5 ms·

Ask HN: Review My WebApp

24 points by kbrower 18y ago

acro 18y ago
Maybe you could write a short description of the app to encourage people to comment?
Adrenalist 18y ago
This is a really interesting/fascinating webapp. A few suggestions. 1. Improve the design / User Interface. It's a bit clunky and diminishes the experience. 2. Make the search field auto-complete. Use jQuery and you could have it done in a few minutes. I am not a chemist, so I don't know the exact spelling of most chemicals or elements. http://jetlogs.org/2007/10/22/jquery-auto-suggest-with-keyup-event/ http://jetlogs.org/2007/10/22/jquery-auto-suggest-with-keyup...
- d0mine 18y ago
  He uses jQuery. The site doesn't work (Windows, Chrome).
- kbrower 18y ago
  for #2 the search can be too slow for auto-complete
mdolon 18y ago
I'm not sure if other tools like this exist but man I could've used something like this back in my Organic Chem classes. I like it, I tried to search for a few things and was able to find most of it (couldn't find nitroglycerin). Best of luck!
- vaksel 18y ago
  I don't really remember since it was like 4 years ago, but I think in my organic chemistry lab we used something like this. (granted it was an offline version, and the graphics really weren't that much better) So if that hasn't changed(don't see why it should, since academia is known for using crappy looking software), he can probably sell some subscriptions to different schools chemistry departments. I would make the design a little better, and make the appealing design as one of the features
sspencer 18y ago
I really like the idea of being able to search for a molecule just by drawing it! It's a fantastic and intuitive idea, if it works... Which it doesn't, at least for me. When I click the draw link, all I see is an empty white popup box with Preview and Submit buttons that I can't interact with. Here's my setup, for debug purposes: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008072820 Firefox/3.0.1
- jackowayed 18y ago
  Do you have java? It looks like it's an applet.
- Herring 18y ago
  I'm also on 64 bit linux & it works. Wish he had made a huge draw button. I read about that feature here before I saw it on the page. PS 2.5 million reactions really? Why aren't they all listed in /reactions/ hmm? :)
  - kbrower 18y ago
    The reactions listed in /reactions/ are general types of reaction. There may be 100,000s of individual reaction between each type. I will definitely be making it more clear that you can draw the compound.
    - Herring 18y ago
      So maybe call them reaction classes/types? For what it's worth, the applet didn't quite do it for me. But I'm not a chem guy so I don't know about your target audience. Check with them about usability.
izak30 18y ago
Very Cool.
okeumeni 18y ago
I have to admit, as a hardcore hacker I'm clueless here. I wanted to type "water", "beer" then out of frustration I end up typing "wtf" lol. Seriously you should find away to attract the attention of regular guys like me, the potential here is to make sense of chemistry to people by being a bit more talkative on the front page. Overall it looks like a great tool.
tel 18y ago
Hire a designer and a copywriter because the way it is now tells me absolutely nothing. My first impression was that you could purchase these chemicals from the interface. Play up the social aspects of it, too. As of now, I don't see what differentiates your site from PubChem (besides speed). Hooking into a spectroscopy database would not be half bad either.
ashleyw 18y ago
Try to remove your testing pages/comments: http://www.chemsink.com/reaction_type/19/ http://www.chemsink.com/reaction_type/19/ Not sure how close you are to having real visitors, but test comments are never welcoming!
- kbrower 18y ago
  thanks, these have been removed
quantumhobbit 18y ago
Very cool idea. I would suggest linking to chemical suppliers. I don't know if Sigma-Aldrich and the like have online stores, but that would be a very easy way to monetize this idea.
rwebb 18y ago
no clue what it is or what it does
Angostura 18y ago
A fascinating WebApp, and really useful to schools and students, I would have thought. I've only tested it for about 2 minutes, but I already found one odd ommission - try searching for Ethene and see what you get. Also it says that yo can search by common name, which is fabulous, but you might want to open the system up to crowd-sourcing so that people can contribute common names and attch them to molecules. A search on Deoxyribonucleic acid, for example produces no hits.
lpgauth 18y ago
Some chemical names are displayed as regexp... Not sure if all chemist understand them :) ex: 1$l^{6}-thiacycloprop-2-yne 1,1-dioxide

24 points by kbrower 18y ago

acro 18y ago

Maybe you could write a short description of the app to encourage people to comment?

This is a really interesting/fascinating webapp. A few suggestions. 1. Improve the design / User Interface. It's a bit clunky and diminishes the experience. 2. Make the search field auto-complete. Use jQuery and you could have it done in a few minutes. I am not a chemist, so I don't know the exact spelling of most chemicals or elements. http://jetlogs.org/2007/10/22/jquery-auto-suggest-with-keyup-event/ http://jetlogs.org/2007/10/22/jquery-auto-suggest-with-keyup...

d0mine 18y ago
He uses jQuery. The site doesn't work (Windows, Chrome).
kbrower 18y ago
for #2 the search can be too slow for auto-complete

mdolon 18y ago

I'm not sure if other tools like this exist but man I could've used something like this back in my Organic Chem classes. I like it, I tried to search for a few things and was able to find most of it (couldn't find nitroglycerin). Best of luck!

vaksel 18y ago
I don't really remember since it was like 4 years ago, but I think in my organic chemistry lab we used something like this. (granted it was an offline version, and the graphics really weren't that much better) So if that hasn't changed(don't see why it should, since academia is known for using crappy looking software), he can probably sell some subscriptions to different schools chemistry departments. I would make the design a little better, and make the appealing design as one of the features

sspencer 18y ago

I really like the idea of being able to search for a molecule just by drawing it! It's a fantastic and intuitive idea, if it works... Which it doesn't, at least for me. When I click the draw link, all I see is an empty white popup box with Preview and Submit buttons that I can't interact with. Here's my setup, for debug purposes: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008072820 Firefox/3.0.1

jackowayed 18y ago
Do you have java? It looks like it's an applet.
Herring 18y ago
I'm also on 64 bit linux & it works. Wish he had made a huge draw button. I read about that feature here before I saw it on the page. PS 2.5 million reactions really? Why aren't they all listed in /reactions/ hmm? :)
- kbrower 18y ago
  The reactions listed in /reactions/ are general types of reaction. There may be 100,000s of individual reaction between each type. I will definitely be making it more clear that you can draw the compound.
  - Herring 18y ago
    So maybe call them reaction classes/types? For what it's worth, the applet didn't quite do it for me. But I'm not a chem guy so I don't know about your target audience. Check with them about usability.

izak30 18y ago

Very Cool.

okeumeni 18y ago

I have to admit, as a hardcore hacker I'm clueless here. I wanted to type "water", "beer" then out of frustration I end up typing "wtf" lol. Seriously you should find away to attract the attention of regular guys like me, the potential here is to make sense of chemistry to people by being a bit more talkative on the front page. Overall it looks like a great tool.

tel 18y ago

Hire a designer and a copywriter because the way it is now tells me absolutely nothing. My first impression was that you could purchase these chemicals from the interface. Play up the social aspects of it, too. As of now, I don't see what differentiates your site from PubChem (besides speed). Hooking into a spectroscopy database would not be half bad either.

ashleyw 18y ago

Try to remove your testing pages/comments: http://www.chemsink.com/reaction_type/19/ http://www.chemsink.com/reaction_type/19/ Not sure how close you are to having real visitors, but test comments are never welcoming!

kbrower 18y ago
thanks, these have been removed

quantumhobbit 18y ago

Very cool idea. I would suggest linking to chemical suppliers. I don't know if Sigma-Aldrich and the like have online stores, but that would be a very easy way to monetize this idea.

rwebb 18y ago

no clue what it is or what it does

Angostura 18y ago

A fascinating WebApp, and really useful to schools and students, I would have thought. I've only tested it for about 2 minutes, but I already found one odd ommission - try searching for Ethene and see what you get. Also it says that yo can search by common name, which is fabulous, but you might want to open the system up to crowd-sourcing so that people can contribute common names and attch them to molecules. A search on Deoxyribonucleic acid, for example produces no hits.

lpgauth 18y ago

Some chemical names are displayed as regexp... Not sure if all chemist understand them :) ex: 1$l^{6}-thiacycloprop-2-yne 1,1-dioxide