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Ask HN: What do you think of this project?

6 points by jenn ↗ HN
101in365 is a site that lets you create a list of 101 things you'd like to accomplish in the next 365 days and then helps you track your progress and share it with friends.

I caution to call it a startup, considering I only work on it in my spare time and I wouldn't consider it a viable business at this point, but I have a lot of ideas for its future from features to monetization. I just launched the "2.0" version today which included a redesign and some more social features.

Do you think it's a worthwhile idea???

http://101in365.com

Thanks for your feedback in advance!

16 comments

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corruption
Where did 101 come from?
jenn
just a play on the whole "101 ways to do X better" thing. I've created a list of 101in365 in my blog for the last few years and I thought I'd finally automate the thing.

and then I did the math later and it turns out that there are 104 weekend days in a year, so it also works out that you can do 1 thing each weekend day and have a few to spare :)

corruption
Might be worth stating on your webpage. I went there and through holy crap, I'll never get 101 things done. But it doesn't sound that hard the way you put it.
corruption
Might be worth stating on your webpage. I went there and through "wow, I'll never get 101 things done". But it doesn't sound that hard the way you put it.
Ascendancy
Seems like a really nice system, actually. The idea has room for growth and could turn into something really neat
minouye
Great design and a cool idea, but I really think that 101 things is way too many. I had the patience to put in about 5. I doubt that very many people will be able to think up 101 things--of course maybe I just have fewer goals in life than the average person :-)
jenn
haha you know I get that feedback almost daily, but then people stick it out and thank me later for making them get all 101. I'm open to making the number smaller it people get -really- turned off by it, but for now I think it's kind of fun! And hopefully once I fix up the Explore page, coming up with 101 won't be as difficult!
rick_2047
+1 for fixing up the explore page. Make it so that people can see other wishes and pick the ones they want
jenn
you should be able to do that today. If you're logged in and haven't finished your list you should see a + that will let you add that item to your list straight from the explore page. there's definitely a LOT more work to be done there, though! thanks for the feedback!
apsurd
I think this is pretty good. You should focus on simplicity. I'm thinking about signing up (haven't yet). It's a nice reminder and a cute way to motivate oneself.

An API is vital imo. This whole concept rests on simplicity and friendly motivators. I'd want a nice widget display or a json output of my list so I can add it to a blog or wherever I'd like to promote/remind myself of my goals. This of course is a huge marketing benefit for you as well.

Hope this helps.

jenn
I -completely- agree. Unfortunately building an API is slightly out of my technical skill set, but it's very high on my list of things to do! If you have any tips for how to go about developing one, I'm all ears (err...eyes?)!
apsurd
Cool. Building a read-only API is actually pretty straightforward. Looks like you're using php, any framework?

Feel free to email me personally if you'd like some help on the matter. Depending on how much of your codebase you'd be willing to share, I can hack something out for you if you want, I'm really open to anything, I like being as active as I can in projects.

Depending on how your data is structured, it might be as simple as adding an apikey field to your user table then fetching all 101 goals relative to a given apikey.

Then you'd simply create a controller that accepted an apikey and returned a pure json view of your data. Something like:

  http://101in365.com/api?apikey=20Fa34uU&format=json&sort=r
This method is just like creating a webpage at /api only instead of sending back text/html you send back text/json The page validates the apikey and you are free to pass any number of parameter to help you further manipulate the data.

You can check out http://pluspanda.com. I use this method in that site. Create an account by clicking on the big green button and see how the "install code" is just a request to my api controller. The code is actually a little more complex in that it sets up an entire widget environment via javascript and then does "jsonp" requests to fetch data. Sounds complicated but its really straightforward and COOL once you get the hang of it!

Let me know if you want some help with this. - Email is in the profile.

qeorge
Nice idea, and I like the design. Looks like you've got people using it.

I was a bit confused as to where to begin though. Am I to create my own list of 101 things, or are there some suggested lists I can start with?

Also: try preloading the images in your stylesheets (or using sprites). There's a noticeable flash when I hover over the sign-up button as signuphover.png is loaded for the first time. I'm fond of this jQuery plugin, which makes this painless:

http://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/update_automatically_preloa...

rick_2047
I just love the design simple and accessible. I am giving you the facebook authorization because I just loved the way your design handles the things. Way to go bro
jenn
thanks! and I'm not a bro, but I appreciate the sentiment! :D
iamgabeaudick
Maybe decrease the number of goals. 101 is a lot - both to accomplish and even just to think about and write down.