Looks pretty cool, but what is it exactly? Just a start page? I think if you have more detailed description about what the site offers with additional screenshots i think it would be better. Unless of course that's all there is to it and I just completely missed it.
Think of it as bookmarks combined with a very simple RSS reading technology.
The RSS reading is a little spotty. Some sites update when there are no updates. Additionally, sometimes Start.io just doesn't recognize an RSS feed, and there's no option to manually input one. I also find I can't delete links, so I have a thin column of "about:blank" links that are painted white so I don't see them that I get from removing bookmarks.
That said, this really takes the pain out of RSS. It's comfortable and functional and all the themes look really, really good.
I think I missed the RSS reading part of it; it makes more sense now. Seconded on the themes looking very nice!
@jacobbijani: I'm not sure if you care much, but Firefox users can remove the start.io menu from their pages by adding a display:none tag to it in their layout. Also, users can write javascript in the layout editor. Mine is currently redirecting all visitors to google... Perhaps the layout editor should be restricted to css?
I don't know if these pages are meant to be shown publicly so much: I link to mine from my web site, but it's not a very social thing. It's not like a social network where people see lots of pages and so redirecting can be seen as hostile.
exactly. people are starting to share them, which has the benefit of others seeing the service and maybe signing up, but i never intended them to be shared. it's for you to make and then you to use.
there's a few annoying bugs with the RSS bot that i've been meaning to get around to. and i swear i've fixed that delete bug like 5 times!
We were actually pretty surprised to see users sharing their startpages on their blogs and such. At first we didn't really get it; I mean the only reason we made them public was so that you could access it from where ever you were without having to log in. Basically, we made start.io to act as an attachment to a browser.
But some people really do like sharing their links. Maybe it's just that they're used to sharing all their content online. One of the most visited start pages comes from a ministry sharing belief-oriented links to their visitors.
I'm not sure what un-prepped signups will use it for, but I don't really care, either. We developed this to be a flexible platform from the beginning. That's just what happens when you made a product customizable, and for a general purpose. People will shape it to their needs. The obvious example here is Twitter, which began as a service to publish away messages to the web. Then people wanted to group their thoughts to channels, then they wanted to message, now they want to network and expand their names and products. Twitter is a good example of a platform that made getting information from the users brain to a public domain incredibly easy.
Thanks for all the comments so far, this is great.
Yes. If you're worried about someone else using your startpage, you can make it private in Settings. I'll tell you though, the startpages aren't indexed by any search engines, and personally, this has never been a problem for me.
Honest tip: If you're going to do the counter thing, tell the truth. Nothing makes me trust you less to see bullshit marketing prominently displayed on your front page.
What makes you think it's not accurate? I just don't show it increasing in real time for caching issues. Also, I figured it would make more sense to devote my programming time to making the site and not figuring out an accurate stats counter.
The fact that every time I visit the site it starts at the same number is a good clue.
Regardless, it's a perception thing. I'm not questioning your reasons for putting it there or whether it's a close enough to accurate representation. I'm just pointing out that others might see it the same way I did.
I'm guessing it's your site, since the name 'Jacob' is all over it. Why didn't you post a comment about it in typical Ask YC style?
Anyway, outside of the marketing-counter thing, I would suggest that the initial layout for a user's start page is the same as the one that is so prominently displayed on the sample images (with the grey background and color bars). Not that it was difficult to change, but it was a little disappointing when I found just a simple white layout with my single forlorn link to HN on it instead of the stylish advertised one... I almost took off right there. Perhaps selecting a layout could be a more prominent initial setup step?
Why do you need my email when I sign up? The signup doesn't ask for a password re-entry as well, which I found strange.
What do the ampersands mean?
Nice work. Looks great, too.
[edit]
Why should I use it? Chrome and Safari (and FF in the near future) offer close to the same functionality.
The thought on a different homepage is you will go change it, and in the process discover the fact you can change them at all.
Email is for password recovery.
In that theme, ampersands mean it has updated content. That's just part of the template language. Some have bullets, some highlight the text. It's up to the theme.
It's simpler and you can access it from other computers [and your iphone (i.start.io/jacob)]
Sorry about not putting a description. Forgot! Looks like everyone else sort of did for me though :)
The sum of all clicks on all links, yes. We track when you click one of the links you add to your startpage. The click counts are one of the values available to the themes.
20 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 53.0 ms ] threadThe RSS reading is a little spotty. Some sites update when there are no updates. Additionally, sometimes Start.io just doesn't recognize an RSS feed, and there's no option to manually input one. I also find I can't delete links, so I have a thin column of "about:blank" links that are painted white so I don't see them that I get from removing bookmarks.
That said, this really takes the pain out of RSS. It's comfortable and functional and all the themes look really, really good.
@jacobbijani: I'm not sure if you care much, but Firefox users can remove the start.io menu from their pages by adding a display:none tag to it in their layout. Also, users can write javascript in the layout editor. Mine is currently redirecting all visitors to google... Perhaps the layout editor should be restricted to css?
there's a few annoying bugs with the RSS bot that i've been meaning to get around to. and i swear i've fixed that delete bug like 5 times!
We were actually pretty surprised to see users sharing their startpages on their blogs and such. At first we didn't really get it; I mean the only reason we made them public was so that you could access it from where ever you were without having to log in. Basically, we made start.io to act as an attachment to a browser.
But some people really do like sharing their links. Maybe it's just that they're used to sharing all their content online. One of the most visited start pages comes from a ministry sharing belief-oriented links to their visitors.
I'm not sure what un-prepped signups will use it for, but I don't really care, either. We developed this to be a flexible platform from the beginning. That's just what happens when you made a product customizable, and for a general purpose. People will shape it to their needs. The obvious example here is Twitter, which began as a service to publish away messages to the web. Then people wanted to group their thoughts to channels, then they wanted to message, now they want to network and expand their names and products. Twitter is a good example of a platform that made getting information from the users brain to a public domain incredibly easy.
Thanks for all the comments so far, this is great.
Also: when non-logged-in users click a link, does it reset the bookmark?
Regardless, it's a perception thing. I'm not questioning your reasons for putting it there or whether it's a close enough to accurate representation. I'm just pointing out that others might see it the same way I did.
I don't see what the big deal is. Gmail does (did?) this for the inbox limit.
Anyway, outside of the marketing-counter thing, I would suggest that the initial layout for a user's start page is the same as the one that is so prominently displayed on the sample images (with the grey background and color bars). Not that it was difficult to change, but it was a little disappointing when I found just a simple white layout with my single forlorn link to HN on it instead of the stylish advertised one... I almost took off right there. Perhaps selecting a layout could be a more prominent initial setup step?
Why do you need my email when I sign up? The signup doesn't ask for a password re-entry as well, which I found strange.
What do the ampersands mean?
Nice work. Looks great, too.
[edit] Why should I use it? Chrome and Safari (and FF in the near future) offer close to the same functionality.
Email is for password recovery.
In that theme, ampersands mean it has updated content. That's just part of the template language. Some have bullets, some highlight the text. It's up to the theme.
It's simpler and you can access it from other computers [and your iphone (i.start.io/jacob)]
Sorry about not putting a description. Forgot! Looks like everyone else sort of did for me though :)
Why do I need to give you my email address?