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Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

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Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#141

Post by jerf »

klabb3 wrote: post #48
mcilroy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. Will definitely take another look at the copy! I'm referring to it being a small bundle size to download :)

Note that hackernews is notoriously anti “marketing speech”. I don’t think there’s anything bad with elaborating but lightweight/snappy/slim is pretty much what’s important, given that there’s so much slow bloatware out there. Not all users are technical, and eg throwing out benchmarks on the front page would be complete mumbo jumbo to many users. That said, I also think the best way to communicate the intended vibe…

In that case I'd go straight to "responsive" or "fast" or something. The vast bulk of users literally don't understand what we mean by lightweight; ask around as to which is larger, a kilobyte or a gigabyte, with your non-technical friends and I bet you find even the ones who get it right do a lot more fumbling than you expect.

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#142

Post by triceratops »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #126
master-lincoln wrote: post #125

I have no idea what Loom is and you don't really explain what your product can do upfront for people who don't know Loom. I'll pass

Then you might not be in the target audience, which is totally fine…

They might well be the target audience.

The "I'll pass" at the end was pretty negative but I agree with the rest of their sentiment.

Advertising is just as much about showing people they have a problem as it is about telling them you have a solution. But by positioning the product as an "open-source Loom" you've immediately lost the first half of the benefit of advertising. Everyone knows what a Coke is so I can get away with calling my new beverage "a healthier cola". Loom isn't so well-known.

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#143

Post by bombcar »

klabb3 wrote: post #48
mcilroy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. Will definitely take another look at the copy! I'm referring to it being a small bundle size to download :)

Note that hackernews is notoriously anti “marketing speech”. I don’t think there’s anything bad with elaborating but lightweight/snappy/slim is pretty much what’s important, given that there’s so much slow bloatware out there. Not all users are technical, and eg throwing out benchmarks on the front page would be complete mumbo jumbo to many users. That said, I also think the best way to communicate the intended vibe…

Lightweight is a great adjective when comparing with existing "heavyweight" software - most people would understand what it means if you say "Numbers is a lightweight Excel-like spreadsheet"; "Zoom is a lightweight Go-to-meeting".

As a stand-alone adjective it's not as useful.

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#144

Post by bombcar »

triceratops wrote: post #142
rrr_oh_man wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you might not be in the target audience, which is totally fine…

They might well be the target audience. The "I'll pass" at the end was pretty negative but I agree with the rest of their sentiment. Advertising is just as much about showing people they have a problem as it is about telling them you have a solution. But by positioning the product as an "open-source Loom" you've immediately lost the first half of the benefit of advertising. Everyone knows what a Coke is so I can get…

It's also dangerous if you can only explain your product as a variation of an existing product; it means you're not able to sell your product "directly".

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#145

Post by someguydave »

geor9e wrote: post #9
codetrotter wrote: post #3

How does it compare to using either of the following on macOS - OBS - The built in screen recording functionality in macOS itself - ffmpeg (see http://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Capture/Desktop for details on doing screen capture with it)

Loom is software that, in one click, overlays your face in a bubble as you can narrate your screen recording, uploads it as it's recording, and when you press stop it copies a link to your clipboard you can share immediately with whoever you are showing. It's a very polished and complete experience. OBS is for streamers. It could be set up in a similar way if you already have a twitch channel hooked into it. It won't…

Why does adding your face in a screen bubble add value to a screen recording tutorial?

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#146

Post by zinodaur »

someguydave wrote: post #145
geor9e wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Loom is software that, in one click, overlays your face in a bubble as you can narrate your screen recording, uploads it as it's recording, and when you press stop it copies a link to your clipboard you can share immediately with whoever you are showing. It's a very polished and complete experience. OBS is for streamers. It could be set up in a similar way if you already have a twitch channel hooked into it. It won't…

Why does adding your face in a screen bubble add value to a screen recording tutorial?

Facial expressions can sometimes help humans communicate with each other

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#147

Post by j45 »

clan wrote: post #118
j45 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An animated gif video with a ticker on the side going through each step would be great. Also being able to launch recording it without an account would be a great way to get someone to create a video, invest enough to create an account instead of come back to it later. Veed.io seems to have used this approach to great success.

That is a really dark pattern which I personally hate. Sucker me in and then raise the barrier. It is on the same level as those "create free account" but nothing is actually free except for the account creation process. We have word for this: Demos. It could be a "free demo" account or an "account free" demo. Two different but easily understandable things which clearly communicates intent and value. Nothing Sneaky a…

Since I hate dark patterns, I likely did not do a good job of explaining.

I am saying to show someone a quick summary of what a demo would have (in seconds to earn more seconds to invite them to demo.

From an onboarding perspective, the goal is to remove friction for the user.

First at a feature, cognitive, and then emotional level. How to do this can be used for good an bad.

Demos are great. What I'm talking about is the thing that compels them to try it out, rather than "I don't really get what this does, an I'm not sure if I want to invest my time in yet another thing to be dissapointed", for example.

Demos take more time than a quick animation that shows step 1,2,3.

Conveying the ease of how it can work for them, to help them understand how the features can help hem, as well as address any existing is a simple call to action to get the features in front of them in the precious first few secons an ensure that communication is being improved

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#148

Post by nopcode »

nozzlegear wrote: post #23
geor9e wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Loom is software that, in one click, overlays your face in a bubble as you can narrate your screen recording, uploads it as it's recording, and when you press stop it copies a link to your clipboard you can share immediately with whoever you are showing. It's a very polished and complete experience. OBS is for streamers. It could be set up in a similar way if you already have a twitch channel hooked into it. It won't…

macOS does have overlay functionality, it’s called presenter mode or something like that. Look for it in the green camera icon that shows up in the menu bar when you’re sharing your screen. It puts your face in a bubble overlayed on top of whatever you’re sharing, as you said. You’re right it doesn’t have upload though.

That works for FaceTime calls, but not for video recordings with QuickTime.

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#149

Post by KingOfCoders »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #123
RamblingCTO wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're also robbing yourself of increasing the prices to keep the lights on. Business-wise this is not a very good idea. Also as a customer I have the feeling that this is a stupid idea. If the costs increase, you have to increase prices. If I like something and want to keep using it, that's the only way.

As a rambling CTO myself, I admire your nick name.

I assume all the downvotes because you are envy of the nick name too.

Re: Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative

#150

Post by yencabulator »

mcilroy wrote: post #4
codetrotter wrote: post #3

How does it compare to using either of the following on macOS - OBS - The built in screen recording functionality in macOS itself - ffmpeg (see http://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Capture/Desktop for details on doing screen capture with it)

With any of those you need to upload the video directly into Slack, or something like YouTube, Vimeo, etc. Plausible for short videos, but can become a pain if recording for more than a few mins. If you record with Cap, we'll auto handle the segmentation of the video so it can be played back efficiently (so the whole video doesn't have to be download in one go). You can also receive comments on your Cap link, reactio…

> If you record with Cap, we'll auto handle the segmentation of the video so it can be played back efficiently (so the whole video doesn't have to be download in one go).

Playing an mp4 from a static file server buffers only the parts it consumes, including support for seeking. HTTP range requests work just fine.

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