justjimmy

I am not a fan of infrared faucets - it completely strips away control from the user.

You can't dictate the amount of water - whether you want a trickle or a gush of water. You can't dictate if you just want to leave it on (for whatever reason) unless you leave your hands in that magical spot. O the magical spot, waving around your hands around the sink, feeling like a total idiot (not to mention learning the magical spot of different infrared faucets, since I'm seeing them in public restrooms and airports now), and if your hand leaves the beam for just a millisecond, the water shuts off, then you wave your soap covered hands around feeling like a bigger idiot.

Infrared is way too niche and 1 settings only.

Can't help but be reminded of a novel I read in university - Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth series). It wrote of similar theme (with a more focus on faith/religion), of how one must serve the greater good, humanity and the whim of his fellow men. Going down further, you go into the philosophical territory of individualism vs collectivism, how do you decide and balance your own moral ground, your 'selfish' needs and the needs of your neighbours.

Like what features?

It seems its a can of worms right now and the suitable fix seems to be removing the storage limit on shared folders (shared to those individuals who do not own the original folders being shared).

I'm curious, why don't the Company doesn't just share the folders with the Individual and revoke access to the shared folder when the Individual leaves?

You won't have to combine to the Personal / Team together.

And make it so that the shared folders doesn't count towards the Individual's account space limit.

Bam. Problem solved (?)

Since you asked:

I'd suggest removing all the 'complicated' layering effect and transparencies. Even hovers over the year links are creating transparencies on the article text. Just leave the article text area 100% opaque, lighten the background to improve contrast. I want to read easily and not off a weave basket.

There is a tad too much variation/combo of the colors used. You have red and grey (which is good) but you have a gazillion shades of it (not good) and you have them alternating roles, ie: red text, red box, grey text, grey box, dark grey text, dark grey box - tighten your color usage. Since your colors usage are everywhere, there's no accent color. (Like I can't tell which color is used to declare text links since all text colors can be text links)

The red is a very strong color - and since author box is in red, it's competing with the article for attention (the article should be the main focus. But it doesn't mean you should make the article box red.)

Move Date under Year (navigation) or move the year next to date - don't make the readers' eyes/brain work, trying to correlate the 2.

Don't show links that aren't clickable and will never have content. ie: Year 1999 etc. Just start from 2005.

Overall the page is super busy with its big range of color shades, layering with transparencies and confusing visual hierarchy/navigation.

"Based on the quality of the majority of the comments here it seems like most people opened it, saw the ugly design of the site which is only publishing her work (she didn't design it), made it a few paragraphs in, then ran back to comment about how articles like this are killing our profession, making them ill, or making them cry, or how she shouldn't be giving design advice."

Do you not see the irony?

We are visual creatures, we judge a book by its cover (and the only time we don't do that is if we know the author or it's recommended to us) That site reminded me of Geocities (though not as bad), I'm already put off from reading it. That was my first impression. But with so many comments, I forced myself to read through it.

With a bad taste in the reader's mouth, they start off immediately with a negative impression, which could explain why a lot of negative comments.

My issue is that the author thinks half an hour is sufficient enough to make a their site look 'half-decent' or make it non-boot strap like. As a non-designer, it's not that easy. Her points are valid though, just a lil optimistic with the time.

Another easy way to make it non boot strap like is get rid of the gradient on the buttons. Go flat with a border, ala Google Style.

Does it still compresses the photos on the iPad? Cause that's the only thing holding me back from subscribing.

I think one of the most important differentiation of a traditional company vs 'startup' company is the culture. And in order to understand the culture, you'd have to research each individual company, which this service doesn't seem to offer.

The students may be better served if there was a list of tags/terms for the all the companies so the students can go through them and check/tick the ones they want to apply to. Shotgun mass spam doesn't ensure a cultural fit.

(Should +100 (for how many people in the company) even be an option? Is a company still a startup at that point?)

The biggest surprise was the 5% increase for breaking the steps - seems little - when compared to the copy and imagery change (massive 19% and 21%).

That's kinda insane! Love the report, thanks.

Please remove the Facebook, Mailchimp etc logos. It really leaves a bad taste - it's a practice to show those on a landing when either the companies whose logo are featured, are using this product/service or have said something positive about it.

But after reading the line below it, it's just a mis-direction, felt almost cheated. I'd highly recommend removing it.

I never design an interface without checking with the developers I work with. Is this possible? What's the time frame? How hard would it be to iterate? Can we do this nifty slide and layering action?

Then check with the product team/manager - is it worth it? Do we have the time/resources for the extra level of 'coolness'?

Then check with the DB/Backend guys - would this flow work, these values, these sort orders, creating of these groups, how does it fit with legacy entries?

Then check with the test users with interactive mock ups/wireframes - does it fit together? Does it flow? Are there confusion anywhere in the sign up process? I see you are entering this ridiculously long user name that is going to break the design? No, don't go ther - back to the drawing board.

If you have OCD like me and your math is off (ie trying to retain a 1px border on both retina and non retina of a shape that consist of multiple strokes is just asking for trouble), you can spend ages tinkering. Luckily, and hopefully, non retina iOS will be phased out soon.

As you get better, you'll slowly learn to see ahead and anticipate all the moving parts but dang, it can be a tricky journey. Lots of learning to go for me.

ie: I've yet to come across a app that previews my mocks up to my iPhone nicely. ATM I'm using Box. Dropbox doesn't work cause they, for some reason, wants to destroy the file by compressing it while on a mobile device.

Oh god…the rewind on Paper.

Makes me want to punch myself cause it makes me feel so damn stupid when I can't get it to work. Then I'm stuck with more random scribble marks when the rewind fails.

Please, no rewind gesture unless a failed rewind doesn't activate other stuff. It's horrible to have a rewind feature where you can accidentally draw on your pad, causing more issues.

Other than that, decent article. (And the Paper app is awesome, just I hate the damn rewind function. It'd be so much better if it was like a slider like a video)

Of couse there is an incentive for me to comment here on HN.

1. It's a community, there's give & take. Who knows one day I may need HN's help. I want to be treated the same way others treat me - golden rule.

2. This place is full of smart people. I'd listen carefully to what everyone has to say. If it's just mass voting from randoms, it'll get nowhere. Hence my 4th point in the original comment.

3. Being part of the community, actively, builds connects and networks. If LaunchSky is going to be community oriented, I think that'd be a great avenue to explore.

So I'd disagree about how there's no incentive or reward for me to comment here.

Just to bounce ideas/brainstorm.

The issue is why would people come to this site to click 'I'd use this' or 'I support this'. (Ideas will flow in no problem, they're a dime a dozen.)

So we need to provide feedbackers with incentive.

1. Reward them? Oops…nothing to stop them going around and supporting them everything and game the reward system.

2. Reward them based on their choices (and limit their votes)? Nope…these are just ideas. There's no way you can tell if the idea will be successful even with enough support backers. Takes much longer to develop etc.

3. Give them the option to back good ideas (put their money where their mouth is)? Nope…then it's just Kickstarter.

4. Curate the people evaluating the apps. Gather some people that have skills and well informed about their field. Tech/Design/etc. Then you'll be able to get real feedback from those who knows what they're talking about. It's not a guaranteed hit/miss but I think the result would be better than mass voting from randoms.

I stand corrected. I remembered my situation was different - I had a diploma (3yrs) in design, instead of the common degree (4yrs), so I needed 3 years to make up the 1 missing year. My apologies~

To get a TN Visa you need 3 years work experience in the relavent field (there's a list) and it's on the whim of the agent you face.

1.5 years for me to go~ (currently in TO).

Awww yeah… the SFX, the MUSIC (Mechanical man is my fav) and the projectiles. Still my favorite RTS hands down.

Thanks for sharing!

EDIT: I actually searched Rdio for C&C music after seeing this post…was not disappointed!

"Make others come up with your idea. / The next time you struggle with getting people on board with your projects and ideas, simply tell them a story, where the outcome is that doing what you had in mind, is the best thing to do."

Sounds like Inception!

Ahh I see. I know some processor now forgo the requirement of addresses, eliminating alot of fields and barriers even more. It may take quite a while to get used (and feels scary too).

Cheers! After looking at it more (I don't have experience donating to political parties), I realized (I may be wrong) that alot of information are actually mandatory and affect your taxes(?) down the road. Was confused why all necessary info required, like addresses and employment information. (When I was think of 1 page, I was think just donation amount + CC # and CVV)

But I look forward to reading any numbers of before and after you share!

Would love to know more about the reasoning and discussion behind going from a 1 page process to 4 steps. (ie: The typical purchasing mindset vs. donation mind set)

It'll be interesting to see how they will handle scaling. Selling T-Shirts is easy - what happens when other factors come in? Neck sizes, different size standardization (UK vs US), measurements, units/scales, suits, pants, female vs male. It's a whole can of worms and there are startups dedicated just to solve this measurement issue for clothing.

Gonna snag it. Read about it over the summer, decided to wait for reviews, glad it popped back up again.

Note: Under 'What You Get', anyone know what's the difference between:

Free lifetime updates and bug fixes. vs Free upgrades for 1 year.

Your open Google doc is what persuaded me. I've always felt uncomfortable donating to charities - knowing well that my money may never go towards the cause they're touting, but on TV ads, expense accounts, PR Campaigns etc. While some argue it's operation costs but it's just not transparent enough.

Your easy to access and understand table really lifts the veil, as well as your clear separation of Donations going to the patients vs. Donations to the operating costs. I think people are definitely more willing to open their wallets knowing that 100% of the money go towards directly helping the patient.

Definitely suggest setting up a recurring payment option - while some people would love to help out continuously, they may not have the time to read each case (and then having to decide who to help) and come back once in a while(paradox of choice) - just take $100 bucks each month out of my account and let me know how that $100 was spent. Also give the option of deciding a % of the donation go towards operation and a % go towards the patient (like a slider style) so people don't have to feel compelled and work to donate in 2 flows.

And knowing that you guys may have a challenge of getting operation donations, offset it by giving us easy to add social widgets or just a simple graphic to add to our blogs and sites. I have no problem showing it next to my Dribbble and LinkedIn icons knowing that you guys have a really tight budget and may not have PR money. (I think free social advertising works better than those in your face PETA campaigns anyway. Makes us feel like we're directly helping out by displaying it on our sites :D)

Are you think of in situations (shooters) where you get like hit by a flashbang and your screen goes all blurry and shaky? That kind of blur? Or is the blur happening during just 'normal' firefight/gameplay all the time?

"Blurring simulates fluidity, sharpness simulates stuttering."

With a high FPS (in movies), each frame is less blurry, everything becomes sharper hence the 'uncanny' feeling.

And you can't compare video games and motion pictures - there's no blurring in video games at all. (Take a screenshot in them, compare and you'll see why)

Nice idea! What are other similar apps that did this? (Assuming you did research). I see bsaul did something similar but he used geolocation as sharing platform…interesting…

And why the restrictive color palette? To create the nostalgic effect of old video games?

Eh…wut?

Custom UI is common in most apps - this isn't a bootstrapped app or something quick and dirty. Why would they use the default/built-in/native UI design?

Now, if you meant it's foreign because of the design style, then you may have a point. iOS apps tend to designed with elements such as textures, gradients, drop shadows, inner glow/shadow etc. While Android tends to be flat and borderless.

There were parts where it definitely felt Android/Flat (icons), other parts felt iOSish (buttons).

The custom alerts were definitely a nice touch - don't see alot of apps with custom alerts. I didn't mind them - but some may not find it as impactful as a 'real' alert (it's like a warning usually comes in red, but it's now in blue. Just doesn't carry the same weight/feeling.)

Ryan has built businesses before Treehouse - ThinkVitamin and Carsonified for example. He knows the people, has the connections, the talent pool to pick from.

PG's YC (using YC since that's the case being used) are tend to be populated with fresh/younger people, who probably never ran a business prior to YC.

Not really fair to try and compare the two and draw conclusions that will blanket the other side of the argument.

Are you going to succeed right out of college as a single founder with your very first business? Probably not.

Would you succeed if you had decade of experience under your belt, built previous successful businesses, know the industry, know the players, and etc? Most likely.

Idea suggestion:

Freely distribute a PDF that has unique border patterns so when people use/print it out and use that paper, and proceed to take a photo, the program can detect the borders and auto zoom in/out so you end up with a nicely fitted screen shot on the phone. Then users never worry about getting the heigh/width ratio right or bother with the cropping step. And you get to plaster your branding all over the desk of those that uses it :)