[graham_king_3]

People who know seem excited about this, so I spent two minutes following links. I still have no idea what ifttt is.

This would help:

- Change the tagline from "Put the Internet to work for you" to something more descriptive.

- Have a prominent "About" link on the blog. Write an About page, or better put some content on your home page.

[johns]

I'll work on getting better info on the blog. In the mean time, here's our about page http://ifttt.com/wtf

[dpres]

When I saw "If this then that" I instantly knew what IFTTT was. However, when showing it to people I noticed they "got it" after seeing the recipe "If the forecast calls for rain tomorrow, send me an SMS message."

BTW, really really cool!

[planetguy]

Even that needs a lot of work.

Okay, so I can create "connections" on an "if this then that" basis. I need more examples of the sorts of thises and thats that I can use as input and output, though. Like, apparently I can control my home appliances? And... what else?

[dandelany]

Really? The second heading on the page clearly gives five examples with an obvious link to 46 more.

[CGamesPlay]

Why do I need another website to do Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Email, or Weather? I already have apps that do whatever it is those things are.

No, the page in question does have 1 really good example, the if Instagram then Dropbox example. I think the homepage of IFTT would benefit from a nice animation where the "this" and "then" options cycle through various options. It would show how any tigger can be combined with any action and highlight a few of the good use cases.

[sp332]

Try the "Browse" link at the top to see recipes other people have made. http://ifttt.com/recipes

[mitjak]

And what's with all the MASSIVE FONT?

[dredmorbius]

SRSLY.

I have a highly hacked local user CSS stylesheet to get around the problem of small fonts on too many sites. I rarely have to resize pages, but this one was actually too big.

Something of a novel problem.

[dredmorbius]

Dittos.

And generally my #1 rant about any given tool / webservice / product / etc.

Tell me. In language a five year old would understand. What the fuck your gizmo does for me. What problem does it solve / address?

Prominently on your homepage / project page / blog / manpage / help/about page. Whatever.

That is all.

[ThomPete]

I don't think any of that would help. Right now, either you get the concept or you don't.

Further down the line when "normal" people will be adopting this (they will) then the recipes will be the primary selling point IMHO.

Just tak a look at a few of those and you should "get" what it's about.

[jlarocco]

I don't think the problem is he doesn't "get" the concept.

The problem is that the site doesn't even say what the concept is.

[ThomPete]

I have been using it from the beginning where the concept was even more vague.

I think you either get it or you don't. Apply whatever abstraction of "get" as you want.

There isn't that much to get really. If you are a programmer if this then that should kind of tell it all.

I am not a programmer (but know how to program a little) and I had no problem "getting" it. I don't believe developers dont get this.

[sirclueless]

I don't think you're "getting" their argument. The point isn't that they are incapable of understanding IFTTT. The point is that there is an entire blog post about integrating IFTTT with devices, with no description of what IFTTT is.

Reading the brief description on the About page or playing with the site for 2 minutes would solve this, but neither of those things are discoverable from the blog post.

[ThomPete]

I think I am getting their argument and I find it to be missing the point.

A blog in this context seems more to be used to tell people about where in the process a given company, service, product is.

If you are reading the blog there is a big chance that you "get" the product already.

Anyway. It's not my business. And I agree they could have an about up. But it seems to be a problem way down on the priority list. That's just my opinion of course.

[mark-r]

There are many ways to get to a blog page - Google for one, Hacker News for another. You really need some way to put it into context. Why lose the opportunity to introduce another potential user to your service?

[onetwothreefour]

IFTTT will never catch on with "normal" people because as cool as the tech might be it's a Internet-geek power user feature.

Someone might buy the company to offer as part of a home automation type product, but that's about it.

[ThomPete]

I think you are underestimating the potential of IFTTT to become a sort of protocol for many different things among other home automation and for others to build apps on.

[jedahan]

maybe having the learn more content just be below the tagline instead of having to click a link. friction.