6 ms·

Websrvr – Deploy your websites to a CDN using Dropbox

34 points by minhajuddin 12y ago

tootie 12y ago
Signup without explanation of features or cost?
- minhajuddin 12y ago
  I wanted to make the signup process as simple as possible. I am looking for a good way to show the user the pricing and features. Maybe I should show it after the signup? Thanks for trying it out :)
  - brewdad 12y ago
    Why not show it before signup? I'm not giving anyone access to my Dropbox just because they ask nicely.
    - asattarmd 12y ago
      To be fair, it is asking for access to only a folder that itself creates.
      - khulat 12y ago
        Yeah, but it doesn't tell you that.
        asattarmd 12y ago
        Dropbox tells you when asking for your permission.
  - ChristianBundy 12y ago
    You should absolutely be up-front and transparent with your pricing and features, before requesting things from the user.
  - brenschluss 12y ago
    Simple signup != signup without info.
- slashink 12y ago
  Thinking the same thing, make it very clear why im linking my dropbox. The service seems great though :)
zuck9 12y ago
How is it hosted currently? websrvr's host?
- minhajuddin 12y ago
  In beta, I am hosting it off of a single server. However in production I'll have a multi data center cluster, if the product is viable :)
  - zuck9 12y ago
    Hosting yourself? Or somewhere like DigitalOcean?
    - minhajuddin 12y ago
      It's hosted on Digital Ocean.
      - zuck9 12y ago
        DO is pretty popular these days.
        minhajuddin 12y ago
        Yeah, I love them, their performance is good too :)
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
xg15 12y ago
Some questions that come to my mind immediately: - Does it share my whole Dropbox with the world? (It doesn't, but I only know this from reading this thread) If not, which parts of the Dropbox are shared? - What kinds of files are published? What MIME types are supported? Can I somehow override MIME types? - How are the files published? Do I get auto-generated URLs on the CDN's server? Do I have to update my DNS records? Some other way? - Are the files cached somewhere? (Other than the CDN) Can I delete them quickly? - How do I remove my account? Is all my data deleted as soon as I remove the Dropbox connection? - And of course the pricing questions: Is it free, will it stay free? Are there usage restrictions? (Bandwidth, traffic, etc) The idea of this service seems really cool, as well as the one-click signup. But I agree with the others that more information before signup is necessary. I think a tutorial or a FAQ page would be really useful. (I don't have any experience with Cloudfront, so apologies if some questions are obvious if you know their service)
- minhajuddin 12y ago
  > Does it share my whole Dropbox with the world? (It doesn't, but I only know this from reading this thread) If not, which parts of the Dropbox are shared? No. Even websrvr has access to just an app folder (a newly created folder inside your dropbox). > What kinds of files are published? What MIME types are supported? Can I somehow override MIME types? Any file whose name doesn't start with a '.' is published, so all non-hidden files. Right now, MIME types cannot be overridden, but it sounds like a good idea, I'll implement it soon. > How are the files published? Do I get auto-generated URLs on the CDN's server? Do I have to update my DNS records? Some other way? Every folder inside the websrvr app folder is published as an independent site. You get a unique host for each site. e.g. if you have a folder called 'foobar' with a file called 'index.html', this will be published to 'foobar.websrvr.in/index.html'. The cloudfront integration is not yet live, since I am still testing the demand for this kind of a product. > Are the files cached somewhere? (Other than the CDN) Can I delete them quickly? Yes these are cached on our servers, and whenever a file is created we update our cache, whenever you delete a file in your dropbox it will be deleted from our cache. > How do I remove my account? Is all my data deleted as soon as I remove the Dropbox connection? You can select and delete all folders from the websrvr app folder to delete the data from our servers. Once you do that, you can unlink your dropbox account from the dropbox website at https://www.dropbox.com/account#security https://www.dropbox.com/account#security > And of course the pricing questions: Is it free, will it stay free? Are there usage restrictions? (Bandwidth, traffic, etc) websrvr backed hosting: $1 per month - All the data would be served from our fast web servers Amazon S3 backed hosting: $3 per month - All the data would be served from Amazon S3 servers. Amazon Cloudfront backed hosting: $10 per month + overage charges - All the data would be served from the Amazon Cloudfront CDN. If your cloudfront usage goes above $10 we'll charge the difference in the next month's invoice. There are more faqs at: https://app.websrvr.in/help https://app.websrvr.in/help
minhajuddin 12y ago
Guys, websrvr has been approved for production by the awesome folks at Dropbox. Signups are open again, woot :)

34 points by minhajuddin 12y ago

tootie 12y ago

Signup without explanation of features or cost?

minhajuddin 12y ago
I wanted to make the signup process as simple as possible. I am looking for a good way to show the user the pricing and features. Maybe I should show it after the signup? Thanks for trying it out :)
- brewdad 12y ago
  Why not show it before signup? I'm not giving anyone access to my Dropbox just because they ask nicely.
  - asattarmd 12y ago
    To be fair, it is asking for access to only a folder that itself creates.
    - khulat 12y ago
      Yeah, but it doesn't tell you that.
      - asattarmd 12y ago
        Dropbox tells you when asking for your permission.
- ChristianBundy 12y ago
  You should absolutely be up-front and transparent with your pricing and features, before requesting things from the user.
- brenschluss 12y ago
  Simple signup != signup without info.
slashink 12y ago
Thinking the same thing, make it very clear why im linking my dropbox. The service seems great though :)

zuck9 12y ago

How is it hosted currently? websrvr's host?

minhajuddin 12y ago
In beta, I am hosting it off of a single server. However in production I'll have a multi data center cluster, if the product is viable :)
- zuck9 12y ago
  Hosting yourself? Or somewhere like DigitalOcean?
  - minhajuddin 12y ago
    It's hosted on Digital Ocean.
    - zuck9 12y ago
      DO is pretty popular these days.
      - minhajuddin 12y ago
        Yeah, I love them, their performance is good too :)

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

xg15 12y ago

Some questions that come to my mind immediately: - Does it share my whole Dropbox with the world? (It doesn't, but I only know this from reading this thread) If not, which parts of the Dropbox are shared? - What kinds of files are published? What MIME types are supported? Can I somehow override MIME types? - How are the files published? Do I get auto-generated URLs on the CDN's server? Do I have to update my DNS records? Some other way? - Are the files cached somewhere? (Other than the CDN) Can I delete them quickly? - How do I remove my account? Is all my data deleted as soon as I remove the Dropbox connection? - And of course the pricing questions: Is it free, will it stay free? Are there usage restrictions? (Bandwidth, traffic, etc) The idea of this service seems really cool, as well as the one-click signup. But I agree with the others that more information before signup is necessary. I think a tutorial or a FAQ page would be really useful. (I don't have any experience with Cloudfront, so apologies if some questions are obvious if you know their service)

minhajuddin 12y ago
> Does it share my whole Dropbox with the world? (It doesn't, but I only know this from reading this thread) If not, which parts of the Dropbox are shared? No. Even websrvr has access to just an app folder (a newly created folder inside your dropbox). > What kinds of files are published? What MIME types are supported? Can I somehow override MIME types? Any file whose name doesn't start with a '.' is published, so all non-hidden files. Right now, MIME types cannot be overridden, but it sounds like a good idea, I'll implement it soon. > How are the files published? Do I get auto-generated URLs on the CDN's server? Do I have to update my DNS records? Some other way? Every folder inside the websrvr app folder is published as an independent site. You get a unique host for each site. e.g. if you have a folder called 'foobar' with a file called 'index.html', this will be published to 'foobar.websrvr.in/index.html'. The cloudfront integration is not yet live, since I am still testing the demand for this kind of a product. > Are the files cached somewhere? (Other than the CDN) Can I delete them quickly? Yes these are cached on our servers, and whenever a file is created we update our cache, whenever you delete a file in your dropbox it will be deleted from our cache. > How do I remove my account? Is all my data deleted as soon as I remove the Dropbox connection? You can select and delete all folders from the websrvr app folder to delete the data from our servers. Once you do that, you can unlink your dropbox account from the dropbox website at https://www.dropbox.com/account#security https://www.dropbox.com/account#security > And of course the pricing questions: Is it free, will it stay free? Are there usage restrictions? (Bandwidth, traffic, etc) websrvr backed hosting: $1 per month - All the data would be served from our fast web servers Amazon S3 backed hosting: $3 per month - All the data would be served from Amazon S3 servers. Amazon Cloudfront backed hosting: $10 per month + overage charges - All the data would be served from the Amazon Cloudfront CDN. If your cloudfront usage goes above $10 we'll charge the difference in the next month's invoice. There are more faqs at: https://app.websrvr.in/help https://app.websrvr.in/help

minhajuddin 12y ago

Guys, websrvr has been approved for production by the awesome folks at Dropbox. Signups are open again, woot :)