
Show HN: Feedback app - mattrobs
http://redpen.io
======
masonhensley
Here is a sample for people to go wild on. (I hope I don't regret this.)

<edit>

[Link removed]

I have regrets. Careful, someone redirected the page to porn.

Here is a pre-porn screenshot of everyone's dots-
<http://awesomescreenshot.com/09f19vrpf5>

</edit>

<edit-2> Here is what the feedback balloons look like (forgive the z-value
issue of the dot over the ballon, that's my fault):

<http://awesomescreenshot.com/07819vss00>

</edit-2>

~~~
qpleple
Ha ! There is an email notification every time someone comments, and no way to
unsubscribe. I just got 6 emails and one minute, and Chrome re-focusing the
tab automatically because gn commented <script>alert('Moo!');</script>

~~~
WA
Redirection to porn? script alerts? No unsubscribe button? I suppose the OP
doesn't have the slightest clue of web app security. Wouldn't use. Who knows
where your email addresses are now.

~~~
taybenlor
People writing their first web app rarely do. Though in this case most of
these things are covered by Rails' "Secure by Default" approach.

Also, comments like these are what turn newbies away from programming. It's
really hard to start out, encouragement and a point in the right direction is
what's needed.

Edit: Ahhh actually, you probably didn't realise that OP was a newbie because
mods changed the title of the post. That's unfortunate. Carry on.

------
scott_karana
Security issue! You can run arbitrary Javascript!

Comments along the lines of:

    
    
      <script>alert('Moo!');</script>
    

Be careful about staying on a page!

~~~
mattrobs
Good spotting. I'll fix that.

------
sejje
Looks very cool, love the "signup process" if you will.

Nitpick: I don't like the "because we're not douchebags" line.

~~~
thefreeman
Really? I loved that

~~~
anonfunction
I also thought that was a very cool line.

------
kperusko
Nice work and looks cool. But I don't like the "bullshit" and "douchebag"
words. IMHO it looks unprofessional and a little bit immature to use those
kind of words (if you're trying to look/be professional).

------
glazskunrukitis
Just a heads up - there is a XSS vulnerability in comments.

~~~
cvursache
Thanks for pointing that out!

------
skytalon
Feedback for this feedback app: it does not like uploads. Upload fails with
message 'Hello. We haven't been formally introduced yet but I'm Sir Red Pen.
I'm sorry to say I've let you down. This upload has failed. I'm deeply sorry.
This usually doesn't happen. I swear. I will reload the page for you and I ask
you try again. I will get it right this time.'

~~~
nwh
Same. Chrome Developer / OSX.

~~~
Schweigi
Same here. Firefox 20.0.1 / Windows.

The following call returned a 406: GET
[http://redpen.io/authenticate?s3_object_type=image/png&s...](http://redpen.io/authenticate?s3_object_type=image/png&s3_object_name=red-
pen-082640d5-4418-4922-e224-7fdcb922fbcf.png)

According to the Firebug net console it looks like the upload doesn't even
start.

------
Yaggo
Very nice, but the design is a bit tiny (font size etc), given that the amount
of information needed to display is not big.

------
aaronpk
Best "signup" experience ever! No account needed to upload, only asks you your
name once you try to leave a comment!

------
ihodes
Super slick. Great application! Are you planning on monetizing it? You could
do it 'per project' or by # of uploads.

Definitely don't go crazy by adding features, but it'd be cool to add
versioning (so people could compare), and comment off to the side or below, so
that people could provide holistic comments.

------
DigitalSea
Besides the obvious issues with Javascript injection, I really love the
design. I think you did a really good job here, the interface is simple and
effective and this is definitely one of the nicely designed feedback apps I've
seen (although I haven't seen too many, it's still a compliment). It's sad
that people resorted to spamming the public link you posted with porn and
annoying Javascript alert boxes. I hope you get the issues solved soon.

I have a recommendation however for the introduction text on the homepage,
you've got orange text on an orange background which is impossible to read. I
made a couple of little Developer Tool modifications and found the below CSS
to make it more readable.

.primary-footer { font-size: 0.8em; color: #EFEFEF; font-weight: normal; }

------
sudhanshua
Great design.

One suggestion is that it would be great if I can copy and paste like on
Trello. This would mean that I wont have to keep saving files locally first
and then drop those files to your site.

~~~
filip01
Agree, Github Issues allows this as well and once you get used to it this
upload process seems a bit complicated.

------
a5seo
Wow, this is like the Workflowy of feedback apps. Nice work.

One request: make it possible to edit a comment within a minute or 2 of
posting it. Also, make it possible to reposition a marker.

~~~
msutherl
I find Workflowy aesthetically clunky. This is all the usability goodness of
Workflowy _and_ great visual design. One of the best things I've seen on the
web in awhile. Really impressed.

------
whattheken
One thing I noticed is that in the feedback balloon screenshot, there seems to
be a dot overlapping on top of the feedback balloon. Also, personally, I
always like having a "close" or "x" button on these types of balloons, instead
of the balloons disappearing when I move my cursor away.

I'm guessing that the dot colors have some meaning? Having a color legend
might help (if one doesn't exist already... hard to tell from screenshots and
my own testing didn't show any legend.)

Otherwise, looks good!

------
marcamillion
Wow....as someone that made a feedback app...compliments. This is awesome!
Especially if this is your first web app?

I have been thinking of doing a re-write, it's just not high on my priority
list.

What did you use to manage the uploads? It worked nicely for me in Chrome.

Edit: Maybe add some more contrast to the copy at the bottom. It is very hard
to read.

------
uzegonemad
Front page looks great, but... "Hello. We haven't been formally introduced yet
but I'm Sir Red Pen. I'm sorry to say I've let you down. This upload has
failed. I'm deeply sorry. This usually doesn't happen. I swear. I will reload
the page for you and I ask you try again. I will get it right this time."

------
mikekij
This is awesome. Really intuitive UI. You've really boiled the workflow down
to the bare minimum. Great work.

------
scott_karana
I noticed a bug; I went to masonhensley's sample project, added a comment (on
the engine of his car), and then I noticed that any other comments showing up
in realtime were labelled "Scott", in addition to some of the ones that had
previously been "Mason". Refreshing fixed the issue.

------
scott_karana
Mattrobs, this is absolutely beautiful. I agree that the language is a little
too informal (see the confusion on "Arreevaderchi" for example), but very
useable.

Once there's a bit more security polish, I'd be happy to use this in
production with clients, at least for quick-and-dirty comments!

------
alanbyrne
Simple, pretty, to the point and does what it says on the tin.

Unfortunately I can't seem to copy the link at the top of the design. Instead
of making it a readonly input, make it a link or tell them to copy the URL
from their browser. Using Chrome 26.0.1410.64 m on Win8

Great work though

------
kayge
Nice and simple, I like it.

Potential security/privacy issue though: I can retrieve anyone's submission(s)
with some simple cookie manipulation. I suppose this is a side-effect of the
"no logging in" method, but it might be nice to allow people to delete their
posts.

~~~
Jamsii
I'm a collaborator on the project and we're tidying up all these loopholes,
but thanks for the heads up. Matts response is "Oops, I’m a designer!".

~~~
kayge
Haha, cool. There's another similar issue (which your team may already be
aware of) that I'd be happy to point out less-publicly if you want to send me
an email. Anyway, nice project!

------
markdown
Good to know its multi-language.

There seems to be a mixup though; the button on the comment page says
'Arreeverderchi', which I believe is spanish or italian, but I'm not sure what
it means.

What happens when I click that button?

~~~
michaelmior
Arrivederci is Italian for goodbye. I assume the spelling is intended to be
humourous.

~~~
joahua
Possible allusion to this scene in Inglorious Bastards?
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ZouZSlNSc> (The slightly phonetic spelling
being of the last word in the clip)

~~~
mattrobs
You got it!

------
gmu3
Pretty cool. Just to try it out I uploaded a random picture from my desktop
which happened to be somewhat large so navigating was somewhat awkward. It
would be nice if you could zoom in/out.

------
LeonidBugaev
I've made similar prototype few years ago, if someone interested here is
source code:

<https://github.com/buger/PointOut>

Realtime stuff build on top of GAE.

~~~
matb33
Built one too, but with Meteor. I actually create a login for you
automatically with auto-generated username and you can rename your username if
you care. Also can copy paste images, not just drag drop

<http://sket.sh/>

------
BrechtVds
Comments at the right edge of the screen are unreadable as the balloon is
partly outside the window. Would be nice if they would pop up to the left, in
that case.

Beautiful design nonetheless!

~~~
mattrobs
v1.1. Thanks!

------
anonfunction
Love the image uploading animation!

Here's something I've been working on if anyone has any feedback:
<http://redpen.io/8t5cq>

------
pbreit
I would never use a service like this with such terrible language. I
understand trying to give the service a personality but this is just dumb.

~~~
rabidonrails
~~Maybe~~ I'm immature but it made me smile.

~~~
abcd_f
It should be a config option - "colorful language" vs "boring speak".

------
MatthewB
Looks great. I love when people learn to code to meet their own needs.
Congrats.

EDIT: Great design. Are you a designer or did you use a template?

~~~
Jamsii
Yes the OP is a designer, hence the whole learning to program thing. He
designs over at campaignmonitor.com

------
moeedm
I shit you not, I literally start building something like this to learn ruby
with. Feature for feature.

Well done.

~~~
MrMcDowall
Glad to see you're still alive Moeed!

------
ruxkor
beautifully designed!

I'd love to see some sort of retention limit, and the functionality to
manually remove an uploaded design. An export function of all comments and a
special stylesheet for printing (i.e., showing all comments below the picture)
would make it perfect!

------
alpb
That is awesome. Probably one of mashups I loved the most lately. Great design
and execution!

------
scottmotte
Great tool. Will be using it and borrowing ideas from your 'signup' process -
so well done!

------
FramesPerSushi
Very awesome concept and design. I completely agree with your sign up
method... Have none!

------
aizatto
Whatever you do, don't blink.

------
xemoka
Cool tool, will be using it next time I need some feedback on assets!

------
nc
Bookmarked. This is awesome. Love that no account is required.

------
leviathan
I can't seem to upload anything. It always gives an error.

------
joshschreuder
mattrobs, looks like your account is dead.

~~~
abcd_f
Shadow-banned rather. You are the only one who can see your own comments.
Specifically, these two comments are [dead] -

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5708906>

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5708984>

Try and email pg to ask to be unbanned manually. Or wait for the mods to
notice and perhaps they can do it.

------
hawkharris
I love the design. Great user experience.

------
wanghq
The color hurts my eyes!

------
gdonelli
Really like the name!

------
Jemaclus
Relevant XKCD: <http://xkcd.com/927/>

This might be one of the better feedback apps I've seen though. Very nice.

~~~
aaronpk
lol, this is not trying to be a standard

