Show HN: A virtual whiteboard for working or teaching remotely • Hacker News Board

MarkMc wrote: post #2

This is little 'scratch-your-own-itch' project I started working on about 9 months ago. Front end is GWT, back end is Java servlets. Database was originally MySQL but switched to Prevayler for performance reasons. My YouTube video gives a nice overview of the benefits of a virtual whiteboard: http://youtu.be/MDEHFHG1l3Y What does Hacker News think?

This is another HTML5 / Canvas collaborative drawing app that I built which uses Google Drive for storage and thus runs completely locally. Works offline and runs in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, iOS, and Android and supports touch. http://thesavior.github.io/draw/

Re: Show HN: A virtual whiteboard for working or teaching remotely

#95

Post by EngVagabond » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 4:51 PM UTC

sidcool wrote: post #93

Very impressed Mark. Nicely done. Do you mind telling the technology stack?

He has commented below that the 'front end is GWT, back end is Java servlets. Database was originally MySQL but switched to Prevayler for performance reasons.'

I have built a similar tool that is also an HTML5 / Canvas collaborative drawing app which uses Google Drive for storage and has no server code beyond that. It works offline (and syncs up with collaborators when you come online) and runs in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, iOS, and Android and supports touch. http://thesavior.github.io/draw/

Re: Show HN: A virtual whiteboard for working or teaching remotely

#96

Post by cpncrunch » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 4:54 PM UTC

bitJericho wrote: post #21

I played around with something like this when I was a kid (it was a group of kids drawing anime characters if I recall). Every once in a while I search for something like that and I can never find it. Now it's back :D

Try searching for 'online whiteboard' and you'll find lots of them :)

Re: Show HN: A virtual whiteboard for working or teaching remotely

#97

Post by EngVagabond » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 4:56 PM UTC

EngVagabond wrote: post #94

MarkMc wrote: post #2

This is little 'scratch-your-own-itch' project I started working on about 9 months ago. Front end is GWT, back end is Java servlets. Database was originally MySQL but switched to Prevayler for performance reasons. My YouTube video gives a nice overview of the benefits of a virtual whiteboard: http://youtu.be/MDEHFHG1l3Y What does Hacker News think?

This is another HTML5 / Canvas collaborative drawing app that I built which uses Google Drive for storage and thus runs completely locally. Works offline and runs in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, iOS, and Android and supports touch. http://thesavior.github.io/draw/

Here is a collaborative file that people have affectionately named Bikini Bottom Dinosaur. Check it out for an example. :) http://thesavior.github.io/draw/#0B9XIM4D3BWcWOU44bzVmNWJSd1...

Re: Show HN: A virtual whiteboard for working or teaching remotely

#98

Post by cpncrunch » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 4:58 PM UTC

DanBlake wrote: post #26

I did something like this a few years ago, but we were forced to use flash- http://flockdraw.com

Why were you forced? html5 was around at the time (and in fact twiddla was launched two years before flockdraw).

Re: Show HN: A virtual whiteboard for working or teaching remotely

#99

Post by cpncrunch » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 5:01 PM UTC

louhike wrote: post #31

soneca wrote: post #16

Great work! My feature request: similar to the "insert pic", create an insert slide. You upload a .PPT and select which slide you want to use. If teachersare going to use this, many of them will already have a powerpoint to use. Adding to this, an easy way to navegate betweens different whiteboards of the same author (so it is easy to go to the next slide). Just my opinion about what might work.

The problem is that it will then become an interactive powerpoint, not a whiteboard anymore. It sounds more like a new product to me, not just a simple new feature.

Actually, it is a very commonly used feature...many teachers using online whiteboards for tutoring will upload a preprepared word doc/ppt worksheet and then the student will write in the answers.

Re: Show HN: A virtual whiteboard for working or teaching remotely

#100

Post by DCKing » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 5:02 PM UTC

Omnipresent wrote: post #88

MarkMc wrote: post #2

This is little 'scratch-your-own-itch' project I started working on about 9 months ago. Front end is GWT, back end is Java servlets. Database was originally MySQL but switched to Prevayler for performance reasons. My YouTube video gives a nice overview of the benefits of a virtual whiteboard: http://youtu.be/MDEHFHG1l3Y What does Hacker News think?

This looks awesome!! Using servlets how did you make it so that the changes on the whiteboard take effect on all browser windows? or is that something GWT does?

I don't know what he's using, but Servlet 3.0 and its implementations have support for WebSockets which would work fine for something like this.