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Launchaco – Instantly generate a responsive, free, website

launchaco.com

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

#121

Post by odbol_ »

cameronrohani wrote: post #23
ndarilek wrote: post #19

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…

Thank you for this enlightening comment, and apologies that our website isn't more accessible. We'll be looking in to this through out the day and will try to add some better html to accommodate for anyone who may be in a similar boat to you. I'm really sorry we didn't think about this stuff up front, and will do my best to from here on out.

Please run your site though an accessibility validator like ACA. At the very least make sure all images have an alt attribute! I feel like so many devs ignore accessibility even though it's not really that hard.

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

#122

Post by herbst »

jwcrux wrote: 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!

I honestly enjoy our bootstrap internet. Its like we finally found common terms for ui design and i finally instantly know where things are.

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

#123

Post by douche »

jwcrux wrote: 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!

As long as all websites on the internet don't become Medium sites. I'm getting really sick of that look, and all the derivatives that have sprung up.

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

#124

Post by chenster »

huula wrote: post #59

Nice work! Really like the way you provide color palette instead wild crazy color selector for your user, that simplifies things so much! However, A common problem with this product and a lot of other template based website builders like Squarespace, Weebly, Wix is, you will end up creating so many sites that looks just the same. If you just want a clone, then I have nothing to say. But more customization and more un…

Second that. Static site generator seems like popular those days. But they don't have much template selections so they end up look similar. Or spend $10 ~ $20 on Themeforrest https://themeforest.net/category/site-templates with nearly infinitely number of options.

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

#125

Post by kmeade »

tobz wrote: post #93
kmeade wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

(disclaimed: not tied to Launchaco but I felt compelled to address your points) #1 - can you provide an example of where buying/setting up a domain takes you to somewhere called "shareasale.com"? At worst, it seems like the links to the registrars (which are all legit, as far as I can tell) go through some sort of analytics/tracking service. #2 - have you considered rephrasing your download issue as "Hey, this seems…

Thanks for the reply...

#1 At the top of the first page, where it says "Name Your Business", click on "Let's Do It." The next page is full of link for various TLDs with prices - the links go to shareasale.com. ##UPDATE## The domain purchase links are now dead and there are no prices/links. Someone must have decided to remove them (maybe someone read my comment -- or something else -- who knows).

#2 In my first message I described exactly what went wrong. In my second message I said "the download feature still doesn't work properly for me" Different wording, but pretty much what you suggested. We must think alike (smile).

#3 When I wrote the first message, I clearly didn't get how the customization was supposed to work. My second message explains and clarifies. As I said, just a bit of documentation would be nice.

#4 I think of HN as a programmer's venue. When I saw all the glowing comments, I thought there might be a nice web development tool to check out. If HN has a lot of readers who are interested in "making a website WITHOUT having to know or understand the underlying technologies" - then I apologize for my misunderstanding. If we agree that this is not a tool for technical web developers, then your comments are spot on.

As to the last paragraph, the first thing I said was "sorry to be negative." Criticism, by it's nature, is often negative. I hate knee-jerk negativity as much as you do (I'll bet). But heaps of sugary praise is also bad in it's own "awesome" way.

In/re being more helpful -- well, pointing out problems is helpful, right? I'm wondering if my comments didn't result in the shareasale.com links being removed (see #1 above). Maybe OP could comment.

In/re dismissive -- That's what you say but who cares what you think? (smile again - please note as joke)

To the author of "Launchaco" I would certainly offer a "well done!" To me, the most impressive thing that you have done is offer your work up for us to review and discuss. I hope and suspect you were looking for more than praise.

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

#126

Post by dqv »

ndarilek wrote: post #19

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…

>designing a nice-looking website is such a huge momentum-killer

I agree. The simplest designs are the most visually appealing ones. I can honestly say that using a website that has better accessibility is nicer than one that is "pretty". Is there a way for you to print out your designs on a 3D medium so you can feel them? The spacing is way more important to the appeal than color.

>I don't even know where to begin with that

There are color swatches you can use and the correct colorization can be determined mathematically. Check out some of Google's guideliness at https://material.google.com/style/color.html#color-color-pal...

I skipped past a big swatch list because I think it could be annoying in a screen reader.

I implore you to keep designing websites. The fact is that designers focus way too much on the benign aspects of design and not enough on the ease of use and the mathematics that make them look good. If you focus on those aspects, you can make a great design.

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

#128

Post by douche »

dqv wrote: post #126
ndarilek wrote: post #19

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…

>designing a nice-looking website is such a huge momentum-killer I agree. The simplest designs are the most visually appealing ones. I can honestly say that using a website that has better accessibility is nicer than one that is "pretty". Is there a way for you to print out your designs on a 3D medium so you can feel them? The spacing is way more important to the appeal than color. >I don't even know where to begin w…

We are, after all, reading and commenting on a site that renders almost identically in Lynx and Firefox.

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

#129

Post by dqv »

imh wrote: post #69
ndarilek wrote: post #19

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…

You know, I have no idea how to make stuff more accessible. If you don't mind, could you tell us about how you browse the web, so others like me can make our content more universally accessible? Any recommended resources for that kind of design?

>You know, I have no idea how to make stuff more accessible.

It's actually more about not disabling the accessibility features which so many web designers do. They're all built in and meant to work almost seamlessly alongside your design process, but people disable them because they are so self-centered they can't conceive of how someone with a disability might feel using their website.

Accessibility has been built in to the web for a very long time. The design process is "If I were blind, would I still be able to use this website? If I had mobility issues, would I be able to use this website?" Then you address those uses cases.

- What happens if I can't see this image?

- What happens when I disable focus hints and keyboard shortcuts?

- What happens if someone needs larger or smaller text on the page?

It's not a "kind of" design. It's just being considerate to other people's situations.

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

#130

Post by tooFastFuckYou »

Interesting, and I even like the name.

But... when I click on "Let's do it" under "Build your Website," nothing happens. This appears to be because what you need to do next is already on the screen: select a template.

So I would replace "Let's do it" with "Get started by selecting a template below." Currently, it looks broken (especially since clicking on "Let's do it" under "Name Your Business" DOES result in something happening).

Also, after selecting a template, the grid of templates disappeared and the bottom of the screen was replaced by a bunch of other elements. It wasn't clear at first that this was an example of the selected template, because the grid of templates disappeared (and was replaced by a smaller line of them). I thought I might need to interact with this large pane of items to proceed.

I suggest keeping the array of template thumnails consistent at all times, so when you click on one, the entire screen doesn't change; the example simply appears. In fact, you should probably start with the first template highlighted and the example layout shown (with an arrow or other indicator pointing from the template thumbnail to the layout).

Also... because the example layout fills the entire bottom portion of the screen and sometimes appears to fit perfectly, it's not readily apparent that you proceed to the next step by scrolling down. At first I was looking for a "proceed" or "next step" arrow. Reducing the example layout in size and confining it to a defined area on the screen would let you make navigation through the steps more clear. You could also let the user select different devices for the layout preview, and simply change the shape of the confined area instantly to show the layout on the selected device.

And finally: Is the download button supposed to work? It doesn't do anything for me.

Oh... and you ask for feedback on ProductHunt, but that site is an offensive pile of crap. After insisting that you log in, it doesn't take you back to the page you were on. It just dumps you on some main ProductHunt page. And then, after I navigate back to your page, I have to beg for permission to post? Screw that. ProductHunt is insulting to users and a liability for developers. People are taking time to provide feedback FREE, and this site is deliberately WASTING those people's time. I looked for some other way to provide feedback, but you guys don't appear to have one. That's a problem.

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