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Comment by jablan | Hacker News Reader

Call me stupid, but I can't get simple question answered by reading the page: What is Dash? A website? Locally run server listening at 8080? Desktop application? From the screenshots I guess it is probably OSX app, but is it so hard to put it clearly somewhere in the top?

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Thanks for pointing this out. I've changed the tagline to "Dash gives your Mac instant offline access to 150+ documentation sets".

Thank you, but it's still too subtle IMO. Is there some unspoken marketing rule not to include simple phrases such as "Dash is an OS X application"?

Is "Dash gives your Mac .." too subtle? It says MAC, and the website has got an AppStore button with Apples logo.

as someone who just downloaded the zip and unpacked it to a windows desktop only to be disappointed by the .app at the end of the folder, yes.

people shouldn't have to infer these types of things. Not everyone's brains makes the same connections in the same way, not because they're stupid, but because we all process information differently.

I looked at the page and it wasn't immediately obvious to me what it was.

Dash is... an app? a site? a collation of data?

If I'd hit the front page to something like:

> DASH

> An application for browsing API documentation sets

I'd know what was going on immediately.

Please don't get angry with other people for your own failures in comprehension. Come on.

see you kind of prove my point about how people process data.

you thought perhaps my comment was a complaint, an angry statement, this couldn't be further from the truth. In actuality I was just reflecting on how good signposting (through pertinent language and UI) helps people interpret meaning on websites.

If you design your website so that your potential users/customers cant look at the front page and have an instant grasp of what your product is, then your website is failing to do its job.

Again I say, people shouldn't have to infer what something is by association. Saying "what is this? oh look, there's an appstore link, it must be an app" is not the right way to tell people what you've made. Unambiguous and engaging language is.

Presumably the developer would quite like people to buy his app. Some honest feedback about the clarity of the messaging should be welcome.

I assumed, looking at the site that it somehow scanned your code and attempted to document it for you. I may be cognitively challenged, but it wasn't clear to me what it was.

I'm so used to ignoring marketing speak didn't even realize it's Mac only.

Didn't expect a mac only app to make it to the front of HN.

Must be really good I don't use a Mac though.

Edit: Mac fan-boys stop down voting me just because you disagree with my choice of OS.

I think the downvotes are due to the tone. Don't necessarily agree with them, but that might be the root cause.

"Must be really good I don't use a Mac though" is regrettably ambiguous. It can either mean "Dash looks great; too bad I can't use it since I don't have a Mac" or it can mean "It's really great that I don't use a Mac", especially when read quickly.

Also, you were terse so that there isn't much content in your comment. As always, ask yourself if your comment is worth the time for people to read. Cheers.

One of the first things you see is a link to download on the App Store...

Frankly, I don't know whether AppStore offers only OSX apps (or you can also buy iOS apps, or certain website access). It also doesn't mean that it's not some kind of portable application (working also on OSX). That's also suggested by the "Download" link below AppStore link, which may mean that there is also other forms of whatever Dash is, apart from the form which is available through AppStore.

Ok, I guess the target audience would in 99% _guess_ what Dash is, but that still doesn't mean that it shouldn't be written somewhere clearly.

Right bellow is a download button. My immediate thought was that OSX platforms obtained the app from the appstore while other platforms could use the download link. When I see an appstore link I don't immediatly assume OS X only.

In the upper-right corner of the main page there are "Download" and "App Store" links. That seems to indicate that it is an OS X app. ;-)

"App Store" _hints_ that "Download" must be an application for Mac OS X, but I had to download and browse through the .zip archive to make sure. I think it could be stated more clearly, at least somewhere on the page (if the author doesn't want to ruin the illusion that there are only Apple products by stating it at the top)

Wondered the same, had to download to understand it's an OSX .app which should be clear on the page. Having a iTune link isn't explicit. Boo.

Same here.

Dash is also Debian's shell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almquist_shell If someone tells me "I'm using dash" I'll think about the shell, so I think they should call it "dash the API browser" to make it obvious that it is NOT what everyone thinks about.

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