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Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

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Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#21

Post by revorad »

deanacus wrote: post #15
revorad wrote: post #12

You need to improve your onboarding process. The sign up process is slick but way too long. Need to provide some instant gratification. Just because I like to check out new products, I was patient and did all the steps properly. But, in the end I just got a blank screen saying "this list is empty". That was pretty disappointing. Then I imported my Instapaper articles and still the list is empty. If speed is an issue,…

There are one-click bookmark lets for each list you create, as well as your inbox and read later list, on the tools page[1], under Quick Bookmarklets [1]: https://kippt.com/tools/

Thanks, I didn't see that. Clicking on a list-specific bookmarklet didn't seem to work. So, I clicked a few times and then found that article saved multiple times. You need to provide some visual feedback while saving the article, otherwise it looks like it's not doing anything. Also, de-duplication would be nice.

Generally, I don't like managing bookmarks. I think that's what search is for. I should just be able to save pages with one click and then find them easily with search later on.

Bookmarklets for each list seem way too complicated. I don't want to have more than one kippt bookmarklet on my toolbar. So, I'll end up using your app just with one list bookmarklet.

If you find this is common among your users, then this could be the basis of a freemium model. Users like me with simple needs can use it for free. People who want multiple lists can pay a small fee.

If you're aiming the product only at power users who don't mind lots of complex options, then you can probably ignore my comments.

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#22

Post by enra »

revorad wrote: post #21
deanacus wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are one-click bookmark lets for each list you create, as well as your inbox and read later list, on the tools page[1], under Quick Bookmarklets [1]: https://kippt.com/tools/

Thanks, I didn't see that. Clicking on a list-specific bookmarklet didn't seem to work. So, I clicked a few times and then found that article saved multiple times. You need to provide some visual feedback while saving the article, otherwise it looks like it's not doing anything. Also, de-duplication would be nice. Generally, I don't like managing bookmarks. I think that's what search is for. I should just be able to…

Thanks for the feedback. It's really helpful.

Generally we try to make the service as simple and effortless to use as possible. You shouldn't need to manage your bookmarks (if you don't want to, that what the search is for). The visual feedback has been long time on my to-do list, hopefully I get to it soon :)

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#24

Post by Dn_Ab »

nosignal wrote: post #13

Am I the only one who doesn't use bookmarks? 99% of the time, if I need to find something I've read before, I'll just search for it & find it. The exception to this is when I was working support and had several product spec sheets & other reference pages bookmarked for quick access to email links to customers. Even while I was at Uni, I'd download articles to PDF. On the rare occasion that I like or am interested in…

Am I the only one who doesn't use bookmarks?

No. I do, but there are a lot of people with different approaches, so all that can be said is the number who bookmark is large and the number who don't is also large.

What does everyone else use bookmarks for?

Presumably to save effort and as a form of external memory. In my case, I bookmark with probability proportional to how difficult it was to find. In particular, I only ever bookmark knowledge and information and do not use bookmarks as a storage for trinkets (alas the things which interest me are likely dull graphite to most). Also, I have not done any tests but it appears google searches are non stationary - old search terms do not always return the same results. Finally, for me, it is a very frustrating experience when I am looking for something I know is there.

Is there some awesome use case I've been ignorant to since 1996?

Yes, but the answers are subjective and incommensurable with the ranking criteria of those who would ask a question like that.

Am I just a freak for never wanting to revisit things?

No. The word freak is only part of the used vocabulary of those severely lacking imagination (to clarify, this is not targeted at you but those in habit of calling people freaks).

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#25

Post by biot »

nosignal wrote: post #13

Am I the only one who doesn't use bookmarks? 99% of the time, if I need to find something I've read before, I'll just search for it & find it. The exception to this is when I was working support and had several product spec sheets & other reference pages bookmarked for quick access to email links to customers. Even while I was at Uni, I'd download articles to PDF. On the rare occasion that I like or am interested in…

On more than one occasion I've run across developer documentation with a specific class buried somewhere that wasn't easily searchable using Google. Typically these have been those multiframe one-class-per-page javadoc style API references. It's quite helpful to bookmark the root frame and have it available at a click... great for exploring a new API when you may not want a specific search.

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#26

Post by nathan_long »

nosignal wrote: post #13

Am I the only one who doesn't use bookmarks? 99% of the time, if I need to find something I've read before, I'll just search for it & find it. The exception to this is when I was working support and had several product spec sheets & other reference pages bookmarked for quick access to email links to customers. Even while I was at Uni, I'd download articles to PDF. On the rare occasion that I like or am interested in…

I use Pinboard.in a lot. I do not use it for "frequently visited sites"; I can type the URL faster than clicking, especially with autocompletion.

For me, bookmarks are mainly for 1) things I may want again and only vaguely remember 2) articles I'd like to read when I have time.

Examples of stuff I've recently pinned:

- An article that has a quote from Linus Torvalds that I'd like to use in a blog post I may write someday - The best Inkscape tutorial I found in maybe 10 minutes of searching - An HN article comparing A/B testing with multi-armed bandit, which is irrelevant to me right now but maybe someday I'll want to read

In each case, I pin that thing, give it whatever tags make sense to me, and possibly write a quick description.

There are 51,200,000 search results in Google for "Linus." In my personal pinboard, there are 2. Guess which I'm going to try first if I vaguely remember something I once saw about him?

Probably 80% of my bookmarks are never used, which is another reason why the "tag now, search later" approach is so nice to me; those neglected ones aren't cluttering up a GUI, making it hard for me to find what I want right now; searching cuts right to what I want.

Pinboard.in is fast, simple, super-effective, cheap (but not free, so I'm the customer), and cross-browser (since it's a bookmarklet).

It also lets you mark everything private by default, which I like. Too many things are social these days. I don't want to broadcast my opinions about sites; I just want to find things again later.

It's one of my favorite tools.

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#27

Post by nathan_long »

smiler wrote: post #11

I love the UI and everything about this, however it's another free service I won't be using - no revenue therefore highly likely these guys will get acquired as a talent acqusition and then the service will be shut down.

Pinboard.in is similar but has a one-time fee. I use and love it.

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#28

Post by delinka »

DanBC wrote: post #9

This could be popular with readers of text erotica. See, for example, the Pinboard spikes when delicious changed. ( http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/10/the_fans_are_all_right/ ) I think it's a cool idea. It could be really useful for some things I do. I'm glad to know about it. I have no freaking idea what you mean when you say "The github for links" - and the people I'd want to use this with will never have heard of git…

"I have no freaking idea..."

Right there with you. I can't help but be facetious: "So the links are all editable by anyone? Do I have to create a repository for all my links? If links don't constantly change, why are we tracking changes to links? Heck, why are we letting people edit them?"

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#29

Post by gdilla »

nathan_long wrote: post #26
nosignal wrote: post #13

Am I the only one who doesn't use bookmarks? 99% of the time, if I need to find something I've read before, I'll just search for it & find it. The exception to this is when I was working support and had several product spec sheets & other reference pages bookmarked for quick access to email links to customers. Even while I was at Uni, I'd download articles to PDF. On the rare occasion that I like or am interested in…

I use Pinboard.in a lot. I do not use it for "frequently visited sites"; I can type the URL faster than clicking, especially with autocompletion. For me, bookmarks are mainly for 1) things I may want again and only vaguely remember 2) articles I'd like to read when I have time. Examples of stuff I've recently pinned: - An article that has a quote from Linus Torvalds that I'd like to use in a blog post I may write som…

Dittpo. Pinboard.in rocks. It's like what bookmarks should be - cloud based, taggable, and easily searchable. Also it allows you to just shove URLs into a read later category. I do find myself going back to it - something will come up at work and I'll remember, oh i read something about that approach that was very insightful, and just quickly grab it to share with others or refresh my memory.

Re: Kippt (YC S12) Launches Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

#30

Post by alttab »

Maybe techcrunch isn't doing this app justice, but I'm at a loss why we are re-doing bookmarks... again. Maybe its just me, maybe I'm so well organized that I only need a place to jot down notes on paper - but I honestly do not see that many people having so much pain for freaking bookmarks that we need another social X for Y start-up that ultimately won't be compelling enough to change users behavior.

I imagine there are users out there that would benefit from this, but is it enough to run a business? I agree with another commentor that this seems more like a talent acquisition play than an actually viable business.

As I said I'm probably not the target market, but the tech crunch article made me cringe a little bit. When I see stuff like this I wonder if there is a funding bubble.

Kudos definitely to the engineers that put this together. Clearly a lot of thought went into the product. For me though, it left a "why are they solving this problem, AGAIN" taste in my mouth.

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