6 ms·

I tried it and found no redeeming qualities, except that the app is pretty when it's filled with demo content. * Do you find Facebook's iPhone app too easy to

by cfinke 13y ago

I tried it and found no redeeming qualities, except that the app is pretty when it's filled with demo content. * Do you find Facebook's iPhone app too easy to understand and navigate? Try Paper! * Is the type in Facebook's iPhone app too easy for you to read? Try Paper! * Are you tired of swiping down on Facebook's app and wish you could do some swiping left and right? Try Paper! * Do you enjoy losing your place in your newsfeed when you tap on a story to read more? Try Paper! * Do you enjoy voiceovers reading text to you that is already printed on your screen? Try Paper! * Want half of your iPhone screen taken up by distracting images unrelated to what you're reading? Try Paper! * Tired of having two good apps for news and Facebook and want a single app that does both poorly? Try Paper! * Do you LOVE generic app icons that could mean "news", "email", "flashcards", or "envelopes"? Try Paper! * Tired of not having to wave your phone in the real world to see the sides of a digital photo? Try Paper! * Prefer apps that require a tutorial before you can use them? Try Paper! * Want to read stories from "the world's best sources," but only inside of a walled garden? Try Paper!

the_watcher 13y ago
It basically turned my News Feed into Flipboard, which is pretty much what they advertised, right?
- cfinke 13y ago
  Based on this Quora answer to "What was it like to help develop Paper?" (http://www.quora.com/Facebook-Launches-Paper-January-2014/What-was-it-like-to-help-develop-Paper http://www.quora.com/Facebook-Launches-Paper-January-2014/Wh...), I expected it to at least fold my laundry and wash my car.
  - ashishgandhi 13y ago
    For what it's worth someone did a humorous "translation" of that answer. https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b31d213d5a0d4e97b59e/raw/91797ebb08f0ff0b4dcde46cb394914fae86eaa7/gistfile1.txt https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b31d213d5a0d4e97b59e/raw/9...
    - weixiyen 13y ago
      The original post was so cringe... glad someone translated it so we could see why.
    - crozewski 13y ago
      After reading so much Valley hype day after day, that was a breath of fresh air.
    - _pius 13y ago
      I've got to admit, this isn't humorous to me at all. Mostly just pathetic, mean-spirited, and ... gross. Yet another example of someone hating anonymously from the sidelines. I think our industry would be better off with fewer people doing that.
      - weixiyen 13y ago
        I think a lot of people took exception to his comment: > I think the team behind Paper might be the best iOS team anywhere in the world, including Cupertino. I actually think it's true (regarding the quality of the team), from a UI perspective, but it's better to let other sing your praises.
        _pius 13y ago
        I don't disagree with you, but I'll take earnest if overzealous praise of one's teammates over anonymous trolling any day.
  - hrktb 13y ago
    >* Facebook is supposed to be like a glass through which you can see its contents.* They should have called the app 'Glass'
grinich 13y ago
This is a geek's response to an incredibly well-designed product. What bothers me more is the blanket sarcasm and disregard in your comment. An incredible team spent years working on this, sweating every detail. Isn't that worth investigating, rather than taking cheap shots at the icon design or voiceovers? Even the Dropbox app has an intro tour. There's a lot of great stuff in Paper.
- natch 13y ago
  Such an incredible team should be able to come up with an original name for their app.
- cfinke 13y ago
  I disagree that it's "incredibly well-designed." Extensively designed maybe. What bothers me more is the blanket sarcasm and disregard in your comment. I downloaded it and tried it. I added topics to my Paper, tried out all the features suggested in the intro. I tried to read my friends' updates. I found it tiring to have to concentrate so hard to consume information from the tiled layout that is much more appropriately conveyed in a list, like in the main Facebook app. An incredible team spent years working on this, sweating every detail. Isn't that worth investigating, rather than taking cheap shots at the icon design or voiceovers? Great teams occasionally spend lots of time making something that doesn't succeed. Cuil. Color. Facebook Paper. If you disagree with any of my specific criticisms, I'm happy to discuss them.
  - moogleii 13y ago
    * Do you find Facebook's iPhone app too easy to understand and navigate? Try Paper! Ha. * Is the type in Facebook's iPhone app too easy for you to read? Try Paper! Didn't find Paper's type difficult to read. * Are you tired of swiping down on Facebook's app and wish you could do some swiping left and right? Try Paper! Ha. As if the original app didn't have horizontal swiping. * Do you enjoy losing your place in your newsfeed when you tap on a story to read more? Try Paper! As far as I could tell, the cards at the bottom maintain their order after you dismiss a story. It even has its own scroll bar position indicator. * Do you enjoy voiceovers reading text to you that is already printed on your screen? Try Paper! Didn't have my headphones on, didn't notice them. * Want half of your iPhone screen taken up by distracting images unrelated to what you're reading? Try Paper! The top half are headlines. There's not much to read there. The bottom half goes full screen once you tap as well.
nswanberg 13y ago
"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
- pkinsky 13y ago
  "they laughed at einstein they laughed at galileo but they also laughed at bozo the clown"
andrewhillman 13y ago
Why is HN so negative? Is it jealously, anger, annoyance, spite? FB's focus is to appease 'normal' people. Not people who live on sparsely designed HN. Go ahead down vote me, but people should try the new app for a few weeks before knocking it. If you don't like it, you can stop using Paper and go back to the regular version.
genwin 13y ago
For anti-Paper, check out http://likelytarget.com http://likelytarget.com, also launched today.
gklitt 13y ago
My biggest single problem with Facebook Paper is that the UI has too many possible interactions, making it confusing to decide how to navigate. There's no mindless default. With the Facebook app I scroll down. With Flipboard I flip. With Facebook Paper I... swipe up and down and left and right and pinch and tilt. Fancy but unusable.
- cfinke 13y ago
  Facebook Paper was codenamed "Konami" during development because the navigation pattern is "Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right..."

by cfinke 13y ago

the_watcher 13y ago

It basically turned my News Feed into Flipboard, which is pretty much what they advertised, right?

cfinke 13y ago
Based on this Quora answer to "What was it like to help develop Paper?" (http://www.quora.com/Facebook-Launches-Paper-January-2014/What-was-it-like-to-help-develop-Paper http://www.quora.com/Facebook-Launches-Paper-January-2014/Wh...), I expected it to at least fold my laundry and wash my car.
- ashishgandhi 13y ago
  For what it's worth someone did a humorous "translation" of that answer. https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b31d213d5a0d4e97b59e/raw/91797ebb08f0ff0b4dcde46cb394914fae86eaa7/gistfile1.txt https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b31d213d5a0d4e97b59e/raw/9...
  - weixiyen 13y ago
    The original post was so cringe... glad someone translated it so we could see why.
  - crozewski 13y ago
    After reading so much Valley hype day after day, that was a breath of fresh air.
  - _pius 13y ago
    I've got to admit, this isn't humorous to me at all. Mostly just pathetic, mean-spirited, and ... gross. Yet another example of someone hating anonymously from the sidelines. I think our industry would be better off with fewer people doing that.
    - weixiyen 13y ago
      I think a lot of people took exception to his comment: > I think the team behind Paper might be the best iOS team anywhere in the world, including Cupertino. I actually think it's true (regarding the quality of the team), from a UI perspective, but it's better to let other sing your praises.
      - _pius 13y ago
        I don't disagree with you, but I'll take earnest if overzealous praise of one's teammates over anonymous trolling any day.
- hrktb 13y ago
  >* Facebook is supposed to be like a glass through which you can see its contents.* They should have called the app 'Glass'

grinich 13y ago

This is a geek's response to an incredibly well-designed product. What bothers me more is the blanket sarcasm and disregard in your comment. An incredible team spent years working on this, sweating every detail. Isn't that worth investigating, rather than taking cheap shots at the icon design or voiceovers? Even the Dropbox app has an intro tour. There's a lot of great stuff in Paper.

natch 13y ago
Such an incredible team should be able to come up with an original name for their app.
cfinke 13y ago
I disagree that it's "incredibly well-designed." Extensively designed maybe. What bothers me more is the blanket sarcasm and disregard in your comment. I downloaded it and tried it. I added topics to my Paper, tried out all the features suggested in the intro. I tried to read my friends' updates. I found it tiring to have to concentrate so hard to consume information from the tiled layout that is much more appropriately conveyed in a list, like in the main Facebook app. An incredible team spent years working on this, sweating every detail. Isn't that worth investigating, rather than taking cheap shots at the icon design or voiceovers? Great teams occasionally spend lots of time making something that doesn't succeed. Cuil. Color. Facebook Paper. If you disagree with any of my specific criticisms, I'm happy to discuss them.
- moogleii 13y ago
  * Do you find Facebook's iPhone app too easy to understand and navigate? Try Paper! Ha. * Is the type in Facebook's iPhone app too easy for you to read? Try Paper! Didn't find Paper's type difficult to read. * Are you tired of swiping down on Facebook's app and wish you could do some swiping left and right? Try Paper! Ha. As if the original app didn't have horizontal swiping. * Do you enjoy losing your place in your newsfeed when you tap on a story to read more? Try Paper! As far as I could tell, the cards at the bottom maintain their order after you dismiss a story. It even has its own scroll bar position indicator. * Do you enjoy voiceovers reading text to you that is already printed on your screen? Try Paper! Didn't have my headphones on, didn't notice them. * Want half of your iPhone screen taken up by distracting images unrelated to what you're reading? Try Paper! The top half are headlines. There's not much to read there. The bottom half goes full screen once you tap as well.

nswanberg 13y ago

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

pkinsky 13y ago
"they laughed at einstein they laughed at galileo but they also laughed at bozo the clown"

andrewhillman 13y ago

Why is HN so negative? Is it jealously, anger, annoyance, spite? FB's focus is to appease 'normal' people. Not people who live on sparsely designed HN. Go ahead down vote me, but people should try the new app for a few weeks before knocking it. If you don't like it, you can stop using Paper and go back to the regular version.

genwin 13y ago

For anti-Paper, check out http://likelytarget.com http://likelytarget.com, also launched today.

gklitt 13y ago

My biggest single problem with Facebook Paper is that the UI has too many possible interactions, making it confusing to decide how to navigate. There's no mindless default. With the Facebook app I scroll down. With Flipboard I flip. With Facebook Paper I... swipe up and down and left and right and pinch and tilt. Fancy but unusable.

cfinke 13y ago
Facebook Paper was codenamed "Konami" during development because the navigation pattern is "Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right..."