Still Wanted: HTML/Front end programmer for a small project/task | Hacker News Reader

Still Wanted: HTML/Front end programmer for a small project/task

8 pointsColinWright9 comments

I submitted this earlier but it got no votes and no replies, I thought I'd give it one more shot.

I need someone to code the following:

* Given a collection of "nodes" which contain text, and

* given a collection of pairs of nodes indicating arrows,

* draw the network with dynamic layout, such that

* the user can

* * drag nodes around,

* * pin nodes in place, and

* * the network adapts its layout.

I have a specific use in mind and would describe the objective. The programmer/designer would have a free hand to meet the agreed objective.

So:

* How long "should" such a thing take?

* What tools would you use?

* How much would you charge?

* How formal would you want the spec to be?

* How formal would you want the paperwork to be?

Feel free to email me, web site in my profile, email address available through the web site. I'd be interested in seeing the discussion as to why people might think this is a completely ridiculous task specification.

Thanks!

Since no one else is respond to this post, I will offer some very quick advice.

Firstly, what you are suggestion is very doable. You might want to look at Jquery UI draggable elements https://jqueryui.com/draggable/#scroll. There is nothing technically challenging about this concept.

Secondly, your specification is too vague for anyone to actually build. Programming is an exact art since the computer is the most unforgiving thing to work with (computer = fast + stupid). I would suggest that you work with a UI/UX (user interface/ user experience) person to refine your specifications. It would be helpful if the UI/UX person has some experience with programming to validate your concept and turn the idea into build-able specs.

Usually programmers work with UI/UX designers (and sometimes visual designers and marketers) to vet out the concept before starting to work on the code. The reason for this is that coding is a big investment in time and just the slightest change can have profound effects on the underlying code because fairly simple things can turn out to be very complex when you factor in everything.

The way that you have your description right now, most competent programmer would not be interested in this project because there seems to be a big gap between what you want and what you know from the technical perspective. My advice is to narrow this gap by enlisting the help of a UI/UX designer first.

I'd say with these basic requirements the two elements that should have a formal specification is what exactly you expect things to look like (as that may eliminate some already existing libraries for this task) and what you mean when you say "the network adapts its layout". If you don't have specifics in mind for either of these two items, then there could be a lot of work going back and forth trying to figure out what the end goal actually is.

I'd say it would be good to know what libraries might get used in this sort of application and a quick search get's a few lists of them pretty easily (e.g. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7034/graph-visualization-... )

This type of post isn't going to get much traction on HN. Check out http://www.reddit.com/r/forhire for finding someone.

I wonder if D3 (https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Gallery) would be good for this?

I think I did something somewhat similar: http://magako.com/exercise/fractions/eng

Unlike what you want, the nodes are not graphically connected, but somehow it can change itself. As dqdo said, I used Jquery UI draggable elements to do it.

Thanks for the replies. The responses so far both here and in emails have been useful and helpful - thank you. The emails will get direct replies soon, and I'll summarize here what's going on later, probably in 24 hours or so. I want to give it time for everyone to ask their questions and I can answer them all in one go.

Cheers.

This spent less than 30 minutes on the "newest" page, I wonder how many people saw it. No responses, and falling fast. Is HN a good place to recruit partners or colleagues? Not this time, it would seem.

It will be high up in Ask for a while.

There's usually a "Seeking Freelancer" thread on the 1st of every month that might be worth posting to if you haven't gotten any response.

I think your "spec" is good enough for the right person to start asking questions, but it isn't good enough to complete the work.

Hah! I always forget about "Ask" - thanks for the reminder. It also explains why I'm still getting the occasional reply to an earlier question.

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