A few days ago an article on "delayed launches"[1] was posted here on HN. We took a step back from our computers, looked at each other, and laughed nervously. The article was about us. The thing is, the author couldn't possibly have known about us as we've been too afraid to leave the comfort of our stealth mode.
We've wasted so much time tweaking our concept in utter fear of how the community would receive us. Mantras about releasing early and often, or letting our users shape the product, to no avail; we subconsciously wanted our entire (ever-changing) vision to be implemented to perfection before showing you anything.
A lot is happening in the "real-time" business at the moment and now we're asking ourselves: "why the hell didn't we launch a year ago?".
So, as an exercise in letting things go, we're throwing our little project to the wolves. Despite our wishes to have implemented X, Y, and Z before doing so.
This is fluff. It'd be better if you were more specific and focus on end user benefits. For instance, "Easily create real-time apps with worry-free scaleability"
There should also be a big sign up button directly underneath this tagline. There's really no need in the top nav to highlight the fact that you're on the home page – what should be highlighted is the Pricing & signup button.
A hosted real-time platform that gives your project a lift to the forefront
I didn't realize what this service was for until I got to the second to last box (bottom row middle) that said: Use Hydna to real-time-enable your software. Common applications include:
I think that change is a lot clearer and gets what you provide into the viewers mind immediately. Of course you should probably test variations to see what gets the best response.
The more I read up on this, the better it looks. I have to agree with some of the other comments here though; the site doesn't give you the info you need fast enough (At the very least, the list of features should link to more info)
For anyone else interested in some of these details, they do have a full browser support table here: https://www.hydna.com/features/
20 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 66.6 ms ] threadWe've wasted so much time tweaking our concept in utter fear of how the community would receive us. Mantras about releasing early and often, or letting our users shape the product, to no avail; we subconsciously wanted our entire (ever-changing) vision to be implemented to perfection before showing you anything.
A lot is happening in the "real-time" business at the moment and now we're asking ourselves: "why the hell didn't we launch a year ago?".
So, as an exercise in letting things go, we're throwing our little project to the wolves. Despite our wishes to have implemented X, Y, and Z before doing so.
[1] http://viniciusvacanti.com/2012/04/02/how-we-fooled-ourselve...
Some feedback:
This is okay. This is fluff. It'd be better if you were more specific and focus on end user benefits. For instance, "Easily create real-time apps with worry-free scaleability"There should also be a big sign up button directly underneath this tagline. There's really no need in the top nav to highlight the fact that you're on the home page – what should be highlighted is the Pricing & signup button.
But looks like a great product. Also double kudos for being Europe based, always happy to see us taking on the valley!
Thanks!
(we did a full test in "all" browsers before posting, but there are always edge-cases and we appreciate your help a lot)
I have a feeling meteor triggered this launch!
A hosted real-time platform that gives your project a lift to the forefront
I didn't realize what this service was for until I got to the second to last box (bottom row middle) that said: Use Hydna to real-time-enable your software. Common applications include:
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Meteor got to the top of hackernews because everyone understood the entire premise in 3 relaxing minutes.
Having to read docs as a way of 'getting started' is not the best way to get your users excited.
I see the example app: http://hydna.github.com/tartarus which is a great step, but video more-so!
Now we just need to find some voice talent! :)
For anyone else interested in some of these details, they do have a full browser support table here: https://www.hydna.com/features/
And authenticating users is made fairly simply using "behaviors": https://www.hydna.com/documentation/behaviors/introduction/
And the hydna.js file users need is 23kb.
Would love to see some data on speed. How long does it take for a push request from the Ruby or PHP libraries to reach a user?
And do the push APIs support access tokens for channels?
All in all, I'm really liking it though.
We'll be working hard with explaining the product better and add lots of tutorials and more detailed examples to the documentation!
UPDATE: You can submit a token when using the Push API as well. We'll be covering benchmarks in a blog post in the not so distant future.