Why the Internet Archive sucks and what we can do about it | Hacker News Reader

Why the Internet Archive sucks and what we can do about it

andrewcoyle.com

17 pointsAndrewCoyle15 comments

Hi, I work at IA. We know the UI has issues, but it probably isn't going to change anytime soon. However, we are building more APIs to let communities who use archive.org build their own front ends, and let IA handle the storage. Using our JSON Metadata API you can build your own site or browser plugin that fixes some UI and UX issues.

Also, we support an S3-like API to ease uploading to IA. Also, we have just deployed a new python module that you can install using pip:

    pip install internetarchive

In addition to a python module, this installs a command line tool called `ia`, and you can upload from the command line easily. IA `items` are similar to S3 `buckets`, and you can create an item like so:

    ia upload itemid file1.txt file2.mp4 --metadata="title=foo"

You can also use existing S3 libraries such as boto.

All good things, but you can also just use good old curl from the command line. Here's a Gist I made of how to upload a WARC file (basically, an archive of a website) to the IA; this can be adjusted as needed for any kind of file:

http://gist.github.com/Asparagirl/6206247

The IA is one of the best things on or about or containing the Internet. People should donate to them, hint hint: http://archive.org/donate/

You know what sucks, this link bait title. How about: "The Internet Archive is awesome, but their UI could be improved. I have some ideas."

Maybe they're allocating their limited resources to capture information before it disappears. Their UI works, yeah, it could be improved, but... priorities.

The Archive has open positions, welcomes volunteers, has amazing office space (an old church in the Richmond) and is one of the places with the best people in the city. They also host semi-open lunches on Fridays. OP, if you're serious and passionate, I would encourage you to reach out to them :)

Seriously, I'd almost live in a tent to work there.

Agreed, if they weren't located in the US, they'd be my dream employer...

Use the advanced search, map out your ideal response api: http://archive.org/advancedsearch.php And build a better ui.

I tried it out and made a little music player in under a few hours.

Example (url may break): http://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=description%3A%28amb...

tl;dr: The IA site could use a redesign. (Anybody who's ever visited the site knows that. It doesn't mean the IA sucks.)

Edit: It's also not clear to me why the author suggests starting the redesign with the home page. I would assume most people who land on the IA pages do so through third-party search engine results, not through the IA home page.

I think the Internet Archive's UI isn't all that pretty/fashionable, but I never had much trouble finding what I was looking for: In most cases either the prominently places Wayback Machine or the Search does it for me. The categories also seem clear to me. It could be prettier/slicker but it seems quite usable to me for a site of this type with a huge amount of content that has to be organized and made accessible somehow. Seems to be more a matter of fashion or taste than usability to me.

Sidenote: On the other hand, the OP's blog is a horrible experience on my mobile phone (or a small browser window): First I have to scroll through the superlong sidebar advertising another blog of the author, then, when I finally reach the article, after two short paragraphs, I have two scroll through another advertisement for this other blog. I almost flagged the submission as blog spam, before realizing that the article continues for a bit after the next advertisement.

Edit: Also, the IA's links work without Javascript. Something which can't be said about a lot of modern site, where often basic functionality like this breaks with NoScript.

http://openlibrary.org/

Looks like one of their projects and has a nice site.

What are your expectations for archive.org?

Any examples of resource heavy sites that have amazing UI?

This is a crap shot at IA. There are many more real problems with IA that may never be addressed and this isn't even a technical one. Think about this - IA used to driven by a tape library. The fact that they've managed to keep any of that data online and accessable should make you bow down in honor.

They've survived years of horrific linux kernels and file systems and STILL HAVE THE DATA ONLINE! What else do you need? I'm not saying they're saints, but cut them some slack will ya?

this week i found that IA has hundreds of magazines scanned about a hobby of mine (wood working). That's awesome! I can read these on my ipad for free and don't need to hit up shoddy sites, bad apps, or expensive digital subscriptions.

http://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Home%20and%...

I suspect the reason why the user experience sucks is because a better UX would bring much more users. With an annual budget of 10 millions, it would not be able to sustain the same traffic as say Wikipedia. While server costs increase almost linearly at this level, revenues from donations increases at a slower pace as core users are more inclined to make a donation than casual users.

Wasn't sure where this article was going, and then realized... oh, he's critiquing the UI. Cheap.

Couldn't agree more. Why didn't this redesign happen a long time ago anyway?

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