Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#1

Post by bhb » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 4:02 PM UTC

http://devver.net

Sorry that the service isn't actually available to play around with yet (it's in private beta). If you sign up for our beta list, we'll work to get you an invite as soon as we can.

That aside, what do you think of the idea and site? What isn't clear? What questions do we need to answer?

Thanks in advance for your help! Ben

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#2

Post by bhb » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 4:02 PM UTC

Clickable link: http://devver.net

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#3

Post by timmaah » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 4:38 PM UTC

Looks very useful.

How about some real world stats, showing that a particular app on a local machine takes X secs to run tests, while with devver it now only takes X

I've just started a new project and am really digging into test for the first time. Tests do seem overly slow, but I'm never sure if its something I'm doing wrong or what. Devver might not help me though as I'm on a horrendously slow connection.

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#4

Post by lloyddobbler » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 4:51 PM UTC

Hey, Ben -

I'm no developer (actually an interactive copywriter), but I know enough about Ruby to hold a decent conversation.

I agree with timmah - you adequately convey what Devver does, but you're not really giving enough of a value proposition. It just needs a little more "sizzle" to show them why they really NEED to use Devver.

I'm sure some more coder-types will chime in here, but overall, I think it describes the service very well. Good luck!

Kipp

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#5

Post by bhb » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 5:09 PM UTC

timmaah wrote: post #3

Looks very useful. How about some real world stats, showing that a particular app on a local machine takes X secs to run tests, while with devver it now only takes X I've just started a new project and am really digging into test for the first time. Tests do seem overly slow, but I'm never sure if its something I'm doing wrong or what. Devver might not help me though as I'm on a horrendously slow connection.

Thanks for the feedback! We've been meaning to add some real-world comparisons, but haven't gotten to it yet. Good to know that they would be valuable.

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#6

Post by bhb » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 5:10 PM UTC

lloyddobbler wrote: post #4

Hey, Ben - I'm no developer (actually an interactive copywriter), but I know enough about Ruby to hold a decent conversation. I agree with timmah - you adequately convey what Devver does, but you're not really giving enough of a value proposition. It just needs a little more "sizzle" to show them why they really NEED to use Devver. I'm sure some more coder-types will chime in here, but overall, I think it describes t…

Awesome feedback. We'll work on adding more info to really make the value proposition clear.

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#7

Post by BrettFromTibet » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 5:19 PM UTC

I'm not a Ruby developer so I can't say how well it speaks to that market... but in terms of communicating the idea quickly/clearly and seeming credible - it scores very well. The design is good, not exceptional or super Web styling.

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#8

Post by csbartus » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 5:50 PM UTC

I'm a Ruby developer and guessing Devver is for large codebase only, for small code tests are running pretty fast on local machine.

A good point would be on the first screen to specify what kind of tests you are supporting: unit tests, rspec, features etc.

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#9

Post by akronim » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 5:57 PM UTC

Maybe it's just me, but "4 times faster" sounds better than "in 25% of the time".

Re: Ask HN: Review my startup, Devver.net: Accelerated Ruby testing

#10

Post by latortuga » Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 6:01 PM UTC

akronim wrote: post #9

Maybe it's just me, but "4 times faster" sounds better than "in 25% of the time".

That's actually what I came to post too because "Get your Ruby test results in 25% of the time" actually has an alternative, much more negative parsing. Hint: what happens the other 75% of the time?