Ask HN: Review My Startup: Szpil

Might I suggest a fade in with a graphic of some type?

$10/month for contact synchronization is too high. Dropbox's 50gbytes is at that level and I think that's over priced.

Ok, I really like your app. It's very javascript based so I'll be viewing your source heavily, because I'm also creating similar javascript based applications and I get into a big problem with code growth/complexity, so I'm hoping to learn something from you.

Here's some helpful criticism. I hope I don't come off too harsh, since I really actually like this app.

Some questions:

- What are your unique features? It seems to be very javascript centric and it feels fast, I guess that's a good feature.

- What is "an account" in szpil?

- Is there some list of all contacts? I just found "Today" - but that feels like everything I've done today, not everything ever

What I like:

- It's fast to use.

- It's simple

What I don't like:

- The single-colored interface - some icons might help

- The full width layout (uncomfortable on a widescreen display) - you should at least use max-width

- It was confusing that I didn't have to sign up and I didn't realize I had started.

- I didn't realize that my name when I signed up was my username, so I put my long name with all the icelandic chars...

- You could do better with the feedback button. Some simple feedback form or something like that.

Bugs:

- My name got formatted in a weird way: "ArnóR HeiðAr SigurðSson" (Should be Arnór Heiðar Sigurðsson) - that also had complications when I logged in/out again

- My stored password seems to not be bound to username, it's just always filled in - probably because you're not using a regular login form, but a javascript method that takes the variables and submits... too bad :/

- When I logged in again, everything I did "today" was gone. So now I can't find the contact I created.. :P

Good luck and keep up the good work.

Am I going to have to manually enter each call myself? If so, then no.

Who is this app aimed at? If it's aimed at people who would pay to manage their contacts, then it must be able to import from any reasonable email system. That includes outlook, Notes, Eudora, Thunderbird, Mail etc.

Importing means basically scraping most of the context and content of email, contacts, notes and appointments.

To me this sounds like a CRM system, and if someone came to me and said, I want to build a CRM system, I'd ask what they could bring that would persuade me to use their system instead of something established.

Typing my details manually into a web form would not make it past that bar.

I may be missing something here, and I don't want to be gratuitously harsh, but it doesn't really seem like the basis of a viable startup.

I got as far as adding my first contact, and couldn't really find then where it was added. No contact list given, no real info given about the product. Not going to sign up, sorry, not even for free ... no clarity to this product, $10 per month for this is a little crazy. I don't think that this solves any real world PROBLEMS since I'm quite happy with my contact management already. Looks more like a college project than a real world product... Apologies if that seems harsh, but it's an honest opinion.