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Ask HN: What's your successful or moderately successful side project?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your successful or moderately successful side project?

#21

Post by langcss »

dinkleberg wrote: post #12
langcss wrote: post #3

LangCSS https://langcss.com Only one paid customer RN but I am adding features to make it more worthwhile, before I start promoting it proper.

If you're looking to bump up sales, I'd definitely suggest working on the landing page design. Right now it doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the quality of the output of the tool. Though I do like that the CTA is diving right into the demo without requiring a login. Also I'd work on the page copy. It is overly casual for a $30/mo offering. Things like "decent code editor" while truthful don't sell the product v…

Thanks. This is early!

A few on HN have mentioned issues with the design but I have heard no specific feedback. Is it just some artistic thing “you know when you see it” or can it be put into words?

There is also award winning design vs. design that may be average/common but works as intended (gets sales, helps the user get things done etc.). I am more focused on the latter for now.

Any feedback is welcome. I have some ideas on how to improve it but want to see what others think.

Re: Ask HN: What's your successful or moderately successful side project?

#22

Post by Octplane »

I've developed a mobile-friendly version of a classic French academic dictionary, addressing the major usability issues of the original http://atilf.atilf.fr/tlf.htm and the company's subsequent, yet only slightly improved, version https://cnrtl.fr/definition/laid .

My version has been thriving for several years, reaching an impressive SEO peak of 30k visits per month. This is a significant achievement considering the hundreds of hours invested in web scraping and data processing, while the website itself only took around 20 hours to build. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to maintain it recently due to time constraints, causing a gradual decline in traffic. Nevertheless, the site remains free for everyone to use.

For those interested in the tech stack, it's a combination of React, Racket, and Rust.

Check it out at: https://www.le-tresor-de-la-langue.fr

I welcome any feedback and suggestions!

Re: Ask HN: What's your successful or moderately successful side project?

#24

Post by thimabi »

Octplane wrote: post #22

I've developed a mobile-friendly version of a classic French academic dictionary, addressing the major usability issues of the original http://atilf.atilf.fr/tlf.htm and the company's subsequent, yet only slightly improved, version https://cnrtl.fr/definition/laid . My version has been thriving for several years, reaching an impressive SEO peak of 30k visits per month. This is a significant achievement considering th…

Hey, thank you for this. I routinely use the cnrtl.fr website, but will use your version henceforth. Very well made!

One suggestion is letting the search match conjugated verbs, plurals, feminine words and other variations. I don’t know how feasible it would be to implement this, though.

Re: Ask HN: What's your successful or moderately successful side project?

#25

Post by nicbou »

bapetel wrote: post #15
nicbou wrote: post #9

I live from All About Berlin since a few years. It was and still is a labour of love, but now it also pays the bills. A few subprojects like my citizens' office appointment finder and my form fillers also qualify. I really enjoyed working on those, and they got me a lot of goodwill from some city employees. https://allaboutberlin.com

I remember i have found this site by doing some research on Google, regarding enterprise creation in DE Really nice website ! Can you tell us how you got the idea, when you started, are you enterprise or solo ? How do you manage taxes ? Are you german ? These were the questions i was asking myself when i discovered your site

I started 7 years ago as a side project. It was always as a solo business. It runs like a regular business so I pay VAT and income tax. I'm not German - I'm not even a permanent resident yet. I know about most of those things from direct experience as an immigrant.

Re: Ask HN: What's your successful or moderately successful side project?

#26

Post by uxcolumbo »

langcss wrote: post #21
dinkleberg wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're looking to bump up sales, I'd definitely suggest working on the landing page design. Right now it doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the quality of the output of the tool. Though I do like that the CTA is diving right into the demo without requiring a login. Also I'd work on the page copy. It is overly casual for a $30/mo offering. Things like "decent code editor" while truthful don't sell the product v…

Thanks. This is early! A few on HN have mentioned issues with the design but I have heard no specific feedback. Is it just some artistic thing “you know when you see it” or can it be put into words? There is also award winning design vs. design that may be average/common but works as intended (gets sales, helps the user get things done etc.). I am more focused on the latter for now. Any feedback is welcome. I have so…

Quick feedback:

- The logo looks uninspiring. Try to use one of those free logo makers. Later on if things are picking up you can always get a professional to create one for you.

- The layout isn't balanced. The alignment of elements makes the page look weird, e.g. the header is aligned to the left but the buttons underneath are center aligned.

- Font sizes and colors. Improve the contrast ratio and make them a bit bigger. Don't underline text if they are not links.

- Headers don't need a fullstop, e.g. 'Features.'

- Color scheme looks washed out.

Get one of those free (or paid) Tailwind templates. Like this one:

https://www.tailwindawesome.com/resources/play/demo

Re: Ask HN: What's your successful or moderately successful side project?

#27

Post by langcss »

uxcolumbo wrote: post #26
langcss wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. This is early! A few on HN have mentioned issues with the design but I have heard no specific feedback. Is it just some artistic thing “you know when you see it” or can it be put into words? There is also award winning design vs. design that may be average/common but works as intended (gets sales, helps the user get things done etc.). I am more focused on the latter for now. Any feedback is welcome. I have so…

Quick feedback: - The logo looks uninspiring. Try to use one of those free logo makers. Later on if things are picking up you can always get a professional to create one for you. - The layout isn't balanced. The alignment of elements makes the page look weird, e.g. the header is aligned to the left but the buttons underneath are center aligned. - Font sizes and colors. Improve the contrast ratio and make them a bit b…

Thanks for taking the time!

The conflict for me here is I don't want to use a template and look like everyone else. On the other hand I do want it to look good. I'll consider your points.

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