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Ask HN: Please review my webapp: Da Button Factory - create shiny buttons

dabuttonfactory.com

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Re: Ask HN: Please review my webapp: Da Button Factory - create shiny buttons

#41

Post by ahoyhere »

trevelyan wrote: post #17
palsecam wrote: post #2

(Web) design is hard. For us programmers, it's a pain in the ass, and when it comes to create UI elements for a (web) app, we are stuck with two choices: 1. create something very basic, or 2. spend countless hours searching the web for Photoshop tutorials on how to create a bubble or depth effect, then spend even-more-countless hours fighting with Photoshop to implement it, and finally, maybe adapt the image with som…

If you're looking to improve the design of the site, you might be interested to know that the Chinese character for big is 大, pronounced "da4" (fourth or falling tone). The character is simple enough it should be easy to work into any site logo, and the meaning works well with your URL ("Big Button Factory"). Mandarin is also cool.

> Mandarin is also cool

It'd be even cooler if you skipped adding it to the site, and just tattooed it on your lower back.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my webapp: Da Button Factory - create shiny buttons

#42

Post by ahoyhere »

OK, I admit, I was expecting it to be super crummy, but you won me over.

The Examples section should be more prominent. I just assumed you could only do glossy web 2.0 buttons at first glance. But your examples are impressive.

I think, in general, you need to a) add a color picker (as everyone else has said), and b) offer a clickable "playlist" of button settings. Take your examples, make them into recipes, and put them on the front page. I want to click the Apple-style button and have the button I'm working on turn into that style.

Make sense?

BTW - do you know that song for kids about the button factory? "Hi, my name is Joe, and I work all day at the button factory. One day, my boss came up to me and said 'Hey Joe, are you busy?' I said 'no.' He said, 'So push this button with your right foot.'" etc.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my webapp: Da Button Factory - create shiny buttons

#44

Post by fragmede »

This is really nicely done. I like it a lot. Branding is important; make a "Buttons by DaButtonFactory.com" button that people can use.

Others have already mentioned a colorwheel. Adding that would help usability. Unless I've been doing colors recently, I don't know #f00 from #0f0.

Even a simple popup-grid of colors, something like what makebutton.com has for color selection would help here.

Minor bugs I came across:

Undo does not work for swapping the two background colors.

If I hammer the 'Size +' (or any other) button, I get rate limited. I didn't look at the code, is there a query for every button press when I go from 200 -> 250 for the width?

The error message for non-integers could be better: Value "11.2" invalid for option text-size (number between 0 and 2000 expected). Actually, the error messages could be better all around, but it isn't a huge deal.

West/East only shadows don't work: Value "nonew" invalid for option shadow-orient (possible values: "n", "s", "e", "w", "ne", "no", "so", "se").

The top-left text for "Da Button Factory" should be an actual link. (Or just clear the button settings back to the default, or it could even be the 'randomize' link that others have asked for.)

Re: Ask HN: Please review my webapp: Da Button Factory - create shiny buttons

#45

Post by peterhi »

palsecam wrote: post #2

(Web) design is hard. For us programmers, it's a pain in the ass, and when it comes to create UI elements for a (web) app, we are stuck with two choices: 1. create something very basic, or 2. spend countless hours searching the web for Photoshop tutorials on how to create a bubble or depth effect, then spend even-more-countless hours fighting with Photoshop to implement it, and finally, maybe adapt the image with som…

Very nice. A colour picker would be a very good idea. Perhaps display two buttons, one for the ordinary button, as you are doing now, and one for a selected version.

If you are feeling brave maybe animated buttons which cycle several lines of text.

Not sure about the css version though. Do you really want all these people hitting your server?

Re: Ask HN: Please review my webapp: Da Button Factory - create shiny buttons

#47

Post by mattchew »

Let me compare you to http://www.mycoolbutton.com/ which is what I used a few weeks ago when I needed a pretty image button.

What I like better there:

* Their button has a really sharp glossy look. Yours are nice, but not as nice (that I noticed, at least).

* They have more fonts than you do.

What I like better about yours:

* Lots more control over most of the details. Notably, the custom color gradients.

* The showcase of editable examples. Very nice.

* Less clutter on the page. Though I certainly would not blame you if you put up ads or a tip-me button.

Although I think your extensive options are good, it's sort of a power-user interface. You might consider a simpler interface for visitors who want something very quick and easy. Or, you could expand your gallery of examples, perhaps even add a sidebar of examples to the front page.

All in all, very well done. Congratulations and thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Please review my webapp: Da Button Factory - create shiny buttons

#49

Post by jamesjyu »

palsecam wrote: post #18
jrnkntl wrote: post #13

It doesnt work in IE7 (stuck on this browser at the University Library, so no alternative). The progress indicator keeps going.

Sorry, I didn't try with IE7 :-/ I could just put my hands on an old IE6 version to test the render. I'll definitely install a virtual machine or smthg :-) Thanks for the report.

Test it IE6 and IE7 on the same machine: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/11/30/ie6-and-ie7-runn...

Yes, it's a pain b/c you have to run a VM, but it's the most reliable way of testing IE. Other "shortcuts" won't perfectly emulate IE7 in an IE6 environ, or vice versa.

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