

Ask HN: Rate My App (Bingo Card Creator, Now With Extra AJAX) - patio11

Hideho everybody.  I know it is a weeeee bit off the beaten path of the type of applications we usually see here, but I thought I'd see if you guys had any comments on my summer project.<p>http://staging.bingocardcreator.com<p>Click on either the "Use Online" or "sign up free" to try the web version.
======
patio11
Clickable: <http://staging.bingocardcreator.com>

What is it: Bingo Card Creator is desktop software (written in Java swing) I
wrote three years ago that, well, makes bingo cards. It is mostly used by very
non-technical teachers and parents -- something on the order of 1,800 paying
customers and about 100k free trials floating around out there.

What is new: While this app was a very good choice for desktopification 3
years ago, these days I thought I have both the skills and the OSS libraries
to actually make a fair go of webifying it. So I thought I'd try making a
version in Rails.

Feature-wise the desktop version is still superior but I think the ease of use
of the web app is fairly compelling. (Your comments are appreciated.) As of
the next release of the desktop version it will feature integration with the
web app (allowing people to, e.g., save their cards on my server so they can
move them between computers, etc). That feature is not demoable today.

Things that I rather like about the web version:

1) Live preview on card editing. (Prototype + Prawn + ImageMagick if you were
wondering.)

2) Guest logins, with an "upsell" while you're waiting for cards to print.
(Not a feature I would have included normally, but HN has convinced me of the
utility.)

3) Copious backend analytics.

4) Time from front page to bingo cards coming out of printer: less than 30
seconds.

N.B. This is not the production system, since I want to do some tighter
integration with the rest of my site and a bit of load testing prior to
launch. Anything you do will eventually be wiped.

------
systemtrigger
I think you've manifested nicely a good business idea. I tried the web version
as well as the Mac download and although I didn't send anything to a printer
the Print Preview in each case looked functional. I like how in both versions
you: de-dupe the word list, give the user a Cards Per Page option, and make
the center square and game title customizable.

One small observation I have about the web version is that in Step 1 the
"words you've added" section felt a little redundant. The user already sees a
nice preview of the Bingo card as it is being updated. So each word the user
adds to the card eventually appears on the screen three times. Since the Bingo
card updates lag the "words you've added" updates the resulting user
experience is a little confusing. But functionally everything I tried in this
step worked, so good job on the word-lists controller - methods new (post) and
edit (put) handled my mistakes (e.g., too few words) flawlessly.

Steps 2 and 3 in the web version made sense and the resulting pdf I downloaded
looked great. You make a decent case for registering during step 3. At first I
didn't understand the line "use 604 bingo activities any time you want to" but
I soon realized that's a reference to your library of premade cards, which I
tried and thought was a super feature.

When you introduce this web version into the home screen layout, you might
want to pump it as the #1 option above the PC and Mac versions. Otherwise it
might be too confusing because while the copy on your site is well-written
it's pretty verbose. I would want to abstract out some of your sales pitch and
whittle down the benefits - although this is maybe personal taste. As you
iterate you might try to get the "a picture is worth a thousand words"
screenshots higher in the flow. Also you should update those screenshots
because the end result today looks significantly better than your images. That
may be affecting your conversion.

As I understand you, the sole reason for purchasing a license is to remove the
watermark and footnote. I notice however that neither the watermark nor the
footnote seeps into the Bingo card. Since people are already using a scissors
or a paper cutter to trim the (multiple cards per page) hardcopy it seems
trivial for them to also crop away your branding. Assuming it's technically
feasible I might inconvenience the nonpayers a bit more by positioning my
watermark directly on the cards. But I see you have 1,800 paying customers -
so it is me who should be asking you for suggestions.

~~~
patio11
Thanks for the comments.

 _the "words you've added" section felt a little redundant._

While this is subtle, it is alphabetized to give teachers a quick way to
figure out whether they've missed something. The downloadable version doesn't
need it because the combo box is alphabetized automatically.

 _As you iterate you might try to get the "a picture is worth a thousand
words" screenshots higher in the flow._

I have A/B tested this one extensively. Having it is better than not but the
other text is more important. However, I'll be taking the occasion to do some
major copy rewrites, so I might be in a testing mood again soon.

 _As I understand you, the sole reason for purchasing a license is to remove
the watermark and footnote._

You may not have noticed the 15 card print limit in the trial version. That is
the overwhelming reason people purchase. The watermark and footnote are
actually unique to the web version (implementing them in Java was hellacious
so I stopped trying). 15 cards was chosen to segment the market such that
parents with blogs would spread the software for free but teachers with
classes couldn't get a lesson out of it without paying.

------
gaford
I'd suggest less text and more big bright green buttons. It may seem
ridiculous, but people just don't read instructions. They'll avoid text like
the plague until they aren't sure what they need to do, then frantically scan.
Then give up.

I'd also widen the width of the page - fullscreen gives more space for
communicating and will help your app feel more professional.

------
wmblaettler
I've enjoyed your transparency with sales figures for your downloadable app, I
hope you continue the service for this new online version.

I would like to add that some UI polishing would make this quite nice. More
prominent call to action pushing the online version, too.

------
keltecp11
You should find a UI guy, but I like the concept... a lot

~~~
patio11
Thanks. My UI guy and I are sitting down together on Saturday. "Pretty" has
never been my forte, so I pay other people to do it for me.

