4 ms·
First of all, this is not an attack or intended to be negative. I often get attacked or downvoted for constructive feedback on Show HN (where that's what it's h
by blagie 3y ago
First of all, this is not an attack or intended to be negative. I often get attacked or downvoted for constructive feedback on Show HN (where that's what it's here for). This is intended as feedback. I give feedback to the best projects and to the worst.
With that out of the way:
Many of us have never heard of LoRa. There is no way to know in 60 seconds what this project does, or why it is useful. I would recommend adding a sentence to the effect of:
"LoRa is a low-cost long-range wireless communications protocol. This project provides hardware and software to allow zigbee devices to communicate over LoRa, allowing placement of such devices far from the zigbee hub."
That's a small but big improvement. Next improvements:
- Discuss maximum range / interference
- Add an English option to the project page
- Minor: Reorganize the page to be more directive about how to get started ("Buy X, do Y, etc. in a tutorial format"). This can even just be a pointer to the relevant pages ("Buy the hardware list on [this page]. Install the software per [this page]")
That's a first impression. Feel free to post again. Show HN is a nice place to get first impressions, which have a surprisingly big impact on adoption.
- oarsinsync 3y agoIt’s interesting that you draw the line after Zigbee, but before LoRa. Why is it presumed that LoRa is unknown, and Zigbee is known?
- blagie 3y agoGood point! I think my assumption came from two places: (1) My own bias (I use Zigbee) (2) Zigbee is big enough to have been sold in big box stores. However, a rewrite which explains the global context would be even better, if it can be done concisely. You're right that many people won't know that. It's super-helpful to have a paragraph-length (max) description of any projects which is accessible to as broad an audience as possible.
- lurking_swe 3y agoadding to this, as a software engineer casually dabbling in home automation, i’ve come across the word zigbee hundreds of times. I see zigbee products recommended all the time. LoRa? it’s my first time hearing about this…
- ha_ru 3y agoYour points are valid. Especially the ones on educating an interested user about what the project is good for and how to get started. Thank you for the feedback!