Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#121

Post by mthoms » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

globalise83 wrote: post #85

mthoms wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to use the plugin, just search at the top of the page. The text around the plugin is misleading. Strike 1 IMHO.

On Chrome desktop I just see a blocker message: "To see results and get the convenience of you.com, you’ll need to add the you.com Chrome extension"

Wow, you're right. Searching works fine in Safari (desktop) but requires a plugin when you visit the same page in Chrome.

I want to like this, but this move seems like just another scummy "growth hack".

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#122

Post by flowerbreeze » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

Congratulations on the launch! I think am getting better results than on any other engine I've tried using experimentally. Nice and sneaky job ad too in the console.

As for some downsides I felt that:

1. The page is too heavy for my everyday use. On my phone initial load is 10 seconds, searches are 15 seconds. During that time the screen is just blank, so at first try I thought it doesn't work on mobile. It almost seems like it loads all the results at once, summary, image, video etc?

2. On desktop it's snappier, but still 3-4 seconds despite having good connection/system.

3. Skeletal loaders are everywhere. I know they are popular these days, but for me searching multiple times in a row to narrow down results started to feel a bit dizzying with them popping up each time and swirling. Same thing bothers me on Qwant search engine for example and is the main (although shallow) reason I don't use it.

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#123

Post by dang » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

Related ongoing thread:

Is there any point in launching a search engine in 2021? Marc Benioff thinks so - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29161545 - Nov 2021 (18 comments)

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#124

Post by ulber » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

I found your pitch really interesting, I'd love to try it. I, however, refuse to install an extension and change my default search engine just to be allowed to type in a search query.

I'm sure you have some "growth hacking" reason for this that is compelling to you. Maybe you hope that the slight annoyance of switching back will outweigh the inevitable annoyances with a new product like this.

It does come off as user hostile though - you're trying to badger me to switch rather than selling me on the merits of you.com.

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#125

Post by marc1 » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:28 PM UTC

Why is a first and last name required to sign up? It is an odd choice for a company that prides itself "superior privacy choices"

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#126

Post by sam0x17 » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:28 PM UTC

> the world's first open search engine platform

Where can I find and download the source code?

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#127

Post by ozcancikmaz » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

I can move up some certain websites so I see their results on top. Also the ability to swipe the results is a great convenience vs scrolling down. thank you

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#128

Post by richardsocher » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

afandian wrote: post #98

richardsocher wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea... Requiring the default was a tough choice. You actually can try it out in incognito mode and any other non-Chromium browser. But we found that without the convenience of a navbar search, most people won't give it a proper try either way. I hope we can drop this requirement even in Chrome when we become one of the default options. If you set your search engine default to http://you.com manually in Chrome with "…

I don't use Chrome, I use Firefox. It was confusing for it to ask me to add an extension to Chrome.

Oh. That's odd. It shouldn't ask you for the Chrome install if you're on Firefox. We can't reproduce that bug. What version of FF are you on?

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#129

Post by butz » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

They really tried to make search results look different from competition. While I'm all for experimentation, horizontal scroll and huge overload of cards doesn't work for me.

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#130

Post by jayknight » Tue, Nov 09, 2021, 9:35 PM UTC

cabalamat wrote: post #115

spiderice wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really not sure what you are talking about. Go to you.com and type a search query. No need to make anything the default. No need to install an extension. Edit: Ah, now I see. It's because I'm a Safari user. If you go to you.com in Safari it works fine. However, if you go to it in Chrome it does indeed work as you described, asking you to install the extension and whatnot. My mistake.

It says on the front page "Add you.com to Chrome to get started" which to my mind implies that in order to get started you have to be using Chrome and add the extension to it. You don't have to, you can just use it as a web page, the text is misleading and should be changed.

I think that's only if you're using Chrome. I'm in firefox and just did some searches like you'd do on any other search engine. That's a really weird design choice regardless.