

Show HN: FeedSnatch - A Reader for the Lazy. Tear it apart please. - ALM
http://feedsnatch.com

======
ALM
This is the first web app I've ever created. I decided to take the dive and
create something of my own. I'm really loving web development and I'm learning
so much so fast.

I want to get the honest constructive criticism of the folks here at HN as I
feel it would point out some weaknesses early in my game and help me grow as a
developer.

So please, tell me what you liked or tell me what could be improved.

~~~
neetij
My two bits: It's great that you're having fun developing apps. I can't say
much as to the robustness of the app. But, you should not discount the user
experience when developing an app.

What does the site do? Why is this easier/better/nicer than X/Y/Z? I have no
idea. What need or issue are you trying to address? Why should I use this over
other services?

A reader for the lazy would ideally do something like NewsBlur (which is
fabulous, BTW) and pick up my feeds from a competing service. Consider
providing an 'import from Google Reader' option. You're asking me to add sites
one by one, in a non-intuitive manner - if there's only one feed, just let me
click 'subscribe' - don't bother giving me a (non) choice.

I like that you're loading the actual site within your app. However, I have a
13" screen at 1280x800 and there's all sorts of scrolling required, which
makes for a messy experience. Gets worse when that lower frame is pulled up to
view the site. Design for multiple resolutions.

From a usability perspective, the site is confusing. I've spent more time
crafting this response than using the site because of this. I could possibly
click on things and see what they do, but that's 'risky' and not lazy. For
instance:

1\. What do the up & down arrows do?

2\. What does pull up mean?

3\. I clicked on a link in a feed and nothing happened. Oh no, this site
doesn't work! (If I hadn't scrolled down, I would not have realized the site
had loaded in the lower 'box', which I also had to then 'pull up'. This
process is not obvious or easy.) Consider an email inbox view - just titles to
click on, and full previews in lower 'box'.

4\. Keyboard shortcuts?

5\. Why is the default post count only 3? Once read, a post remains in my view
instead of minimizing itself. Infinite scrolling would be great to load more
posts.

6\. UI-wise, what happens once I have 30 feeds? How does your horizontal nav
handle that?

There's more obviously, but this hopefully this is a start. It's always easier
for someone (me) to criticize, so keep this in mind with my comments.

------
puzz
What's the big difference between this one and other RSS readers. Why should I
use your instead of google reader? I think you should answer to this question
on the first page.

