Introducing Pulse for Web | Hacker News Reader

Introducing Pulse for Web

pulse.me

33 pointstuhin36 comments

There is no need to force me to create an account to use this service. Have a list of supported news sites and let me pick the ones I want to see, then save a bookmark to the page.

Requiring an account is a back button.

We require accounts on web for things like news source recommendations and notifications for when we release new features. If you create an account, your sources will also sync across platforms like Android, iPad, iPhone, etc. Our mobile apps do not require sign-in, however, so feel free to download those from our homepage: http://www.pulse.me/

> notifications for when we release new features

The real reason. This should be explained on the site.

We don't send frequent emails - we haven't emailed our user base in months - until today about this launch. If users don't have an account, they can't have a consistent experience across platforms. A good user experience is our top priority here.

What about being able to at least preview the service without needing an account? We can do that already on the app version, before we decide to sign up with Pulse.

Signing up is an extra step, and a little too much, for a product that I want to field test before I decide I want to use it.

Fair point. As you said, you can test the mobile app without signing up. We found that many of our users didn't know about our account syncing feature (because they didn't sign up). They then told us that it was difficult to switch between devices when they downloaded our apps as they had different news sources on different devices. This is an effort to remedy that confusion by keeping one single consistent account across platforms. Trying to get users to sign up later when they want to sync (which we've tried on mobile) has proved to be difficult for most users.

Look, it's your app, you can do what you want with it, but you're losing potential users with this requirement -- end of story.

Yes, we agree that there will be some drop-off, but we're taking that chance in order to provide the best experience across platforms.

Congrats on shipping, and thank you for being part of the community.

I would also second the feedback that requiring an email is undesirable. I know you are doing it so you can count reach and demographics easier and eventually sell those eyeballs or market research. We all need to eat. I get it. However! There is fatigue from needing to log into free services, especially when there are alternatives racing to the bottom with less friction.

You may grow your userbase faster by encouraging early adopters like those who visit this site to use the product. I also believe that the sign-up stopped >50% of the CTRs. I would recommend removing the requirement to sign-up now. Just $0.02 from yet another joe on the internet... :)

Thank you. You can test the mobile app without signing up. We found that many of our users didn't know about our account syncing feature (because they didn't sign up). They then told us that it was difficult to switch between devices when they downloaded our apps as they had different news sources on different devices. This is an effort to remedy that confusion by keeping one single consistent account across platforms. Trying to get users to sign up later when they want to sync (which we've tried on mobile) has proved to be difficult for most users.

The biggest reason of all, it lets you sync sources across all devices. Sync saved stories. Notification and communication take a backseat when you can easily send push notification to a much larger audience that is your entire userbase. Just thought it was important to mention that.

The only way to reliably save your subscriptions (so that you can open pulse and see them instantly) is the have an account and save it on our servers.

Tell that to Fab or Gilt or Facebook...

Requiring an account might be okay if you can delete your account later. Pulse.me doesn't provide such functionality. At least I didn't find it. I've signed up and then I don't want to use it anymore, why can't I just remove my account?

u r the product

I'm sure I'm not the target. The window is - empty? [1]

Ghostery informed me that it had to block Facebook Connect, but this surely isn't the intended landing page, even if I _do_ hate Facebook crap? I mean - I could at least use the links above and see the about page, but for a landing page this is kind of baad.

1: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1194203/Pulse.png

Same problem. Chromium Version 21.0.1180.75 (150248) on 3.5.0-2-ARCH

L.E: Unblock Facebook connect in Ghostery.

Indeed, blocking Facebook Connect or disabling Javascript makes the page show empty (on all browsers).

Thanks - we have fix on the way for those that block FB Connect

... why is there an Internet Explorer logo in the top-right of the interface screenshot?

We worked with Microsoft to incorporate multi-touch gestures available in IE10 into Pulse for Web. You can read more about that partnership on the IE10 blog here: http://windowsteamblog.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/08/09/with-i...

Incredible! Hopefully Microsoft submits its pointer events to W3C.

Pulse user here since the first iPad came out. Love your service and use it all the time. Need an intern for next Summer? :)

What do you want to work on? ankit<at>pulse<dot>me

Definetly looks interesting! However the corperate network I am on at the moment does not display the page correctly (could be anything from outdated html5 or just regular blocking).

Either way, I really enjoy the iPhone/Android app!

I agree though, I don't like the IE logo on the top right of the page. Call my crazy, but I am really fond of the simple, clean, eligant display on the iPhone/Android. Plus I just don't like IE.

As far as requiring an account - While I do see the merit in requiring registration, I think it should just load up the interface, and require registration if they would like to save their list of sources for when they visit the website later. Not to mention, noting that the sources and everything sync's across platforms is definetly a plus.

Good luck to you!

Your corporate network is likely blocking FB Connect, which we have on the top of our page. We're working on a fix for it.

Ahh.. yes that would definitely be it! They are very anti-facebook.

Cheers!

Requiring facebook connect is a deal breaker. My corporate intranet blocks all facebook request (and I do as well with Ghostly). Please place the facebook connect JavaScript at the bottom of the page.

'Welcome message' is being popped up for every page I visit even for the pages that I'd already visited. A bug? Using chrome 21.0.1180.60 m on Windows 7

Edit: Issue resolved after reloading the page

Thanks for pointing that out. Some other users have mentioned it showing up more times than necessary. We're taking a look.

Funny to see this ranked right below "Design Tips: Never Use Black." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4357002

1) It is not black it is #111 :) 2) Rules in design are meant to be broken. It is good to know the rules nevertheless, so that you know which ones to break.

Super high information density for browsing followed by a clean and simple reading experience.

Well executed, congrats to the Pulse team.

Awesome job guys. It looks really cool!

can I use this product without signing up

You can if you download our mobile apps. Our web application, however, does require a sign-up.

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