Forrst: Where Designers Who Code meet Developers Who Design
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First, what is the problem you are trying to solve? Second, what do you think are/will be the key components of your approach?
At least to me, the problem I have is that I'm a developer who isn't any good at design. I'd love to be able to make small (and big) projects that look professional. Unfortunately, while I know lots of good developers, I don't know any good designers.
Furthermore, working on a web site with someone seems to involve a lot of trust: there's a lot of asymmetric information involved. How does the web designer know I'm really doing anything? How do I know that the web designer is really doing anything? Doing things iteratively can help, but it's obviously not possible to do everything iteratively.
I could also try to learn some design skills, but ultimately I think that I'm unlikely to be able to match a decade of specialisation in my free time.
It seems like most attempts at solving this problem amount to either portfolio sites or dating/outsourcing style sites. But these approaches don't seem to solve the trust problem.
Forrst seems to be trying to make a forum/community for designers, developers, and designers/developers, but I wonder if designers really want to learn about Common Lisp web frameworks, or whether developers are really interested in design problems. I also wonder whether trading links, code snippets, and images can produce the same kind of trust as that produced by working side-by-side on an actual project. That said, this may not be the goal.
> First, what is the problem you are trying to solve? Second, what do you think are/will be the key components of your approach?
Before Forrst existed, I didn't really enjoy sharing design- or development-related things on Twitter or Tumblr -- it felt like sharing these things into a black hole. I wanted somewhere that felt more close-knit, and where interesting discussion could be had around those things. For me, Forrst is that place (and I'm hoping others will agree). I don't think you necessarily need to be a designer-developer combo; designers with an interest in development (who may or may not write code, too), and developers who appreciate (or create) design, both could potentially find a good fit on Forrst.
One of the biggest goals I have for Forrst is to help people connect and engage with like-minded peers.
Am I far off in inferring you see Forrst as a place where you could potentially meet a designer or developer to collaborate with? I think this may be a very interesting -- and plausible -- side effect of having a very focused community.
> Forrst seems to be trying to make a forum/community for designers, developers, and designers/developers, but I wonder if designers really want to learn about Common Lisp web frameworks, or whether developers are really interested in design problems. I also wonder whether trading links, code snippets, and images can produce the same kind of trust as that produced by working side-by-side on an actual project. That said, this may not be the goal.
Agreed, not 100% of the content posted on Forrst will be relevant to 100% of its users. There are some things in the works that should help to address the filtering problem -- being able to find things that are highly relevant to you is something I hope Forrst help with. Like I mentioned before, I think that even if you're not 100% hybrid dev-designer, anyone with an interest or appreciation for the other side would be at home on Forrst.
Feel free to email me at kyle AT forrst.com (or reply here) if there's anything I can clarify for you.
-Kyle
It looks like twitter + images/screenshots, more or less. You can follow people, users can post text + maybe a screenshot, and there are comment threads about the posts/screenshots. I think what has the potential to be distinctive is the community that develops, rather than any particularly notable features. (That said, since on the web most features should arguably be community driven, this is probably just the core set of initial features.)
I think there is a lot of demand for a site that really facilitates developers meeting designers, but I'm not sure what format, and what interactions, make the most sense. I've been looking for a solution to this problem for a few years, and I haven't found anything really satisfying.
Perhaps another way to use forrst is as something like ffffound.com for code & web design - I browse it mostly in "Everyone's Posts" view, just to see interesting/inspiring stuff.
I agree that what will set Forrst apart is its community. I aim to help facilitate that growth, as well as help people discover like-minded people they might enjoy knowing and engaging with.
ummmm, no? You asked for a tl;dr, I gave you a tl;dr. If you don't like it, maybe you should read the article instead. If I think the site is great and I want to express that, I do. So I'm supposed to hate every site I'm not related to? Or maybe just praise every site I'm related to?
edit: changed He for You
I've been thinking about it as a Pownce-like app, in more of a Twitter-based format, but I guess the reason for its success is the same as HN's, which is the focus seems very narrow.
I like that about it, and as a programmer who designs (that hadn't ever categorized himself in that way before) -- I realize it's a very apt cross-section of what I've encountered on Forrst.
Seriously though, it definitely gets a thumbs-up from me, though not necessarily for the masses.