

Show HN: my weekend+2d project: Web hosting for Dropbox - iradik
http://webcache.80cols.com

======
nicksergeant
I honestly have no idea what this is. If I didn't find this via HN, I'd
immediately assume it was some scam for phishing Dropbox accounts. You need
some information here about what this thing does.

~~~
nicksergeant
Reading the comments below, I see that you're well aware of this. I would
suggest just adding a single huge sentence at the top of the page that says
"by you giving us X information, this web app will do Y". No need for fancy
graphics, slogans, etc, just something simple that explains what it does, in a
short, effective sentence.

~~~
iradik
Yeah that's a great point. I added such a sentence. The site you visit is
actually located on my Dropbox so nice and easy to edit.

I mean I basically made this because I wanted to start making a old school
type of personal web site (80cols.com) and didn't want to have to scup files
all over the place. I also didn't want to use an existing blogging platform.
The major disadvantage is you can't run script or anything, but it's great for
serving static content. I mean I could basically load gigs of videos and
photos and just share them with the world if I wanted.

I need to do more, but at least now I know there's interest. I didn't even
know that before launching.

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ftwinnovations
iradik, now that I've read your explanation in the comments below I want to
say I love the concept. A very cool way to almost instantly throw a site
online and update from anywhere.

Of course I have to agree with everyone saying "what the heck" based on the
homepage. Maybe just add a "what does this do?" section to start, and be sure
to describe what fields like "subdomian" actually are for.

The other major hurtle here I think is simply fear of having our Dropbox data
or account stolen in some way. I'm not claiming that is in any way what you
are doing, but it's a natural immediate thought, particularly for this techie
security focused audience I suppose.

Either way, I really do love the idea. You might want to fix up the homepage
and see if the MVP gets some traction.

~~~
iradik
Dropbox has two modes: APP_FOLDER and DROPBOX. APP_FOLDER just creates a
sandbox and does not give me permission to all your Dropbox data. I would
never want access to such a thing on a server that's publicly visible.

The Dropbox authentication screen says: "This app will create a folder named
webcache in your Dropbox. The app will only have access to this folder." But
yeah you have no idea what's going to happen when you click that grey Submit
button.

I agree the lack of polish makes it look spammy. Maybe some rounded corners
and bubbly clouds would make it more trust-worthy. Along with an invitation to
come over my house and have a beer.

~~~
asmosoinio
If found this intimidating on the first read: "By you giving us a subdomain
and ...".

I don't want to give you a subdomain! How about "Enter the subdomain name you
want:". Or something.

~~~
iradik
yes i'm realizing there's nearly nothing approachable about this ui as simple
as it may be. glad hacker news visitors are so friendly and giving such great
feedback. i really appreciate it.

i'm also seeing lots of errors in the server due to authentication reasons,
clearly i have some learning to do in terms of how oauth actually works.

~~~
iradik
yay found the oauth bug! I hadn't learned oauth, but now I have.

------
udp
What's the advantage over the Dropbox "Public" folder?

~~~
iradik
You can use your own domain. It's not advertised but if you enter
xyz.yourdomain.org and point a CNAME to 80cols.com it will host it for you.

It's faster, supports index.html, and directories. I've found public links to
be slow. Additionally it's extensible because it's running on an http core I
can modify.

------
moustachio
Hi iradik.

I put together a 5 minute review of your software specifically looking at the
usability of it.

I hope you find this useful.

[http://moustach.io/welcome/e/reviewed/Ewoo6m26d19Cm5fj7zr6wL...](http://moustach.io/welcome/e/reviewed/Ewoo6m26d19Cm5fj7zr6wLJs5xa9OVhr/MUwzQ9et32ZtUGmjdgrvxg)

------
moustachioapp
Hello again iradik.

I've put together a second review of your updated app. Again, I hope you find
this useful.

[http://moustach.io/welcome/e/reviewed/Ewoo6m26d19Cm5fj7zr6wL...](http://moustach.io/welcome/e/reviewed/Ewoo6m26d19Cm5fj7zr6wLJs5xa9OVhr/90nndgK2FbwTeySSIDuwIA)

------
wonjun
there is no way to deactivate

~~~
iradik
You can delete the folder, but I agree there are no settings and no login. In
fact there isn't even a database, which is a problem if I have to restart the
server. I am pretty sure I can easily reconstruct from the logs though.

You can email me, not a great solution I know. You can revoke access in your
Dropbox account.

------
tectonic
You need a paragraph explaining what this is.

~~~
iradik
ok updated.. this is what site originally looked like:
<http://webcache.80cols.com/orig.html> for comparison.

~~~
tectonic
Much better!

------
iradik
i learned plenty making this. varnish, httpcore, and the dropbox apis are all
very cool.

though clearly i need to learn how to make an effective landing page, because
no one who is visiting actually trying this service.

~~~
mashmac2
It's not clear what we're doing on the landing page.

What is the subdomain? A subdomain of your domain? I'm assuming that, but I
don't know...

What will happen when we connect our dropbox? Is that even what the submit
button does?

Just some thoughts... great work otherwise!

~~~
dangrossman
iradik replied to your comment but his reply is [dead], FYI.

~~~
iradik
Why is it dead?

~~~
pg
You submitted two identical comments. When that happens the second is
automatically killed. But meanwhile you noticed and deleted the first. I just
unkilled the second.

------
tszming
Do you cache the file on your server? Or just fetch from Dropbox every-time?

~~~
iradik
It's cached on my server using varnish <http://varnish-cache.org>, which uses
LRU caching with ttls. A very cool open source web caching project. I use a
configuration very similar to media wiki where I set long ttls and then have
the backend send a PURGE http message followed by a GET to varnish when a file
is updated to refresh the cache.

~~~
judofyr
I've point briefly looked at the Dropbox API, but couldn't figure it out; how
do you detect when a file has changed?

~~~
iradik
There is no push api or list of changes at this point. You can check each
directory to see if it's changed... by passing a hash to the metadata
function. It will tell you if the directory has been modified in any way.

------
MichaelApproved
What are you doing to prevent this from being abused by spammers?

~~~
iradik
Nothing. It's a great question though. What do normal web hosts do to prevent
such things? I suppose I would have to do something similar.

