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Show HN: Attach.io, a new way to simply share files

15 points by dutchbrit ↗ HN
After a lot of work, I'm proud to show HN my first real "startup idea". HN has been a real inspiration to me. Attach.io allows users to upload files up to 2GB (soon to be 8GB) and share them with others.

Attach.io offers the regular file for download, and also if possible, an alternative preview version, so users can view files on their iPad for example.

PSD files get converted to PNG AVI, WMV etc... to MP4 EPS/AI to PDF DOC(X), PPT(X) etc... to PDF

This is a sneak preview, and is not 100% complete.

Things I still have on my ToDo list:

Allow users to email link to others, currently they have to copy/paste (not clear for non-tech people).

Add a convert in progress with ETA for preview files. At the moment, a preview button will only be shown when a preview file is available/convert is complete.

Add the ability to pause/resume uploads.

Add warning when files above 2GB are added to the list.

MP4 files can currently only be played in Safari & iPad. This should be resolved within the next few days.

Possibly convert other filetypes too, any suggestions?

Note: This is a one man show, I designed & programmed everything myself, with the exception of the background image. I'm more of a programmer though than a designer.

My current expenses: .io domain: $100 (Name.com) & background image: $2 (Graphic River), Total: $102

Attach.io is currently running on one dedicated server. I will be getting new strong servers after the Alpha stage.

All feedback & criticism is appreciated. I have only tested this in Firefox, Chrome & Safari on the Mac, so if there are any render issues, please link a screenshot to me, or send an email to hello@attach.io

20 comments

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inovica
That looks interesting. What about the expenses of the server?
dutchbrit
Currenty, I'm running on a dedicated server, $100 a month.

Looking at getting Hetzner's XS 29 (1 or 2) to start off with.

http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produkte_rootserver/xs29

dholowiski
That looks good, just be careful of "Unlimited"(astersik) bandwidth. You're likely to find out what the (astersik) means pretty quickly. I believe the term you want is "unmetered", if your service gets popular.
dutchbrit
What they mean with unlimited: We will permanently restrict the connection speed to 10 Mbit/s if more than 10,000 GB/month are used (the basis for calculation is for outgoing traffic only. Incoming and internal traffic is not calculated). 1 Gbit/s speed can be optionally restored by committing to pay 6,90 € (incl. VAT) per additional TB used.
johnpattiyson
The big black button does nothing for me.

I can't scroll the TOS (have to click and drag to select text to see further down).

The contact popup seems half-done - blank with some text up at the top looks unbalanced.

OS X Safari

The design is incredible - striking, fresh.

dutchbrit
Regarding the big black button, do you mean after dragging a file, and clicking the button, the file doesn't upload?

Thanks for the feedback so far - I rushed the contact page (also need to clean up the HTML + reduce http requests). Regarding the TOS - I have the same issue here, but there's also a non visible scrollbar on the right that you can pull down (standard Safari) - I'll make a custom scroll bar to fix this however.

Now, to come to the big black button. Did you drag & drop a file first? And it doesn't go to the upload progress after clicking it? Or do you mean design wise? :)

johnpattiyson
I go to the website. See a big black call to action button, so I click it. Maybe without reading the text first. Nothing happens. I get that if I drag and drop files then click it does stuff, but it needs to do something, anything, whenever it's clicked.
dutchbrit
Good point, I'll add an alert of some kind when no files have been added & a user clicks on the button.
johnpattiyson
Also, the upload progress screen flashing by is alarming for very small files. Either wait a second before showing it, and so skip it for small files, or keep it on screen for at least a second even if it's done.
dutchbrit
Will add to ToDo list, I could even look at the file size before going to the upload progress part (Unless user is using Internet Explorer). If smaller than x kb/mb => show an alternative uploading message
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mastofact
Looks nice.

All I can think of is a quick custom 404 page or some less cryptic exceptions rather than the PHP errors/notices when a file is not found.

Suggestion: file deletion? private? (This may be abused?)

dutchbrit
404: Great point, I should add a 404 - regarding errors, I need to catch these better in the next release.

File deletion is in the pipeline, with user registration. And also file download stats.

Private files might be a good idea too, maybe forcing people to fill in a secret password first before being able to download?

mastofact
> Private files might be a good idea too, maybe forcing people to fill in a secret password first before being able to download?

That's what I was thinking. However, maybe people shouldn't be posting sensitive files up there in the first place anyhow. I just worry when someone randomly guesses a link and stumbles upon an "sensitive" file.

dutchbrit
Maybe encrypting a file with blowfish too?
benregn
Seems a bit similar to http://ge.tt/ - They also feature a drag-and-drop uploading, with 2GB for free, user registration and an API with wrappers for a few languages. Two features from them that you should maybe consider is a) to automatically start uploading when files are dropped on the site and b) if no file has been dropped on the site and the user clicks the upload button, present them with a file chooser.

Otherwise, nice job. I like the simplicity of the design, but it is a bit bottom heavy because of the big, black button.

leprofessorr
I'm using OS X 10.8 with Chrome.

Like johnpattiyson, I can't scroll the TOS.

ghosh
Great design. Once uploaded how long are the links active before they expire? Password is a good idea