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by huem0n 603 days ago
I've felt your exact pain: I can only give normal people spreadsheets, because they don't know how to interact with any other data structure. It's a serious problem.

I'm super impressed. I love the names (text not string) and extra fields (like the multiple choice and tensor). But I'm a bit concerned about the complexity. Don't answer these, I figured it out, but this is how it felt: how do I make an array (numbered list) vs a named list (object)? I didn't realize the intro document itself was, well, a document. I was thinking it was a typical website with a sidebar. Script, whiteboard, simulator (??) I though json was just a hierarchy. Schema, Interface, raw data, json. Its a lot of jargon. Is a document a type of json object? Is there a fundamental difference between whiteboard file and a document file? Is a whiteboard a type of document? Can a document be a field in a document? When editing an item, do I need to fill out the interface, methods, snapshot, etc. Where is the save/submit button? (I known their isn't one, but I kinda expect a "I'm adding a new field, okay I'm done adding it and want to go back to a table-of–contents view") I think the UI needs to answer these because it feels overwhelming). You probably even explain it in text somewhere, but let's be real; IRL people aren't going to read the docs.

Good news is, I think its easy fixes; hide the templates the first time someone is making something (only let them make a doc). Hide the methods, snapshots, etc too. Wait till they've done some stuff. Change the "x" button to "save" even though its not really saving.

The windowing system is really impressive, and I've always loved the detached tables of MacOS's spreadsheets. But at the moment I think it adds to the overwhelming feeling.

Don't let my criticisms weigh you down though! I would've been happy if this had 1/10th of the features.

1 comments

Many thanks for your feedback, very useful !

Yes you are right, the complexity at first sight is a problem. The onboarding journey should be clearer, and indeed there is too much jargon to digest before you can really start. That's also probably because it's more the basis of a framework than a concrete product to use as is (hence the rather detailed but probably too long documentation). All the fixes you mentioned would clearly improve this first impression. Thanks !

As the basis for framework I think its amazing. It has everything I would've ever wanted and more.

Even though I critiqued the UX, the UI itself is incredibly polished. Which is a a pretty big deal for a framework. Its also pretty rare for me to see that in hackernews UI demos.

In terms of being/not-being a product; really, the most exciting part (for me) would be having (just) the doc-editor as a web component. I'll ask in a separate reply about that since others might want to know.

OK, thanks for your words !