
Show HN: Serverless Page Builder - hopeful2
https://goandtalk.github.io
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o_____________o
By serverless it looks like you mean literally in-browser and not the usual
microservice nomenclature, yes?

I like "Go and Talk" as a phrase but think it will lead to some confusion
amongst technically literate people. I assumed your platform was built around
the language Go (and something else) at first, which I assumed was running as
a microservice.

~~~
extra88
Yes, they might do more to make it distinctive, writing it as Go-and-Talk or
conistently using a particular color and font.

The "Play Slides" buttons don't seem to do anything but left and right arrow
keys will navigate through the page sections presented as slides.

Actually trying it is a scavenger hunt: go to the footer on a page and click
the gray-on-black "Edit" link.

~~~
hopeful2
Thank you for your time, and for discovering the edit link at the bottom of
the page. The link submitted should really be
[https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html](https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html)
for people to try the editor (possibly on tablets and mobile phones) and
provide feedback.

"Play Slides" button does not navigate the sections, and a proper label should
be "View as Slides". Clicking this button will create or destroy the slide
instance, and thus enable/disable navigation by left and right arrow keys (or
swiping on mobile devices).

------
ben509
After poking around your page for a while, as someone mentioned, it's a
scavenger hunt to actually find out how to use it.

You _really_ need to rework those tutorials.

I'd honestly scrap most of them and write a user guide in narrative form. I
know your product is aimed generating, essentially, slideshows, but that's a
terrible way to present user documentation.

Some of them are indicative of poor design: under Overview, you write "Finding
Toolbars", and we need to know this because they're "At Top and Left, Out of
View Initially."

Don't hide the toolbars and you don't need to tell me where to find them.

You have an entire slide "The State of Section Application" explaining how an
on-off button works.

If you have to explain it, just explain it in the UI:

    
    
        App is Off. [Start up.]
        App is On. [Shut down.]
    

"Starting a new site" \-- It looks like you just copied random stuff from
another page. (Or is someone playing with the app and editing your site?)

~~~
hopeful2
Thank you indeed for your comments. My intention was to get feedback on the
editor itself. Your comment on the tutorials (demos) is actually a bonus to
us. We will rename the menu item to demo and write separate tutorials and
documentation in narrative form as you suggested. The purpose of some sections
is to demonstrate site wide section, and may not be in logical order in the
demo.

The demos are talking points when we provide training to the end users. They
can edit the sections and remember a thing or two while they practice. The
meaningful words and phrases are better than ipsum lorem.

The comments on toolbar are good points too. We have recently changed the
workflow for users to edit their content on their own website, on an editable
page (index.goandmake.html) next to the published page (index.html). They can
navigate to a page and edit. This makes oauth2 integration much harder, but is
more intuitive than loading and editing data of a separate domain. so the
toolbar can be visible by default, and hidden after user clicks a button. we
are going to act on this. It is good you noticed it and brought it up.

Highly appreciate your inputs.

~~~
ben509
Thanks! Best of luck with your project!

------
kevsim
Looks like a good start!

One comment though - if I correctly understand how you’re using “serverless”
in this case (which I believe is literal - the whole thing resides in the
browser), isn’t this just an implementation detail? It’s great for you since
you have no infrastructure cost, but should your users care?

My apologies if I’m missing the point.

~~~
hopeful2
I used the term "serverless" as people here are mostly developers and already
know this term. The page builder is part of the serverless web publishing
solution. It can generate website themes with editable pages, each theme in a
separate repository. People can import/upload the repository, navigate to the
page to edit, and make a website quickly. This is an example work-in-progress
theme [https://toffee-and-
coffee.gitlab.io/index.goandmake.html](https://toffee-and-
coffee.gitlab.io/index.goandmake.html). It is ready for people to play with
too.

For end users we show how simple and easy it is, and we do not emphasize on
"serverless". End users do not care. They may not even know what is a server
or database. But people do love simple and easy ways.

When we talk to potential users, one of the first questions is "how to install
it"? They are amused by the idea to start editing without installation.

One of our users runs her own online retail business in addition to looking
after school age children. She has been hoping for a website to show her
products since 10 years ago, and is quite excited about being able to edit
something on the phone when she has spare time. She has a laptop but has
hardly anytime to use it during the day.

For people always on the go like her who have little access to a
desktop/laptop computer, the serverless page builder is a great convenience.
People can edit, preview result, even without internet connection. When the
page is done, just upload and publish, even from a phone.

Most static site generators won't run on a phone. The page builder does.

------
hopeful2
It is too late to edit the link now. The link submitted should really be
[https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html](https://builder.goandmake.app/index.goandmake.html)
for people to try out the editor and provide feedback. I am particularly
interested in whether it works on tablets and smart phones.

