Live data from Hacker News

Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

launchaco.com

81–90 of 177 posts

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#81
post #55

Brilliant execution and so refreshing to just be given everything needed at the end rather than a download link via email. Throw in an optional donation button (so people can tip you $20, $50, $100, $150, etc) and careful hosting upsells to make it painless and this will become a solid earner. Well done and good luck - you're on the right track.

Thanks for the kind words. We honestly would rather people's emails then any money at all. We're working really hard to make good design more accessible, and monetization will certainly come down the line! Plus we already make a bit of money with our other tool listed on the website :)

It doesn't have to be an either/or thing, especially if it's presented as an option to tip rather than to purchase!

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#82
post #25

This is fantastic. One argument people will make (just like they did with Bootstrap) is that if every product used something like this, all the webpages would look the same. To be honest, if all product webpages looked like this, I'd be quite alright with it, because this look great. Well done!

To be fair, all landing pages already look like this.

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#83
I love this. Also a super fan of the UI. Seamlessly led me to a download button with the source. They've coupled it with an awesome hosting setup process. I can promise you I will use this service for the very next project of mine.

Commoditisation of design cannot come soon enough! ( at least the web design part :) )

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#84
post #65
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologies, copy isn't clear there - will deploy a change. The website you download is licensed under cc0, however if there's interest we wouldn't mind open sourcing our builder. It's written in Elm, & go.

@insulinrocks you appear to be shadowbanned

That's odd. I've only mostly lurked here. Does that happen when you're a new poster or something? I've only had a handful of posts. I hope I didn't break any rules.

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#85

This is interesting. I'm blind, and while I can think of ideas for products/side projects, designing a nice-looking website is such a huge momentum-killer. I mean, I know that I could just focus on features, keep the site design simple, and build a good design later. Then I visit , and half the comments are about how some UI element or other breaks on some combination of browser or other, and the last thing I want is…

It would be awesome to see a service that just offered user testing with feedback like you just gave.

I have no idea how big that market is, but I suspect a lot of developers are like myself - not opposed to making a site more accessible but clueless about where to start.

I'm thinking user groups like colorblind users and blind users. I'm sure I am missing more groups, so sorry for my ignorance upfront.

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#86
This looks great but was a little confusing at first. Maybe make it clearer to the user what's going on so they know they're just building their own site.

I think it's nice not to have to enter an email at the end, but you'll miss out on a lot of emails. Maybe provide the prompt to enter an email first, but let them skip it.

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that people "won't notice". They totally do. The other day my gf (medical field professional, not a "techie") was looking for a good restaurant to go to and, completely unprompted by me, blurted out "OMG why does every freaking restaurant website look the same!?!" (she couldn't keep track of which restaurant was which among her open tabs.) I think more people notice than we'd like to admit. There just isn'…

Maybe it was the same (overused) restaurant wordpress theme that has nothing to do with Bootstrap? Sites looking similar was an 'issue' well before Bootstrap.

Many wordpress themes are based in bootstrap too.

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#88
post #76

Sorry to be negative, but I'm honestly mystified by the complimentary comments. First, attempting to set up a domain name sends me to some site named shareasale.com. The site is blocked on my system because I'm using the winhelp2002.mvps.org HOSTS file to block shady web sites. Next, I follow the 4 steps to select the Hero, Feature, Social and Footer templates. How I'm supposed to make an intelligent choice based on…

Reply to myself... In spite of the downvotes, I'll plow ahead with this.

I see now that you're supposed to "play" with the website and put it into some sort of personally pleasing configuration and download the result. (The download feature still doesn't work properly for me, SORRY.)

People won't be surprised to learn that I'm an older programmer. I found it interesting to see how apparently out of step I am. People seem to like this and I think it cries for more structure and a tiny bit of DOCUMENTATION.

And those CSS/JS files. (f7e531b07478dedf9916.js??) There's no way I'd want to maintain something like this unless it used Bootstrap or some other established system.

So, downvote away. I personally remain unimpressed.

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#89

Really well done. Few quick questions... Why not use an off-the-shelf grid system like Bootstrap or Foundation? Would probably make this easier to edit / extend for people already familiar with those layout frameworks. For SEO... things like Page Title, Meta Description, OG/Sharing Meta Data... those would be good to add somehow. "Click here to add your fav icon / bookmark icon / social share icon / etc." At least ad…

Found 2 minor bugs between the builder and the downloaded version:

Body Styles break with multiple paragraphs - http://imgur.com/YOjjGkB

Emoji break when you change them - http://imgur.com/FE8VUgH

Re: Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the kind words. We honestly would rather people's emails then any money at all. We're working really hard to make good design more accessible, and monetization will certainly come down the line! Plus we already make a bit of money with our other tool listed on the website :)

It doesn't have to be an either/or thing, especially if it's presented as an option to tip rather than to purchase!

Exactly. I'm a web designer/developer and even I could use something like this as a shortcut for a job. If it saves me a few hours of stuffing around, then $20-100 as a voluntary tip is an easy decision. Still free for third world businesses or students or tightarses, but at least gives people an option of saying "Thanks, this was worth it."

And while I can grab the files and set up my own hosting, being able to hit a button, enter card details and have everything done automatically would be powerful. Every web developer inevitably does quick jobs on the sides for friends and family, and making that process pain-free would be useful.

Post reply on HN