wordpress blogs.

theli0nheart 15y ago
Nice catch. Just turned it off. Thanks for the reminder :) Hope your girlfriend enjoys the videos! If she has any issues, questions, comments, concerns, etc, we're around to answer any questions.

hv23 15y ago

Love the idea! Sent you an email I was having about payment issues a couple hours ago, any word? Looking forward to checking out the videos.

theli0nheart 15y ago

Hey HN! A while back, my co-founders and I were talking about how difficult it is for real beginners to get started making web applications. Between setting up a development environment, learning how to program, configuring servers, etc., the entire idea can seem insurmountable to someone who's never done it before. We brainstormed for a while, decided we would do a video series, and then went straight to creating videos that would teach absolute beginners how to go from nothing to deploying a site on DotCloud. Twifbook (our silly portmanteau) is the site that everyone who watches our series will launch (live) to their own domain name (we'll walk you through that as well). I want to give a huge shout-out to CodeAcademy for doing an incredible job getting the general entrepreneurial community jazzed about programming. Our goal is to put a more practical spin on it--and get people using their programming knowledge to actually launch things. Let us know what you think!

youngdev 15y ago

Do you allow to download the videos? And how come no Paypal integration as I don't feel comfortable giving away my CC.

theli0nheart 15y ago
1. Yep, you have full ownership. You can download them and put them on any device you want to your heart's content. 2. We're planning on Paypal integration soon. We're using Stripe right now, since it's much easier to integrate on our end.
- ahmadss 15y ago
  I'd be curious to hear the feedback you guys are getting about using Stripe. I had the same concern as the grand-parent when I first arrived on the page, then checked your HN handles to check your backgrounds. I wonder if is a recurring theme when devs use Stripe, and if so, would a simple "secure payments by stripe" icon or logo suffice to communicate that aspect of security.

Pledge4Good 15y ago

Congrats guys. Looking forward to seeing this get huge.

dwynings 15y ago

I'd consider offering a sample of the videos, similar to what Peepcode does, so people can get a sense for the quality of the instruction.

alexobenauer 15y ago

That's an interesting pricing method for the beta period. I'd love to read a post on how that went after the beta sign-up period ends.

dfriedmn 15y ago
Great idea. We'll definitely follow up with something if we get good results.
AVTizzle 15y ago
Agreed. Came here to comment on the pricing method. Call me sheltered, but I've never seen it before. Blog post idea would be great.

ahmadss 15y ago

amazing price - looking fwd to diving in once i'm done with my udacity course this week. and thanks for implementing my feedback!

fumar 15y ago

Signed Up.

TobbenTM 15y ago

Says that I need a Mac to "use the How To Program Installer" (which I don't have), is that a big part of the deal? Do I need a Mac for anything else related to this 'course'?

dfriedmn 15y ago
Right now we only have an installer for the mac. The course should be similar on a Windows machine but some things are a little different (i.e. opening up the terminal). We're hoping to support Windows OS in the near-future, but for right now we only have Mac OS support. If you purchased the program, e-mail us at support AT elmcitylabs DOT com and we can either give you a full refund or help you through the process.
- TobbenTM 15y ago
  Ok, but say that I figure out how to install Python + Django myself (on a linux box), is there anything else that would be missing from the Mac installer?
  - dfriedmn 15y ago
    You'll also need dotcloud's python library. After that, it should be fine, but sometimes there are unexpected issues. If you e-mail us, we'd be happy to help you through.

lukeholder 15y ago

Bought the series. The videos are buffering very slowly with many interruptions. My connection should be able to handle this though? http://www.speedtest.net/result/1871768101.png http://www.speedtest.net/result/1871768101.png It may be related to the mediaelement.js player. Skipping and searching is not working either. look forward to you fixing this issue.

theli0nheart 15y ago
It actually looks like Amazon S3 is having some issues serving media. It should be back to normal pretty soon. See https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=91111 https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=91111
dfriedmn 15y ago
Sorry about that. We haven't had any issues before, but we might have faster connections. We're currently serving the media from Amazon S3, but we'll switch to Cloudfront to see if that helps. If you're still having issues, e-mail us at support AT elmcitylabs DOT com

arms 15y ago

I signed up for two reasons: - I'm a seasoned PHP dev with an interest in Python + Django - I appreciate your interesting pricing scheme :) I'm also a PC user, so I hope when (if?) you release a Windows installer you'll send out an email. One criticism - I think you should have a 'confirm password' field after signing up. Good luck with this, I'm interested to see how it works out for you.

yogrish 15y ago

Good work. will signup soon.