

Ask HN: Review my startup: http://sparkwall.me - JohanE

Hi All, <p>Just released our private beta of Sparkwall and we would love to hear your feedback! <p>Sparkwall is a visual collaboration tool that helps remote dev and creative teams communicate by sharing designs in real time. 
The app is built on node.js, socket.io and MongoDB using Amazon EC2 and S3 for hosting and storage.<p>Some of our features:
- Upload files through drag-and-drop
- Support for 300 different image formats
- Write text and draw freely. 
- 16000x9000px work space
- Point with your mouse, and ppl can see it in real-time &#60;-- I like this feature :)<p> We are currently running on Firefox 4 and Chrome 8+ (Other browsers will be supported shortly)<p>Invitation Code: HACKERNEWS
Sign up: http://sparkwall.me<p>Thanks<p>Johan Ekhager
Co-founder / CTO <p>http://sparkwall.me
======
JohanE
Link: <http://sparkwall.me>

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dangrossman
I recall something exactly like this on HN a few weeks ago, public with a
unique URL for each wall, except it didn't have shared mouse pointers. What
was that post?

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JohanE
Interesting. Couldn't find any post of it. If someone remember the name or
post, please reply here. Good to know about similar products. :)

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dangrossman
Here it is:

<http://corkboard.me/Ix1gsxLPuz>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2486982>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1962554>

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JohanE
Oh, thanks alot! Will check it out.

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swanson
Are you using node.js for the whole stack? Or is there a Rails app running
alongside for doing user accounts, payments, the marketing site/landing page
etc?

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JohanE
It's all built on node.js. We used rails before to handle user accounts and
static pages but realized we could make it all with node.js and MongoDB
instead with some cool template language. :)

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swanson
Are you using a library for the user stuff in mongo/node, if you don't mind me
asking? I haven't found anything that seems better than devise/cancan.

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JohanE
We've built a lot on our own. Maybe Senchalabs Connect can help you, otherwise
check <https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/modules>. Don't know if it's better
than devise/cancan though.

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Omni5cience
Devise and Cancan are User Authentication middleware for Rails

Check out <https://github.com/ciaranj/connect-auth> I can't vouch for the
effectiveness, but it seems to be under active development.

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ffumarola
I like it. Good MVP. I could see my ecommerce company using it.

What features are you planning on rolling out?

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JohanE
Thanks! Just curious, how do you think you would use it? New features are
coming, support for safari, IE9, iPad/iPhone and Android and then make current
functionality smarter and better. We will also listen to users so they can say
what they want us to focus on.

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ffumarola
Our designers frequently mock up designs for new features / versions of the
site. They then get email responses that say X,Y, and Z (multiple times from
different people). Sometimes they get conflicting X-1 and X-2.

With this I could see them sharing the wall with everyone and then getting
collaborative feedback from all of the stakeholders.

What features specifically are you implementing? I would like undo, redo, step
backward, step forward, and a better way to manage text.

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anselmo_silva
An absolutely thumbs up for the idea behind. It looks so well executed on a
beautiful refined layout. Success.

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JohanE
Thanks for those warming words! :) Invite your friends/co-workers! And if you
want to give more feedback, contact me at johan@sparkwall.me. //Johan

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instakill
Looks good. The creative team at our digital agency love it.

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JohanE
Thanks! Would be great to hear their thoughts aswell, if you don't mind.

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Omni5cience
I'm curious if you were inspired by Jef Raskin and the ZUI

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amourgh
i need an invite code to sign up could u send me please one :
amourgh@gmail.com

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JohanE
You're invited!

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joezhou
amazing! Google docs watch out this is way cooler

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JohanE
Thanks! :) Any other thoughts about the funtionality?

