- I almost gave up because I couldn't figure out how to connect nodes which meant I couldn't do anything interesting. I tried single clicking the input/output spots, dragging from them and SHIFT/CMD dragging from them but nothing changed.
- I persisted to find the "tutorial" menu option to see if it would tell me how to connect nodes but it only told me things I could figure out myself like the project menu.
- I started the "Node tutorial" and realised dragging from the output spots suddenly worked. The problem for me before seemed to be the size of the drag target is very small so I wasn't dragging close enough for it to work.
Some suggestions that would have helped me:
- Make the drag targets much bigger, and add a hover effect to make it clearer you can interact with them.
- Start with an example with more nodes and parameters so there's something to play with immediately. Perhaps add an unconnected node with some kind of hint of where you can connect it to help the user get started. I don't think I'd need a more complex tutorial than that beyond being able to explore more complex pre-made examples.
Thank you very much for the feedback. I already thought a bit about how to fix the issues that connecting nodes can be very finicky. Your feedback gave me the idea on how to implement it, thank you :)
No problem. :) I think it would be fair to post another Show HN after because the lack of comments this time might be because people had trouble getting started? I can tell you put a ton of work into the interface and tutorial so it's a shame you didn't get more feedback. Btw, on top of a hover effect, changing the cursor to an open/closed grabbing hand would probably help the feel a lot (CSS cursor attribute).
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 26.1 ms ] threadAny feedback, critics or sharing of creations is very appreciated :)
- I almost gave up because I couldn't figure out how to connect nodes which meant I couldn't do anything interesting. I tried single clicking the input/output spots, dragging from them and SHIFT/CMD dragging from them but nothing changed.
- I persisted to find the "tutorial" menu option to see if it would tell me how to connect nodes but it only told me things I could figure out myself like the project menu.
- I started the "Node tutorial" and realised dragging from the output spots suddenly worked. The problem for me before seemed to be the size of the drag target is very small so I wasn't dragging close enough for it to work.
Some suggestions that would have helped me:
- Make the drag targets much bigger, and add a hover effect to make it clearer you can interact with them.
- Start with an example with more nodes and parameters so there's something to play with immediately. Perhaps add an unconnected node with some kind of hint of where you can connect it to help the user get started. I don't think I'd need a more complex tutorial than that beyond being able to explore more complex pre-made examples.
Thank you very much for the feedback. I already thought a bit about how to fix the issues that connecting nodes can be very finicky. Your feedback gave me the idea on how to implement it, thank you :)
Greetings, Jim