Show HN: I made an app that consolidated 18 apps (doc, sheet, form, site, chat…)

If I were going to make a hard switch from apps I use (docs, sheets, todo, meet, ...), I would do so from the conviction I don't want vendor lock-in, and want to own my data. I like the concept. The Collection module seems powerful. Yet, I question the scalability - how long should users wait, for example, for a to be possible in a code block, in a notebook?

Since you're looking for feedback; - support markdown where possible, and include links like Obsidian, include Unicode completion like Julia REPL. Point and click is nice, but shortcuts/common syntax is expected, - support scripting via a modern language, - let users write plugins for modules / modules.

I think there's a lot of potential in this idea! I've been pondering how to pull this off for a very long time.

My 5 minute test run:

- For documents, I couldn't figure out how to make anything but plain text. The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+/ doesn't work on my keyboard (no "/" key).

- For sheets, I couldn't figure out how to write a formula. And this isn't a really a spreadsheet, it's a database table, which is a related but distinct thing (more structure, but less freedom).

Honest and genuine feedback.

I am concerned that you may be working on something that does not have a market in its present form, or possibly ever. I am worried as to how much of your life / time / money you might be pouring into this. It is difficult for me to be categorical about this, as for all I know it's a tiny side venture and you're not bothered about adoption. But, based on the marketing copy / launch, previous HN posts and your comments here, it does seem that you feel this could potentially compete with Workspace/Zoho/365/Notion with the USP that it's more tightly integrated, plus some local storage and encryption benefits.

I think that's quite a stretch. And that's not to dismiss or play down what you've achieved.

What you have created is, measured on sheer volume of work/technical accomplishment (and assuming it's a solo project completed in around 1-2 years, when you first began posting about it) really impressive for a solo dev. I say this as somebody who considers themself a fairly speedy full-stack dev. There is a lot of complex functionality - an MVP recreation of Docs, Drive, Airtable (e.g. Sheets, which appears to be an 'Airtable'-style visual database with support for multiple datatypes) and the UI is, in many parts, clean, fluid and responsive. All this is without even trying/testing the additional 4-5 client apps!

But in my opinion, the difference between your current product and something that would gain significant adoption is light years. Just some very basic examples: adding keyboard shortcuts to the docs module, drag and drop table re-ordering, image resizing, multiple fonts, page sizing, tabs, a ruler, text flow options and layout. (just the basics here to get it to circa-Word-2000 level) The need for a spreadsheet module. File permission management, upload progress, account onboarding, help and support. The UX of the workspace itself - at the moment it's unclear why some modules exist (what is a 'canvas'? Why would I need it? Same question for a 'grid'. Don't make me work to discover this, tell me upfront. Inline help, or example documents would help steer users).

I could write out a ton more examples, but I'm not trying to beat you over the head, more just to illustrate that the road ahead of you is far longer than you might imagine. If there's just one of you developing this, then I'm not sure how long it would take to just get even one of these modules up to feature parity with a close competitor. This, plus the maintenance, support.. ..and that's before we even begin to discuss the issues around marketing and onboarding, which are probably the area where you're most significantly falling short. Some of your UI choices bely a certain naivety, for example why would you choose to name a module 'Sheet's, when this is already the name of a popular web spreadsheet, and your module appears to be something other than a spreadsheet? This introduces confusion and frustration for users and makes me question your ability to succesfully get this project to profitability. Much of your main website doesn't do a great job of explaining to a layperson what the product is, why they'd want to use it, or giving real-world examples. Even the screenshots on your Play Store app don't really provide good reasons to download, or insights into concrete use cases. Why would somebody pay for this in the era of free-Google-Docs or $5 Zoho plans? How much B2C marketing money would you need to spend to market it to them just so they're aware of its existence in the first place?

I know how difficult this might be to hear, and I don't want to demotivate you, in fact quite the opposite. The thing is, I have had several occasions during my career when I was in a similar place to this. I have, in the past, obsessively focussed on product development, with my head in the sand about market potential. It's great that you have now asked for feedback and I'd rather risk annoying you than squander an opportunity to make you sit up and think for a moment, even if you end up choosing to ignore me.

I'm sure that, if you chose to take a different path with this IP/product, there would be lots to salvage and some valuable learnings to build upon based upon all the code you've created and approaches you've refined. As a suggestion, would you perhaps be better off here just taking one single component and making that world-beating, instead of trying to develop 18 different modules to pre-MVP quality.

Whatever you decide, you're clearly a very talented and prolific developer. Very best of luck with everything.

I actually think this hyper-granular realtime collaboration like in Google docs is slightly overrated.

I think it’s ok to have more a git-like workflow where feedback and changes happen over cycles. As a programmer, I don’t give a shit about your working directory. I do care, however, about your commits :)

All I’m saying is this CRDT craze isn’t always necessary or even appropriate for many products. It adds a lot of technical complexity, especially for a small shop.