Creating for a niche | Hacker News Reader

Creating for a niche

davesnider.com

85 pointssnide7 comments

CounterSlayer [1] is very polished. Just to get it straight, did you design the whole thing for people 3D printing game inserts? It looks like it would be highly applicable for other use cases? Or am I missing something?

I have been building a fun project for a niche (of which I am a member) [2] and have found the process very relaxing. I have found it helps me ship more, because it narrows down the features you consider and the vocabulary you use. I have to think less about big picture stuff to some degree.

It's also very useful being a member of the target niche as you come up with new ideas for features going about your daily life. I'm building a browser based Markdown renderer for developers who use CLI-based agents and today at work had a great experience with a mermaid diagram [3] to explain some architecture. I didn't think the renderer I had to paste my diagram code in was that great (tried to upsell me), so this evening I worked on an (unreleased) feature to render mermaid diagrams beautifully + embedded in a Markdown file.

[1] https://counterslayer.com/

[2] https://sdocs.dev, Show HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47777633

[3] https://mermaid.live/

Counter Slayer uses the same UI library I hand built for Table Slayer[0], so it was a little easier for me to get that one going. I used to run design for Elastic, and built their React design library (with some great coworkers) so I'm used to heavy visualization work (having redesigned Kibana years ago). It's just fun for me to take all that experience and build weird little projects as far as I can take them!

I built Counter Slayer specifically for 3D board game inserts, and that's really all I use it for. It sits on the shoulder of Svelte and Threlte (Three.js) for most of the hard stuff.

Being a user of your own product is everything. Every designer I've ever hired were good, not so much because they were a great designer, but because they understood the product and could sit in the user's seat.

[0]: https://tableslayer.com

Yeah, I don't know, I build stuff for a niche, but then it turns out I can't really reach any other person in that niche, so it's just me using my tools (which, personally, I think are fairly well made).

How do you solve that?

Word of mouth, paid ads, social media accounts...? Even if it's niche, the rules of the game don't change

I have thousands of dollars of mechanical keyboards I could sell on eBay, if only I wanted to take the time to remember how I last left the firmware reset sequence.

I set them all aside for several Leopold FC660C Topre keyboards with the Hasu mod supporting QMK firmware.

Then I started getting ulnar nerve issues, either the gym or too many AI prompts. I discovered MoErgo's keyboards, and their custom Cherry Blossom switches. I honestly believe they have subtle design genius pervading their work, beyond anything I have ever experienced. Quiz me; I've also tried X.

Their Glove80 could use a bit of the "door slams like a Rolls-Royce" quality that many of these bespoke keyboard makers apply to more conventional designs. The design nevertheless triumphs.

Their second generation Go60 is my "Stay60" I can't give up. The build quality, and I don't want more keys.

At first it feels like the Cherry Blossom switches fire from a breeze with the window open. One adapts.

Lovely post. The fact that individuals / small groups of people who actually care are so often able to make better things than giant companies with all the resources and talent in the world is kind of heartwarming, kind of depressing.

Some friends and I are having a conversation about "caring" - not necessarily for others but care in what you do. Wim Wenders 2023 film "Perfect Days" is relevant here.

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