Show HN: Daybook – A new take on personal journaling
daybook.io
daybook.io
I think it might've been worth a bit more time before showing it off. The front page tells me nothing and the About page is waffly. Put in some screenshots of a nice example - that wouldn't take long. Saves me reading the text.
I tried the privacy.daybook.io link you provided, but that had a fancy pageturn, then two incomplete page promos (little point providing the first three words - not enough) and a burger menu that didn't do anything.
I clicked through to the Privacy Policy, then tried to use my back button and the page didn't change. The pageturning swipe introduced earlier doesn't seem to do anything here, but I can click the burger menu now.
There are also loads of typos in the copy. In some places it's "daybook", others it's "Daybook". Get a friend to proofread for you and standardise your product name.
Where's your Daybook? Make that one great and use that as the demo.
I think you should wait until things are further along and then share this again with HN. I imagine you have a significant vision for this thing, but that's still opaque at this point.
Also:
> Daybook was built with the idea of providing a foundation where people can write about their lives and save it for days to come, for generations to see.
I'd be wary of putting any writing that I wanted to preserve "for generations" on a website that--no offense--might disappear in two months.
OK, well... there's a reason mice have wheels now.
If you're committed to a page-turning UX, you might want to think about this as an iPad app.
I would love to see something like this in the HN guidelines (not that anybody reads those, but...)
> Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread.
> A Show HN needn't be complicated or look slick. HN users are comfortable with work that's at an early stage.
> If your work isn't ready for people to try out yet, please don't put "Show HN" in the title. Once it's ready, come back and share it then.
> For example, blog posts, email signups, and fundraisers can't be tried out, so they don't count as Show HNs.
After reading the FAQ I kinda get it...but it would be EXTREMELY helpful to show some sort of example.
That said, I totally get that it's a work in progress - I'm guessing you already know what I'm telling you :)
The design is slick as hell though.
@Daybooks - Kudos for actually launching something. Done is better than perfect. Now on with comments that actually help the project.
Writing copy is always a pain - I still have issues with grammar and spelling, however my code is flawless :) It's a pain to proofread when you're heavily invested in the code.
The presentation is neat and clean. Until you get buzz that will do the explaining for you, it's best to put something on the front page for those who don't get what you have already. It feels intimate because you have to be in the know to have a good gist of what it does. However, it's all about your audience.
I like UI but for users with IE or older browsers, your dependence on HTML5 and CSS3 might pose a problem with adoption. Always have graceful fallback.
The images you're loading are sized way too large and take time to load. Kill the image sizes at 1080P and let responsive CSS do the rest. Faster load times and better presentation.
On the landing page or about page - show an actual example of what the daybook entry looks like. Is there a link or a screenshot?
It looks promising - is this public or private posting?
In response to everyone else who commented, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, and I will be sure to update the page accordingly, i.e (copy, landing page, ssl, clearer publish button, demo, etc). I apologize for not commenting earlier, but being HN was not allowing me to comment at my usual speed, that and I was taking a history exam. Anyway, thanks for looking at the site, I hope in the next update will shed more insight as to what daybook can do.
The app was more of scratching personal itch
By the way, the green button says "Publish post", reaffirming my intuition... that it's just a blog, all along?
the intimacy of a book
But I had to be curious enough about why Daybook was a highly rated Show HN to get past my first reaction. The
All your email are belong to us.
Why would I use it? If Daybook is for writers sell it that way. If it's more social media then pitch it that way. If it's a journal then pitch that. If it's all these things then come up with some sensible stories illustrating why a social media mavens would want an intimate journal.
Big suggestion. Make the writing/journaling tool standalone and make the product social media tooling and hosting. This better addresses the issue of what happens if Daybook becomes abandonware. Let me run the basis without shooting my intimate thoughts onto your server...unless I see a benefit from it.
Giving away the tool and monetizing the platform means the tool has to be good for writing and journaling But if it isn't a pure SaaS is dead anyway.
Good luck.
- The publish post button is weird though because I don't know what you mean by publish, is it being published to the public? Published as in like it's a finished entry?