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Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

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Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#31

Post by noahbragg »

IceWreck wrote: post #27

I mean this is cool and all but this is literally double lock in. Notion can't be self hosted and neither can this. Why would you depend on either of these for your website. Not to mention using Notion as a CMS means you're limited in what you can do, zero extensibility, etc.

Well there are lots of people out there that don't know how to or don't want to host a site on their own. and maybe they don't know how to code. So this would be a good option for them. Seeing lots of people like this for my current customers.

Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#32

Post by noahbragg »

jitl wrote: post #12
itake wrote: post #2

notion websites are so slow. Google's page speed for your home page has a score of 42. Why does it say "fast page speed" and "great seo"? This [1] demo scores 81 and this[2] has a 68. [0] - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=... [1] - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=... [2] - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=...

(I work at Notion) It looks like most of the guidance on Pagespeed for large images, and layout shift due to images. The guidance to fix is to set fixed images sizes for these elements, and to re-encode images into more efficient image formats, at their displayed size instead of their maximum source size. Potion probably doesn't currently know the correct width for an image because they give their users kind of unlim…

Thanks for this! Really interesting.

Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#35

Post by rchaud »

IceWreck wrote: post #27

I mean this is cool and all but this is literally double lock in. Notion can't be self hosted and neither can this. Why would you depend on either of these for your website. Not to mention using Notion as a CMS means you're limited in what you can do, zero extensibility, etc.

I think it's more for existing Notion users that may wish to have a tiny microsite about something. Someone already invested in Notion isn't going to care about self-hosting.

Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#36

Post by ljm »

The beauty of the web is that you can take something and then make something else out of it. I love that.

Potion has pricing though. And I'm not gonna pay, because I don't know what the setup is - am I paying for Potion to run a Notion account with my stuff in, and then they layer on top?

Or are they reselling part of their own account?

Or do I need to pay for a Notion account also?

Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#37

Post by rchaud »

brundolf wrote: post #34

How does this compare to, for example, Squarespace?

These days it comes down to whether you need ecommerce functionality or not. Squarespace and other SaaS website builders offer that. Everyone else can get by with a free CMS and a basic theme.

Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#38

Post by noahtallen »

satvikpendem wrote: post #30
IceWreck wrote: post #27

I mean this is cool and all but this is literally double lock in. Notion can't be self hosted and neither can this. Why would you depend on either of these for your website. Not to mention using Notion as a CMS means you're limited in what you can do, zero extensibility, etc.

Most people don't care, they just want a site that works. It's useful because Notion itself is WYSIWYG where whatever you type is what shows up, much more flexible than something like WordPress.

> much more flexible than something like WordPress

WordPress is endlessly extensible and customizable, so I don’t think Notion would be more flexible. Maybe Notion is simpler or easier to use, but at the end of the day, you’d still be very limited in what type of site you could build.

WordPress is also getting close to releasing a WYSIWYG editor for the full site, which is also extensible and customizable. But this is already available for content, which is mostly what potion would be handling anyways.

Looking over the list of potion benefits:

1. Nothing to install

2. It's simple - focus more on your content

3. Update and it's instantly live!

4. Use Notion (You already know it)

5. No page limits

5. Potion generates pretty URLs and preview images auto-magically from your page titles

Only 2 and 4 seem to be things which something like WordPress might not have, and they are very subjective anyways. For number 1, there are lots of hosted WordPress platforms which don’t have you installing anything. For 5, there are probably lots of plugins you supplement the default social image behavior if it doesn’t work for you.

I think this is a very cool project, and it’s always nice to see more experiments in the CMS area. But I don’t think flexible is the right word to use to describe it :)

Disclaimer: I’ve been a WordPress contributor, so I’m definitely biased. :p

Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#39

Post by input_sh »

satvikpendem wrote: post #30
IceWreck wrote: post #27

I mean this is cool and all but this is literally double lock in. Notion can't be self hosted and neither can this. Why would you depend on either of these for your website. Not to mention using Notion as a CMS means you're limited in what you can do, zero extensibility, etc.

Most people don't care, they just want a site that works. It's useful because Notion itself is WYSIWYG where whatever you type is what shows up, much more flexible than something like WordPress.

WordPress uses a WYSIWYG editor called Gutenberg for quite some time now: https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/

Re: Show HN: I built a website builder on top of Notion

#40

Post by pydry »

rchaud wrote: post #35
IceWreck wrote: post #27

I mean this is cool and all but this is literally double lock in. Notion can't be self hosted and neither can this. Why would you depend on either of these for your website. Not to mention using Notion as a CMS means you're limited in what you can do, zero extensibility, etc.

I think it's more for existing Notion users that may wish to have a tiny microsite about something. Someone already invested in Notion isn't going to care about self-hosting.

A tiny microsite for $120/year tho.
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