Co-founder here. My best friend and I quit our jobs a while back and have been working hard and bootstrapping this. This is an early version - we'll be adding more templates and features soon
looks good. nice and simple.
One issue though. If I chose a subdomain that already exists I'm taken back to the start of the process. would be great if I could correct it right there
Also like the collection of content blocks and SEO settings
my recommendation, show me what's going to happen before I do it. I don't want to make a subdomain and go through the process just to look over the builder itself. Maybe show the youtube videos on the main page or some nice screenshots?
I like the page operations though, being able to edit and remove modules was quite smooth.
I would recommend on that sidebar instructional panel to put the hide button on the top right corner, not on the side.
Hi, thanks for the feedback. I like the idea of placing the hide button at the top instead of the slide. We'll experiment with both.
Regarding the "show me what's going to happen before I do it." Absolutely agree. Our real homepage is: http://boldcanvas.com/ - the link in the headline is just a demo page I created so HN users wouldn't be forced to create an account just to try or product
You are right. I posted a temporary demo homepage I created 10 minutes before the post - this way people wouldn't have to create an account to try it out. The real home page is http://boldcanvas.com/.
Regarding the hover over text color - we'll experiment with some options. Would you suggest using something with a stronger contrast?
Got it. I hadn't noticed that earlier. Will look into it - you are right that the entire header should highlight instead of one line at a time. Thanks!
BTW -- I really liked the initial 7 steps -- convention over configuration of various things. But my heat sank once I selected a template and I found a fully configurable page. There's no way my mom would be able to use that (she would have gotten past the initial 7 steps).
Perhaps you want to add more steps, and ask for details lile: top level pages, would you like a contact form included someplace?, a map/location?, etc. You really could get more milage from the initial wizard, and automagically setup a site.
Getting more mileage out of the initial wizard is definitely a really interesting idea. We've thought about that a lot and it's potentially the direction we might go.
Part of what worries us is whether users would feel overwhelmed by too many steps upfront without seeing their progress. Another idea that is similar that we are playing around with is replacing the current sidebar (that has instructional videos) with a sidebar that acts like a wizard, but with many more steps.
11 comments
[ 5.6 ms ] story [ 35.8 ms ] threadI like the page operations though, being able to edit and remove modules was quite smooth.
I would recommend on that sidebar instructional panel to put the hide button on the top right corner, not on the side.
Regarding the "show me what's going to happen before I do it." Absolutely agree. Our real homepage is: http://boldcanvas.com/ - the link in the headline is just a demo page I created so HN users wouldn't be forced to create an account just to try or product
Also I'm sure it's just in the works but the homepage doesn't seem to quite have received the design love that the templates have. Looking good!
You are right. I posted a temporary demo homepage I created 10 minutes before the post - this way people wouldn't have to create an account to try it out. The real home page is http://boldcanvas.com/.
Regarding the hover over text color - we'll experiment with some options. Would you suggest using something with a stronger contrast?
Here's an example: http://i.imgur.com/hQLoUwd.png
BTW -- I really liked the initial 7 steps -- convention over configuration of various things. But my heat sank once I selected a template and I found a fully configurable page. There's no way my mom would be able to use that (she would have gotten past the initial 7 steps).
Perhaps you want to add more steps, and ask for details lile: top level pages, would you like a contact form included someplace?, a map/location?, etc. You really could get more milage from the initial wizard, and automagically setup a site.
Good work so far!
Getting more mileage out of the initial wizard is definitely a really interesting idea. We've thought about that a lot and it's potentially the direction we might go.
Part of what worries us is whether users would feel overwhelmed by too many steps upfront without seeing their progress. Another idea that is similar that we are playing around with is replacing the current sidebar (that has instructional videos) with a sidebar that acts like a wizard, but with many more steps.