Tell me exactly what this does, please?
582 karma · joined August 15, 2010
中文OK!
full disc: This app is the work of a friend.
If you want to be fit, start exercising--a nice way to get started is to truly understand that any kind of exercise is very much better than doing nothing.
It might not be as interesting on face as game design, but it can be really rewarding when you get it right.
edit: and quora is an example of extreme attention to detail enabling a really great site to flourish.
1. Hint text. Good point. That implementation definitely sounds more useable, and of course, there's a jQuery plugin for it :)
2. There's no explicit way to merge groups, because it sounded like more of a hassle than it was worth. What do you think of avoiding the problem in the first place by suggesting existing groups as the user types in a group name to be created?
3. Separate add link button: good point. changing this.
4. Video: lets forget it. I've never done anything involving video uploading, and once I had a look at what a hassle it is to do, I don't think it's worth it for the amount of our users that will actually use it.
5. Step editor. Yes, also a good point. CKeditor seems perfect.
6. the importance of border-radii: cannot be underestimated. the PDF is supposed to be a bit more than wireframes, but is not intended to be that high-level of a design.
7. Captcha vs. email verification. I did think about this one a bit. I personally hate email verification more than I hate captchas, but is there some other reason to prefer one over the other?
8. ban user is about as useful as video uploads, and is probably not worth the hassle it entails. lets cut this.
9. early on, many of the people who've expressed interest in the site wanted to use it in non-english speaking settings. since there is no "settings" page yet (not enough settings to make it worth having one) the languages selector goes on the top menu rather than inside a settings section. Changing it at the very least changes the language of the UI (assuming this isn't too difficult) but could also change which protocols are shown (this sounds much harder.) Not an essential launch feature, on reflection.
10. The blog is just a link to a posterous/tumblr/whatever, for now.
11. The last page has a crude data structure diagram, but i'll add the users into it.
12. DIY bio page: That is a group page. The different headings on the page are categories within a group. I'll put this into the data model as an example.
We'd absolutely love to talk more about this stuff with someone else who's as interested in the problem as we are! Please do get in touch--email in the ad.
As for the type of protocol, since the site is oriented around user-moderated groups, we're absolutely down with any kinds of protocol our users are interested in.
example: starbucks in Beijing used to just be a WEP'd wireless connection, you buy a cup of coffee and they give you the password, allowing you to go online for as long as you want. Now, you go online and are redirected to a horrifically buggy interface that requires you to input a China Mobile cell #, at which pt they will send you the login information as a text msg to your phone. All sorts of whack limitations (4hrs max, if you get d/c'd you can only log back on 3x and you get dc'd frequently...)
It seems to me that this is very likely a decree from the govt, since wifi access tied to phone #'s is much less worrisome to them than anonymous wifi. could just be a money grab by china mobile though. in any case, I would imagine that these municipal spots will also use the phone # verification system, which totally undermines their usefulness.
1. there is beginning to be a serious proliferation of DIY science centers at least in the field of synthetic biology (those guys are capable of doing anything from biochem to cell bio, so they could work on these jobs.) you guys are in a good spot to take advantage of this growing network!
2. the name is just not going to fly. period. change it.
3. my first thought is "bullshit" when i read this, so your first page should basically be a testmonial: the most legit sounding scientist you can find saying how awesome his experience with your thing was. i know you're in beta and you can't do this yet, but remember you will be battling for legitimacy in a notoriously conservative community.
4. a question: what kind of thing do you see people getting done on this site? a certain category of experiments in my field (sequencing, synthesis, etc.) are already commoditized. are you aiming for somewhat more complicated stuff? make it clear.
more evidence in the 'amazon knows what they are doing' file.
youku and tudou and all the other youtube-likes are essentially unusable in the US. partially intentional to avoid copyright trouble for the companies involved, however they have set up servers abroad to cater to countries with large overseas-chinese populations.
1. Speaking from experience and with expertise as opposed to random analytical arguments that may or may not be true.
2. Holds back very little, tons of useful and concrete advice.
3. Not common sense, lots of insight that leaves you thinking "wow, yeah."
This is the kind of article that makes HN a great place.