Ask HN: Critique my startup • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#11

Post by luckystrike » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 5:43 AM UTC

akd wrote: post #4

Do people ever get the undirected urge to blog but don't know what to blog about? Usually people blog about the things they care about, and don't need suggestions.

I would also be very surprised if it turns out that there are a whole lot of bloggers who constantly need ideas from others to write about.

Most bloggers i know, write because they are genuinely interested in an activity/thought/event. If someone writes about something they are not really interested in (or knowledgeable about), it would be plainly visible. (One of the exceptions i can think of are people who write pure fiction like short stories on their blog ala writers.)

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#12

Post by volida » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 5:47 AM UTC

PStamatiou wrote: post #8

Hexstream wrote: post #3

I don't like the slider presentation widget. 1. It keeps moving automatically. That's irritating. 2. It always seems to be sliding too fast or too slow. I don't feel in control. Do you really want to place yourself in a situation where the best you can do is guess at the best compromise and hope your setting won't be too fast for the slower readers and not too slow for the faster ones?

Thanks for the feedback. I made that presentation slider thing with prototype carousel. I also feel the same way - how do I get users to have control but also realize that there are more slides? Make the arrow buttons larger? Have 1, 2, 3, 4 links?

it's not as much annoying as it is distracting

visible round buttons with numbers and slower transition between slides or change the transition effect from a slide to fade in/out

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#13

Post by PStamatiou » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 6:22 AM UTC

brianlash wrote: post #5

I'm not a technical guy so I can't comment on the implementation. But it should say something that I'll absolutely use it when I get set up with my new blog. I like that Skribit's lean and won't clutter my sidebar or dramatically decrease my site's load time. Are you distributing via any widget networks? I ran a search on Widgetbox (don't care for that one but there are others) but couldn't find you. It might be some…

Is Widgetbox a big site? Should we consider listing Skribit on there?

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#14

Post by brianlash » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 7:26 AM UTC

PStamatiou wrote: post #13

brianlash wrote: post #5

I'm not a technical guy so I can't comment on the implementation. But it should say something that I'll absolutely use it when I get set up with my new blog. I like that Skribit's lean and won't clutter my sidebar or dramatically decrease my site's load time. Are you distributing via any widget networks? I ran a search on Widgetbox (don't care for that one but there are others) but couldn't find you. It might be some…

Is Widgetbox a big site? Should we consider listing Skribit on there?

According to their website they are.

I know about them because they're so well integrated with TypePad: http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/widgets/

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#15

Post by bigbang » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 7:49 AM UTC

nadim wrote: post #6

For some reason I'm not finding the front page of http://skribit.com to be informative enough of what your startup does. Could easily just be me though. I was going to ask if there was a way to vote, but then I found this example and it answers my question: http://paulstamatiou.com/ After looking at that example, why is there no way to vote yes or no? It looks like you can only vote yes for something . Based on the f…

I also felt the same. From the front page it was difficult for me to find what your startup is about.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#16

Post by PStamatiou » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 7:56 AM UTC

nadim wrote: post #6

For some reason I'm not finding the front page of http://skribit.com to be informative enough of what your startup does. Could easily just be me though. I was going to ask if there was a way to vote, but then I found this example and it answers my question: http://paulstamatiou.com/ After looking at that example, why is there no way to vote yes or no? It looks like you can only vote yes for something . Based on the f…

suggestions can be voted on to gauge interest on that suggestion.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#17

Post by whalesalad » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 8:45 AM UTC

akd wrote: post #4

Do people ever get the undirected urge to blog but don't know what to blog about? Usually people blog about the things they care about, and don't need suggestions.

I can attest to Paul's claims that this is a valid problem. Yes, a lot of bloggers do write whatever they feel and it just comes out real easy, but a lot of bloggers (such as myself) would love to have some sort of resource to find out what readers want to hear.

Skribit is a great idea. I think it's still very young and has a lot of room to grow, but it's a terrific start and the first of its kind.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#18

Post by mikkom » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 10:49 AM UTC

What's your business model?

That's the most important question. If you don't want to talk about it it's okay but there is no point in discussing about a startup without knowing the business model. If we do, we are talking about something else than the startup.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#19

Post by steveplace » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 1:29 PM UTC

The title of the main page may need some work. "Blog Topic Suggestion Application" seems to lack any fluency when you describe it. Perhaps "Cure your blogger's block" or something like that, except much better.

You also might want to think about bringing your signup forms up to the front page, or at least making the buttons stand out a little more. Maybe bringing the login/signup from the top and putting it above your yellow box would help add to conversions.

Re: Ask HN: Critique my startup

#20

Post by truebosko » Mon, Jun 23, 2008, 2:20 PM UTC

My 5 second feedback: Going to your front page, it doesn't excite me, looks boring, nothing really STICKS out.

I've seen your widget in action and I think it's great, but for a new comer who is checking out your site I don't see anything exciting on the front page and it leads me away.