I can't help but feel all these websites miss out on what makes Hacker News great: density of information leading to a quick scan of the zeitgeist. I just feel constrained looking at this website's frontpage.
I agree. This is a good idea but the giant thumbnails are very hard to parse since they clash with each other. Would be nicer if it was a simple uniformly styled text list with taglines, and user interaction (mouseovers/expands/something) to show thumbnails?
Thanks for the feedback. Prior to the current styling, I had a screenshot with title, author, description, etc to the right. I found it cluttered and difficult to read through a list of projects. I'll keep working on it and see if I can find something.
Since most of us check HN multiple times throughout the day I don't think it matters that much, especially since the rate of project submission will be relatively (to HN) low.
Many side projects don't have eye candy. Maybe skip the screenshot altogether, and just give a summary + link, which is what "One Thing Well" did. http://onethingwell.org
Nice work. I'm glad you are tackling it [1], now it's off my table. Hopefully your site is back up to let me signup. The UI could benefit from simplicity.
Given that most Show HN's never hit the front page (mine was in the 1st page of the 'new' tab for just 20 minutes!), hopefully this fills in a niche that seems to be missing from HN. Good work!
I love the idea! But I think it would be great if people would be able to change their thumbnail screenshot that is shown on the popular and latest list. I've added my project[1] but I changing the lead screenshot is not possible which is a shame. It's also not possible to delete screenshots, which should be a must-have feature.
Although it looks like one of the screenshots I added is not displaying. Could just be hackernews traffic maybe, I noticed there is also an image error with the ad in the sidebar.
[edit] Looks like both screenshots are showing now.
As others have said, the screenshots management bit needs to be improvement - it's a bit of a guess as to what'll work best right now. But I imagine that will come with time.
One slightly negative impression: while there are already lots of good submissions and it looks like people are using the heart button, there are very few feedback comments so far. I particularly like the idea of a smaller, more tight-knit group of HNers giving each other feedback, since it seems nearly impossible these days to get any attention for a Show HN post without preexisting internet fame or a voting ring, so I found it a bit unfortunate that Breakpoint seems be starting out more in the direction of show-off gallery than a place for substantive discussion and critique in the HN vein. I'm not really sure how to remedy this. Perhaps placing more emphasis on discussion vs. screenshots could help?
I totally agree. I think the main issue at this point is in order to have really good, constructive feedback, you need actual users. Maybe over time, once people start using projects, there will be more feedback.
"(...) there are very few feedback comments so far. I particularly like the idea of a smaller, more tight-knit group of HNers giving each other feedback (...)"
This is one of the reasons behind my Google+ community for and about Internet Startups [1] - currently the largest one about this topic - where you can post under the "Introduce your startup" category and get precious feedback.
Hi, I am sure you are aware, but as I tried to load my project, your site crashed. I ran this on a VM with a spoofed IP as well, so Im not sure whether it is all domains or not...
66 comments
[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 111 ms ] threadThe screen shot is less important than the description and the discussion. A thumbnail will suffice.
Great idea though. (I might use it soon.)
[1] = http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5030945
EDIT: Yeah, the site is getting hammered right now.
https://breakpoint.io/48-ringo/
http://www.tryringo.com
Given that most Show HN's never hit the front page (mine was in the 1st page of the 'new' tab for just 20 minutes!), hopefully this fills in a niche that seems to be missing from HN. Good work!
[1]: https://breakpoint.io/65-instaghent/ http://www.instaghent.com/
Although it looks like one of the screenshots I added is not displaying. Could just be hackernews traffic maybe, I noticed there is also an image error with the ad in the sidebar.
[edit] Looks like both screenshots are showing now.
As others have said, the screenshots management bit needs to be improvement - it's a bit of a guess as to what'll work best right now. But I imagine that will come with time.
Good luck!
Seriously, I think Tappr and several others are just using this to advertise.
One slightly negative impression: while there are already lots of good submissions and it looks like people are using the heart button, there are very few feedback comments so far. I particularly like the idea of a smaller, more tight-knit group of HNers giving each other feedback, since it seems nearly impossible these days to get any attention for a Show HN post without preexisting internet fame or a voting ring, so I found it a bit unfortunate that Breakpoint seems be starting out more in the direction of show-off gallery than a place for substantive discussion and critique in the HN vein. I'm not really sure how to remedy this. Perhaps placing more emphasis on discussion vs. screenshots could help?
This is one of the reasons behind my Google+ community for and about Internet Startups [1] - currently the largest one about this topic - where you can post under the "Introduce your startup" category and get precious feedback.
[1] https://plus.google.com/communities/100445483815501942968
Frankly, submitting "Show HN" posts here is now useless and a bit frustrating. Most of them seem to get lost.
The main difference is that we're a platform for sharing ideas, and you're sharing projects that already exist. In any case, good luck with this!