Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#21

Post by Jim_Neath » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 4:51 PM UTC

Out of curiosity, how do you plan on monetising this?

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#22

Post by dmd » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 4:52 PM UTC

iamdave wrote: post #19

It's been said already: we've got plenty of these services. What we really need is a site that does this in reverse on the fly/from a URL so we don't have to wait for PDF downloads just to view a schedule of bus routes.

You mean like this? http://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://3e.org/cv.pdf

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#23

Post by kosofalla » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 4:54 PM UTC

Jim_Neath wrote: post #21

Out of curiosity, how do you plan on monetising this?

I think, I'm not going to monetize it.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#24

Post by il » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 4:58 PM UTC

The term "startup" has been misused so widely I think it's lost all meaning. An unmonetized webapp is NOT a startup or mini-startup.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#25

Post by CoryMathews » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 4:58 PM UTC

kosofalla wrote: post #11

CoryMathews wrote: post #8

Great site, Love the idea and super simple interface to figure out. 1 Major problem.. it does not work in Opera.

Opera.. :(

its just the way you are prompting the download. Even IE blocks it. However it still shows the download. Many sites do this same thing just w/e code your using is not the correct way. 1 day you will learn that Opera is better :) Give it time.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#26

Post by diN0bot » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 5:00 PM UTC

lsb wrote: post #9

You didn't even fix the (known) wkhtmltopdf bug that all the fonts turn into DjVu Sans. What value have you added?

downvoted for accusatory wording and perceived tone.

otherwise, though, i ran into unreadable font issues myself for http://procrasdonate.com

worked well for my blog http://proudly.procrasdonate.com

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#27

Post by smokinn » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 5:12 PM UTC

devicenull wrote: post #18

CutePDF (virtual printer that "prints" to a PDF) is usually one of the first things I install to any computer. In my opinion that is an easier solution then going to a website to print another website.

Is CutePDF any better than PDFCreator? I've been using the latter for years; it does the same thing and works very well.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#28

Post by crocowhile » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 5:26 PM UTC

I think the only way this can be useful is if you code a bookmarklet. The only thing I normally print as PDF from the web are receipts and confirmations.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#29

Post by sjs382 » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 5:43 PM UTC

kosofalla wrote: post #16

flog wrote: post #13

The HTML markup is atrocious and you just seem to be pawning the work off to another existing web service which does exactly the same thing you do ( http://pdfmyurl.com/ )? Am I missing something?

I think, my UI is better :)

Your UI is a logo and a URL submission box.

PDFMYURL's UI is a logo, a submission box, a 'bookmarklet', and (optionally) a description of their API.

How is yours better?

Re: Ask HN: Please review my mini startup - Web to PDF Converter

#30

Post by benologist » Wed, Jan 27, 2010, 5:49 PM UTC

diN0bot wrote: post #26

lsb wrote: post #9

You didn't even fix the (known) wkhtmltopdf bug that all the fonts turn into DjVu Sans. What value have you added?

downvoted for accusatory wording and perceived tone. otherwise, though, i ran into unreadable font issues myself for http://procrasdonate.com worked well for my blog http://proudly.procrasdonate.com

I upvoted him for the exact same accusatory wording and perceived tone - this site is literally just opening http://pdfmyurl.com/ in an iframe to generate the pdf.