Show HN: The Uncolouring Book | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: The Uncolouring Book

lines.potato.horse

82 pointsrpastuszak40 comments

UI feedback:

- "Tap → to continue"

I'm on desktop, but whatever. I click the arrow in the sentence. Nothing happens. Maybe it means hit the right arrow keyboard key? Nope. Oh, you mean click the /other/ arrow elsewhere on the screen...

It's also unclear when the tutorial ends and the normal app begins. I kept clicking the "next" icon for a while think they were just examples until I eventually realized I was supposed to be drawing already.

Hey thanks, I was thinking about that yesterday actually. I'll make that button clickable.

> It's also unclear when the tutorial ends and the normal app begins. I kept clicking the "next" icon for a while think they were just examples until I eventually realized I was supposed to be drawing already.

The app itself is a bit of an experiment in creating a story/narrative, where I'm trying to encourage people to swipe till the "plot twist". I haven't figured out the proper UX for that yet. I might split it into a "serious" editor and keep this version as a joke/toy. I have a terrible habit of punishing the users who decided to give me more attention than an average Reddit user! e.g. https://meat-gpt.sonnet.io or the All Hands Meeting Simulator on https://rafsters.itch.io/all-hands (annoying to play, so fun to watch others playing)

Quite interesting to see the feedback on HN (vs. the general public or design communities) -- everyone is much more problem-oriented, trying to analyse, give actionable feedback. And that's 100% fine! I've learned a lot, even in the past 30 m here or so.

Is making that button clickable the solution here? Presumably the text is there to inform the user that they proceed by clicking on the arrow in the corner. Letting them proceed by clicking the arrow would just mean they didn't know what to do next, wouldn't it?

I did the same, tried to click it, and had to look around to find what I was actually supposed to click on. Maybe the better solution would be to make it clearer where to find the correct button?

> I kept clicking the "next" icon for a while think they were just examples until I eventually realized I was supposed to be drawing already.

My understanding was that "A cloud-filled sky" is the first page past the tutorial - at least, it's the first page with no pre-drawn outlines. So the distinction seems pretty clear to me.

I sketched something in the first sky and then our started putting up blobs with a single word like "sun" and "banana." I have no idea what's going on.

Thanks, let me know if this got better after refreshing the page.

My code coverage is so low, there's a tiny chance the web app will noclip you into the sunny tropical fruit loop forever.

I got to Pickle III before I started anthropomorphizing. Then some poor chap got carried off by one of the balloons. The other guy held fast. You might want to check on him.

I think it’s an art project meant to make you feel feelings.

I'm not sure what it is supposed to do?

I almost recommended this to a friend for his children.

I'm glad I explored all the pages.

Not really a fan of rug-pulling behaviour.

I'd suggest losing that "next" sound. It sounds like a relay flipping, a deeply disturbing sound for some of us :)

Also, I have no idea what this is supposed to do or be.

> Also, I have no idea what this is supposed to do or be.

You got it 100% correct.

Pretty cool demo. I'm not sure if turning it into a vague Newgrounds-tier art game towards the end was really necessary though. I had some fun drawing on the shapes before it started showing vague allusions to some supposed emotional connection portrayed through uncleared stock photos that only has significance to the site's creator

She still loves me, she's not a checkbox.

In all seriousness though, I think I will split it into two projects.

I'm also planning a physical book, less itch.io/NG in tone, more like the illustrations of my articles: https://sonnet.io/posts/sit/

Wow I didn’t know about that iOS built in color picker

oh yeah, it's lovely. Haven't tested this on Windows, so not 100% sure about the UX there but I generally prefer using native inputs over JS controls whenever possible.

Native inputs are definitely the way to go. If I never see another custom date or colour picker again it will be too soon.

Hehe, true, although I must say I wish the native _Mac_OS picker was modal. Sometimes it just stays on the screen even after the user has chosen the colour.

Also first time for me to see the built in Firefox color picker!

I thought I was just enjoying some juvenile humor drawing dong after dong, then I got to a banana, a cucumber, and three pickles, and realized I was pretty much doing exactly what was intended.

did you move past the pickle? mother is disappointed

It got dark, that's for sure.

The remember me end seems broken, ublock was also blocking a url there.

> The remember me end seems broken

hehe, nope, that's by design. The checkbox is a rude bastard who's just trying to insult you[1]:

- user: please remember me

- checkbox: no!

> ublock was also blocking a url there.

That's umami.is (privacy-oriented) analytics. Thanks to it I know that every users clicks 4-5 times on avg. before giving up!

[1] I was going to publish that single page under: elonmuskautobiography.com, a rude joke about the yearning of ultra-rich tech-bros to be remembered. I'm not very sophisticated.

I disabled the event listener on the checkbox. I will be remembered as a hacker.

I saw your Twitter background, I understand your defiant spirit.

Reminds me of the Anti Coloring Book. I had several as a kid. https://us.macmillan.com/series/anticoloringbook

Is it the same concept?

This looks great, thanks for sharing.

Ctrl+Z for undo would be super helpful here, I kept doing that out of habit and it was annoying to have to go into the corner to click the undo button

which part of it is the "uncolouring" part?

haha, yeah, agreed. I get it, cause you're like, not coloring in the lines, right? But you're coloring with color and there's no way to uncolor, so, maybe the name isn't the right fit? Not sure about an alternative. Cool little project though :)

It might be a bug, but it’s really interesting to draw with two or three fingers.

Yes, it's a bug, 100%. And yes, that's the reason I kept it (that's the beauty of making smaller toys instead of serious apps: https://sonnet.io/posts/reactive-hole/)

I've been getting some decent traffic from this one, so even if I fix it eventually, I might keep this bug enabled as a feature under a checkbox somewhere)

Wild stuff, I had fun

I'm conflicted, your name says one thing... then you seem to have interest in quantum mechanics: the armchair Youtube quantum physicist in me wishes no one had ever read your comment, so that it stayed in a permanent state of superposition, where sayingtruth4fun had fun and lying4fun had a terrible time :(

Not very intutive. Still wondering how to uncolour

That was great and uncanny.

Mesmerizing

Can’t tell if bugs or clever

Thanks for making it

wow you can color outside the white space

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