7 ms·

Nemex – A tiny app that helps you to track and curate ideas and projects

138 points by rootinier 12y ago

stasm 12y ago
There's some negativity in the early comments here, but I'd like to applaud the effort of making this a dead-simple self-hosted, FTP-friendly solution. We need more experiments around federated self-owned networks which are appealing to end users. Is the code hosted somewhere on a VCS?
adestefan 12y ago
> nemex doesn’t need a database. This means that you can easily download the zipped package, fire up your ftp-client of choice and copy the files to any directory on your web server. As soon as you successfully uploaded them, navigate to the /projects folder and set the permissions to 777. Open config.php in your nemex-folder and change USERNAME and PASSWORD to anything you want. Ugh.
- sgerhard 12y ago
  What's wrong with that?
  - Fastidious 12y ago
    He doesn't like it. Me neither. 777? Too liberal, really not needed. Username and password on a configuration file? Ugh.
    - phoboslab 12y ago
      The app needs write access to the /projects folder. Many shared hosts need 0777 because PHP runs as a different user than FTP. If you know what you're doing, you can always set it to the minimum required permissions. What's wrong with the username and pass stored in a config file? Almost all PHP apps store their database credentials in a config.php as well.
      - yeukhon 12y ago
        I don't get it. 0777 is already the broadest permission you can give. So what is this minimum required permission? I haven't done much FTP or shared hosts since, maybe, 7-8 years, but I remember Wordpress has the same 0777 is bad practice for many years and hasn't changed. 777 is never a good option. [1]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions#Shared_Hosting_with_suexec http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions#Shared_... Anyway, these days, for a couple dollars you can have a really really good cloud hosting service.
  - greggman 12y ago
    https://www.google.com/#q=why+777+is+bad https://www.google.com/#q=why+777+is+bad
- graffitici 12y ago
  Agreed that this is ugly. This project would make so much more sense if it were developed as a static site. I haven't looked at the codebase, but if it doesn't require a DB, can it not be ported to Jekyll or Pelican or so? Then it would be extremely easy to host it on S3 for peanuts..
  - qwerty999 12y ago
    Dynamic project as a static site. Oh RLY? It would be so useful then.
- fred_durst 12y ago
  In 2014 a lot of us don't use shared servers anymore. Personally, for someone like me, throwing this up in my dokku sounds great. I don't think this is designed for the Enterprise.
Scottymeuk 12y ago
Oh god, the code is awful
- meritt 12y ago
  Unescaped user input which reads/writes/etc to the filesystem. Intermix of PHP4/5 all over the place. Zero separation of presentation and business logic. It also has code which references a MySQL database and missing library files. Can we just all collectively downvote this and/or change the title to "Daily WTF: ..."
  - macu 12y ago
    Or someone with the relevant domain knowledge could look at the ideas and consider whether this guy may be worth talking to or hiring onto the design team for a similar project. Otherwise some guidance would be nice. The idea isn't to shove people out of the circle when they present something they've been working on.
    - jp1989 12y ago
      Spot on.
  - mfisher87 12y ago
    Someone clearly made a project that works for what they want, so shame them? I'm pretty sure HN is supposed to more about learning and growth than about putting others down to show off your pre-existing knowledge, discouraging them from growth or discouraging others from helping them grow. Your "criticisms" aren't even valid criticisms, they're hyperbolic. Zero separation of presentation and business logic? I looked at the code. Zero separation means everything is in one file. Yes, the author mixes presentation and logic in many instances, but where is the presentation code in the file node.php? Oh, look, some business logic is separated to its own file, just like one would expect with "zero separation". Seriously, why should we throw a hyperbolic insult that doesn't even address the problem? I can't think of any good reason to be destructive here. EDIT: After discussing this more in replies, I found the guidelines for Show HNs. It looks to me like these comments violate the guidelines for Show HN comments. If HN is going to be comfortable place for people to share their work, this shit needs to stop. Every time I see shit like this I think about how little good it does to post a Show HN unless you already have a business behind the project. Even when there's low-hanging-fruit that one could easily help with, some "rockstars" would rather make insults than contributions. https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html
sgerhard 12y ago
http://neonelephant.de/webprinter.html http://neonelephant.de/webprinter.html <- Use this tool to send feedback :)
michaelmior 12y ago
After reading the site, I'm not really sure what this is.
- 8ig8 12y ago
  Came back with the same feeling. My guess is that it is a self-hosted personal notebook of sorts that supports Markdown entries and photos. Maybe?
ivan_ah 12y ago
1. plz remove junk files from the zip file: inflating: nemex/php/zipProject.php inflating: __MACOSX/nemex/php/._zipProject.php <--- 2. provide a real download link --- I want to copy paste and wget from my server but when I right-click copy link I got http://beta.nemex.io/#download http://beta.nemex.io/#download ... I had to manually deduce the correct url is http://beta.nemex.io/php/download.php http://beta.nemex.io/php/download.php ...
- lucaspiller 12y ago
  Is there a tool that automatically strips this? I keep finding this in Wordpress plugins and themes I download...
  - jordanlev 12y ago
    If you use a Mac there is a great utility called "BlueHarvest". It costs a little bit of money, but I've been using it for years and it's fantastic.
  - ivan_ah 12y ago
    On the command line, this should work for tgz: COPYFILE_DISABLE=1 tar cvzf release.tgz file1 dir1 dir2 ... or for zip: zip -r -X release.zip folder_to_compress via http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/9665/create-tar-archive-of-a-directory-except-for-hidden-files http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/9665/create-tar-arch... and http://coolestguidesontheplanet.com/how-to-compress-and-uncompress-files-and-folders-in-os-x-lion-10-7-using-terminal/ http://coolestguidesontheplanet.com/how-to-compress-and-unco...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
kekub 12y ago
I have just downloaded and started using the "app" 10 minutes ago. It sounds like an app I have been searching for for a long time. After downloading I checked the codebase, as I usually do with every open source project I consider using - I have to agree to the other users: The code is really messy. I would suggest you to rewrite the whole app using an object oriented approach and dividing between HTML- and PHP-Code. Probably you can make use of something like Twig[1]. Do not create a file for every function of your system: Create a class for every object like "Dashboard", "Project" and "Node", then write an API to make their methods accessible from your apps javascript parts. After checking out the code and realizing that it might have just been written by a beginner, I "installed" it locally: From a users point of view I have to say it is exactly what I need. I am able to post small snippets (called "nodes") to a project (kind of a category/idea). Thats all. Drag & Drop works - awesome. The design is simple but really neat! However to make this system perfect for me it needs to implement multi-user functionality, where I can chat with my friends about our current projects. I think I would give this project another try, when you were able to refactor the whole code basis and add multi-user functionality. Good luck anyways. PS: This post lead me to create a HN account. [1] http://twig.sensiolabs.org/ http://twig.sensiolabs.org/
- ohitsdom 12y ago
  You won't use it until the code is refactored? If it works, who cares if it is a mess and was written by a "beginner".
  - zo1 12y ago
    Because you don't know what's lurking and waiting for you X-periods of time from now. Sure, it works now and that's probably all that matters for most. Others like reliable solutions that won't just up and corrupt themselves at some point. However, I've often been amazed at how "messy" code is. Code that does what it needs to, and works. Early bird get's the worm, and I applaud this guy for throwing something out (something perhaps that we were too busy taking our time "working on to get clean and perfect"). I'm sure it'll get refined and refactored as time goes by, if people latch on.
  - 12y ago
justanautist 12y ago
dat XSS: http://yournemexurl/nemex/index.php?view=%3Cscript%3Ealert%28%22XSSTEST%22%29;%3C/script%3E http://yournemexurl/nemex/index.php?view=%3Cscript%3Ealert%2... Looks like it was written by designers...
- yeukhon 12y ago
  This is ridiculous. 1) please find a better way to inform the app developer security vuln 2) please don't stereotype or discriminate designers. There are designers that are way more conscious and way more knowledgeable about general web security best practice than many of the HN readers here. Professional sites like Google can have XSS. Don't be one of those ignorant thinking XSS is easy to solve. I bet you just created a new account so you can tell the world how much you think designers are incompetent regarding web security best practice. I bet you are also incompetent showing your true identity.
Procrastes 12y ago
A fun idea, a perfect name and I like the user experience. Take the advice about security and structure seriously, but you have something worth finishing here. Pop this up on GitHub, and I expect you'll find helpers with the code refactoring and feature requests.
sgerhard 12y ago
Servers should be back shortly ._.
mcescalante 12y ago
Looks like HN traffic overwhelms once again - I'm getting a 503. The cached copy isn't particularly helpful since many of the main site images don't display.
- sgerhard 12y ago
  We are back, does it work for you?
rmorabia 12y ago
The site is officially broken from an overload of HN requests.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
whyubeh8r 12y ago
You guys are douchebags for shaming his ambitious effort. This tool is awesome in concept.
- teddyh 12y ago
  If all that was presented was effort and concept, it would be (mostly) praised. What I see people criticizing is the end result produced so far. Presenting criticism is not being a “douchebag”.
Sir_Cmpwn 12y ago
Thanks for using video in place of GIFs!
atmosx 12y ago
I like the idea and can't wait to try it. I was using Evernote to track down projects, but this one might be a better fit! Thanks!
MattGrommes 12y ago
This looks cool. I wonder if it could be made to run on Heroku? I gave up my personal server awhile back to run everything virtually.
fiatjaf 12y ago
I think it may be a good thing, but all these boggy unrequested animations are destroying my eye. Where is the play button? I don't want animations!
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
nichodges 12y ago
Great project. I'm definitely going to give it a shot as a Raspberry Pi hosted thing. One comment on the site though - it would be really cool to be able to see a demo. I get a good vibe from the description/images, but a demo site would be great.
jstsch 12y ago
Great idea, great that you shipped, now improve, improve, improve. Put the code on github and let people file issues and pull requests. Yes, many things in the code can be cleaned up, but kudos that you got it out there instead of having it run on just on your personal VPS. We need more dead simple-to-install open source webapps, especially with a modern look!
ivan_ah 12y ago
An idea. Okay so generally we can all agree that PHP is a very bad language, but you can use PHP to build great things too like ''dokuwiki'' for example. So the idea is to package all the necessary parts of ''dokuwiki'' and make it installable by simply throwing or wgetting it into a PHP enabled dir. The first rule of software development is "don't write code, because there is already someone who solved a similar problem before you." Instead of writing a whole new blogging platform, see what you can build starting from a stripped-down ''dokuwiki''. Using the fs as the data store is a good pattern for usability.
desireco42 12y ago
I've been having a change of heart when it comes to PHP recently. This kind of projects is exactly what PHP is for and is perfect for it. As ruby dev, before you start you need to do so much hand-waving that it kind of kills the joy of creation. So congrats for this project and this messy creative code.
jaza 12y ago
The site looks nice, cool intro video and all - but when I tried it out locally (my PHP has "display_errors = on" and "error_reporting = E_ALL"), I saw error messages all over the place. "A session had already been started, ignoring session_start()" shows repeatedly, and various "undefined variable" / "undefined constant" messages. Not so pretty. I too applaud the author for embracing the spirit of open-source; but I think now would be a great time for him/her to learn the super-basics of PHP (and programming in general) best practices. Develop with all errors being tracked and displayed! Don't use undefined variables or constants! Use tutorials / books that were written in 2014, not in 2003!
atmosx 12y ago
Can't upload images unfortunately. Something goes wrong with the session.
hmans 12y ago
"As soon as you successfully uploaded them, navigate to the /projects folder and set the permissions to 777."
3nki 12y ago
I can't get it to upload any images, from either mobile or desktop.

138 points by rootinier 12y ago

stasm 12y ago

There's some negativity in the early comments here, but I'd like to applaud the effort of making this a dead-simple self-hosted, FTP-friendly solution. We need more experiments around federated self-owned networks which are appealing to end users. Is the code hosted somewhere on a VCS?

adestefan 12y ago

> nemex doesn’t need a database. This means that you can easily download the zipped package, fire up your ftp-client of choice and copy the files to any directory on your web server. As soon as you successfully uploaded them, navigate to the /projects folder and set the permissions to 777. Open config.php in your nemex-folder and change USERNAME and PASSWORD to anything you want. Ugh.

sgerhard 12y ago
What's wrong with that?
- Fastidious 12y ago
  He doesn't like it. Me neither. 777? Too liberal, really not needed. Username and password on a configuration file? Ugh.
  - phoboslab 12y ago
    The app needs write access to the /projects folder. Many shared hosts need 0777 because PHP runs as a different user than FTP. If you know what you're doing, you can always set it to the minimum required permissions. What's wrong with the username and pass stored in a config file? Almost all PHP apps store their database credentials in a config.php as well.
    - yeukhon 12y ago
      I don't get it. 0777 is already the broadest permission you can give. So what is this minimum required permission? I haven't done much FTP or shared hosts since, maybe, 7-8 years, but I remember Wordpress has the same 0777 is bad practice for many years and hasn't changed. 777 is never a good option. [1]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions#Shared_Hosting_with_suexec http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions#Shared_... Anyway, these days, for a couple dollars you can have a really really good cloud hosting service.
- greggman 12y ago
  https://www.google.com/#q=why+777+is+bad https://www.google.com/#q=why+777+is+bad
graffitici 12y ago
Agreed that this is ugly. This project would make so much more sense if it were developed as a static site. I haven't looked at the codebase, but if it doesn't require a DB, can it not be ported to Jekyll or Pelican or so? Then it would be extremely easy to host it on S3 for peanuts..
- qwerty999 12y ago
  Dynamic project as a static site. Oh RLY? It would be so useful then.
fred_durst 12y ago
In 2014 a lot of us don't use shared servers anymore. Personally, for someone like me, throwing this up in my dokku sounds great. I don't think this is designed for the Enterprise.

Scottymeuk 12y ago

Oh god, the code is awful

meritt 12y ago
Unescaped user input which reads/writes/etc to the filesystem. Intermix of PHP4/5 all over the place. Zero separation of presentation and business logic. It also has code which references a MySQL database and missing library files. Can we just all collectively downvote this and/or change the title to "Daily WTF: ..."
- macu 12y ago
  Or someone with the relevant domain knowledge could look at the ideas and consider whether this guy may be worth talking to or hiring onto the design team for a similar project. Otherwise some guidance would be nice. The idea isn't to shove people out of the circle when they present something they've been working on.
  - jp1989 12y ago
    Spot on.
- mfisher87 12y ago
  Someone clearly made a project that works for what they want, so shame them? I'm pretty sure HN is supposed to more about learning and growth than about putting others down to show off your pre-existing knowledge, discouraging them from growth or discouraging others from helping them grow. Your "criticisms" aren't even valid criticisms, they're hyperbolic. Zero separation of presentation and business logic? I looked at the code. Zero separation means everything is in one file. Yes, the author mixes presentation and logic in many instances, but where is the presentation code in the file node.php? Oh, look, some business logic is separated to its own file, just like one would expect with "zero separation". Seriously, why should we throw a hyperbolic insult that doesn't even address the problem? I can't think of any good reason to be destructive here. EDIT: After discussing this more in replies, I found the guidelines for Show HNs. It looks to me like these comments violate the guidelines for Show HN comments. If HN is going to be comfortable place for people to share their work, this shit needs to stop. Every time I see shit like this I think about how little good it does to post a Show HN unless you already have a business behind the project. Even when there's low-hanging-fruit that one could easily help with, some "rockstars" would rather make insults than contributions. https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

sgerhard 12y ago

http://neonelephant.de/webprinter.html http://neonelephant.de/webprinter.html <- Use this tool to send feedback :)

michaelmior 12y ago

After reading the site, I'm not really sure what this is.

8ig8 12y ago
Came back with the same feeling. My guess is that it is a self-hosted personal notebook of sorts that supports Markdown entries and photos. Maybe?

ivan_ah 12y ago

1. plz remove junk files from the zip file: inflating: nemex/php/zipProject.php inflating: __MACOSX/nemex/php/._zipProject.php <--- 2. provide a real download link --- I want to copy paste and wget from my server but when I right-click copy link I got http://beta.nemex.io/#download http://beta.nemex.io/#download ... I had to manually deduce the correct url is http://beta.nemex.io/php/download.php http://beta.nemex.io/php/download.php ...

lucaspiller 12y ago
Is there a tool that automatically strips this? I keep finding this in Wordpress plugins and themes I download...
- jordanlev 12y ago
  If you use a Mac there is a great utility called "BlueHarvest". It costs a little bit of money, but I've been using it for years and it's fantastic.
- ivan_ah 12y ago
  On the command line, this should work for tgz: COPYFILE_DISABLE=1 tar cvzf release.tgz file1 dir1 dir2 ... or for zip: zip -r -X release.zip folder_to_compress via http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/9665/create-tar-archive-of-a-directory-except-for-hidden-files http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/9665/create-tar-arch... and http://coolestguidesontheplanet.com/how-to-compress-and-uncompress-files-and-folders-in-os-x-lion-10-7-using-terminal/ http://coolestguidesontheplanet.com/how-to-compress-and-unco...

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

kekub 12y ago

I have just downloaded and started using the "app" 10 minutes ago. It sounds like an app I have been searching for for a long time. After downloading I checked the codebase, as I usually do with every open source project I consider using - I have to agree to the other users: The code is really messy. I would suggest you to rewrite the whole app using an object oriented approach and dividing between HTML- and PHP-Code. Probably you can make use of something like Twig[1]. Do not create a file for every function of your system: Create a class for every object like "Dashboard", "Project" and "Node", then write an API to make their methods accessible from your apps javascript parts. After checking out the code and realizing that it might have just been written by a beginner, I "installed" it locally: From a users point of view I have to say it is exactly what I need. I am able to post small snippets (called "nodes") to a project (kind of a category/idea). Thats all. Drag & Drop works - awesome. The design is simple but really neat! However to make this system perfect for me it needs to implement multi-user functionality, where I can chat with my friends about our current projects. I think I would give this project another try, when you were able to refactor the whole code basis and add multi-user functionality. Good luck anyways. PS: This post lead me to create a HN account. [1] http://twig.sensiolabs.org/ http://twig.sensiolabs.org/

ohitsdom 12y ago
You won't use it until the code is refactored? If it works, who cares if it is a mess and was written by a "beginner".
- zo1 12y ago
  Because you don't know what's lurking and waiting for you X-periods of time from now. Sure, it works now and that's probably all that matters for most. Others like reliable solutions that won't just up and corrupt themselves at some point. However, I've often been amazed at how "messy" code is. Code that does what it needs to, and works. Early bird get's the worm, and I applaud this guy for throwing something out (something perhaps that we were too busy taking our time "working on to get clean and perfect"). I'm sure it'll get refined and refactored as time goes by, if people latch on.
- 12y ago

justanautist 12y ago

dat XSS: http://yournemexurl/nemex/index.php?view=%3Cscript%3Ealert%28%22XSSTEST%22%29;%3C/script%3E http://yournemexurl/nemex/index.php?view=%3Cscript%3Ealert%2... Looks like it was written by designers...

yeukhon 12y ago
This is ridiculous. 1) please find a better way to inform the app developer security vuln 2) please don't stereotype or discriminate designers. There are designers that are way more conscious and way more knowledgeable about general web security best practice than many of the HN readers here. Professional sites like Google can have XSS. Don't be one of those ignorant thinking XSS is easy to solve. I bet you just created a new account so you can tell the world how much you think designers are incompetent regarding web security best practice. I bet you are also incompetent showing your true identity.

Procrastes 12y ago

A fun idea, a perfect name and I like the user experience. Take the advice about security and structure seriously, but you have something worth finishing here. Pop this up on GitHub, and I expect you'll find helpers with the code refactoring and feature requests.

sgerhard 12y ago

Servers should be back shortly ._.

mcescalante 12y ago

Looks like HN traffic overwhelms once again - I'm getting a 503. The cached copy isn't particularly helpful since many of the main site images don't display.

sgerhard 12y ago
We are back, does it work for you?

rmorabia 12y ago

The site is officially broken from an overload of HN requests.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

whyubeh8r 12y ago

You guys are douchebags for shaming his ambitious effort. This tool is awesome in concept.

teddyh 12y ago
If all that was presented was effort and concept, it would be (mostly) praised. What I see people criticizing is the end result produced so far. Presenting criticism is not being a “douchebag”.

Sir_Cmpwn 12y ago

Thanks for using video in place of GIFs!

atmosx 12y ago

I like the idea and can't wait to try it. I was using Evernote to track down projects, but this one might be a better fit! Thanks!

MattGrommes 12y ago

This looks cool. I wonder if it could be made to run on Heroku? I gave up my personal server awhile back to run everything virtually.

fiatjaf 12y ago

I think it may be a good thing, but all these boggy unrequested animations are destroying my eye. Where is the play button? I don't want animations!

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

nichodges 12y ago

Great project. I'm definitely going to give it a shot as a Raspberry Pi hosted thing. One comment on the site though - it would be really cool to be able to see a demo. I get a good vibe from the description/images, but a demo site would be great.

jstsch 12y ago

Great idea, great that you shipped, now improve, improve, improve. Put the code on github and let people file issues and pull requests. Yes, many things in the code can be cleaned up, but kudos that you got it out there instead of having it run on just on your personal VPS. We need more dead simple-to-install open source webapps, especially with a modern look!

ivan_ah 12y ago

An idea. Okay so generally we can all agree that PHP is a very bad language, but you can use PHP to build great things too like ''dokuwiki'' for example. So the idea is to package all the necessary parts of ''dokuwiki'' and make it installable by simply throwing or wgetting it into a PHP enabled dir. The first rule of software development is "don't write code, because there is already someone who solved a similar problem before you." Instead of writing a whole new blogging platform, see what you can build starting from a stripped-down ''dokuwiki''. Using the fs as the data store is a good pattern for usability.

desireco42 12y ago

I've been having a change of heart when it comes to PHP recently. This kind of projects is exactly what PHP is for and is perfect for it. As ruby dev, before you start you need to do so much hand-waving that it kind of kills the joy of creation. So congrats for this project and this messy creative code.

jaza 12y ago

The site looks nice, cool intro video and all - but when I tried it out locally (my PHP has "display_errors = on" and "error_reporting = E_ALL"), I saw error messages all over the place. "A session had already been started, ignoring session_start()" shows repeatedly, and various "undefined variable" / "undefined constant" messages. Not so pretty. I too applaud the author for embracing the spirit of open-source; but I think now would be a great time for him/her to learn the super-basics of PHP (and programming in general) best practices. Develop with all errors being tracked and displayed! Don't use undefined variables or constants! Use tutorials / books that were written in 2014, not in 2003!

atmosx 12y ago

Can't upload images unfortunately. Something goes wrong with the session.

hmans 12y ago

"As soon as you successfully uploaded them, navigate to the /projects folder and set the permissions to 777."

3nki 12y ago

I can't get it to upload any images, from either mobile or desktop.