

Ask HN: Review my webapp: memobuild - namarojulian

Hi all,<p>Hope you won't mind if this is my first post, but I was told this is a good place to get advice for a new web business. So here it is:
http://www.memobuild.com<p>It's basically an editor for large online documents (e.g. documentation, reports, e-books).
It follows the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Mean paradigm: authors just need to input the contents in a structured way, the layout and design are automatically taken care of by the application. There are some e-learning features too.
The app is powered by Google App Engine / python, and hopefully it can scale nicely.<p>Please have a look and let me know what you think.<p>The next step will be to get in the Google Apps Marketplace to reach out to businesses and schools.
Meanwhile I'm trying to get some early adopters. I plan to contact bloggers discussing learning technologies. Any other idea on where to concentrate my marketing efforts?
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RBr
I have composed learning materials using almost every Learning Management
System available.

Your interface is clean and easy to understand. The simple content section on
the left along with easy to understand CMS controls are exceptionally well
done.

This feels like part of a larger product. Learning materials take hundreds of
hours to prepare and I wouldn't trust my time with your new product. Not that
it isn't well created, just that I don't have any control over the hosting or
storage and I don't see an easy way for me to backup or duplicate content on
more trustworthy platforms such as Google Docs or even good old Word.

Your application may be a good add-on for a small publisher. A publisher could
offer your product (branded as their own) to extend their texts online and
keep them up-to-date.

I could see the advantage to this for either a business (in sort of a Wiki
setup) or a school, however without a real direction, it's a bit difficult for
me and your potential customers to see.

Overall, I really like this. I wish that it was integrated into a full LMS and
that I could quickly and easily spin my content into texts.

~~~
namarojulian
Thanks for the feedback RBr!

Actually you're the second user today to tell me the lack of export formats is
a problem. I plan to offer export options, but it is not simple. There are
some features like audio, associations or exercises that cannot be easily
reproduced in other formats. An XML file would be a good start though.

Connecting with existing LMS: you're right I need to look more into that.

~~~
pierrefar
> _Connecting with existing LMS: you're right I need to look more into that._

Please get in touch with me. My profile will tell you why and my contact
details.

------
ritonlajoie
clickable : <http://www.memobuild.com>

------
iampims
That's a really neat app. The inline quiz is a great feature.

Which python framework did you use?

Small "bug": when you navigate to the login page [1], there's no link to go
back to the home page or anywhere else but the TOS.

[1] <http://www.memobuild.com/login>

~~~
namarojulian
Thanks! Did you also try to put a block with the "answer" style in your quiz?
It's not yet documented but quite useful.

I built on top of Google's webapp framework. Although if I had to start
something now I would probably use tipfy or kay.

------
secret
I really like it. As soon as I started using it, it was clear how to do
anything. My suggestion would be to change the sample links on the home page
to images. Also, it would be nice to try a demo before signing up.

~~~
namarojulian
Thanks! You're right those links need a little polishing.

~~~
secret
The samples were really well made, they deserve something flashy to show them
off :)

~~~
notahacker
I'd be tempted to move them below the fold - let the user read that memobuild
will give them drag and drop page organisation and collaborative document
creation before they click through and start wondering what your app's
connection with biometric testing in Australia is

A "sample built using memobuild" bar at the top with a link to the home page
would seem pretty essential too for exactly the same reason.

------
10ren
I wish there was a way to play with it initially without giving up my email. I
hate getting automated 'haven't seen you for a while' app-spam. It's pretty
standard though, so maybe it's just me.

I'm using App Engine too; seems to be a good choice. And oddly, the
performance stats for Python vs. Java seem indistinguishable. I would have
thought Java would pull ahead on repetitive server-like tasks.

~~~
namarojulian
I love one-click demo too, and hopefully I can add it later. About Java vs.
Python, from my experience datastore RPC are often the bottleneck anyway.

------
pedrocr
I seem to have found a bug. In:

<http://help.memobuild.com/user-guide/creating-document>

all the links on the left above "Using the Drafts folder" don't work. I'm
using Chrome 6.0.472.53 on Linux.

~~~
namarojulian
Confirmed. Thanks for the report!

------
random42
The programmer in me absolutely loved the product. However, I am bit skeptical
about how it would be positioned/generate revenue (Mostly because I have zero
business acumen) .

Good product. Best of luck for revenue generation.

~~~
namarojulian
Many thanks! Monetization is tough for any webapp, but I believe there are
possibilities for an app like memobuild.

~~~
ollerac
I'd pay for an embeddable/skinnable version of your editor. Great interface --
nice work

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alexpak
Personally, I find it really cool. Although, after the publication, the link
doesn't work. I tried (<http://docs.memobuild.com/irokez/test/>)

~~~
namarojulian
Thanks! Strange the link didn't work, if I click it works here.

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eduardo_f
Looks good! Could you share how you did the video? I'd like to do something
like that for my app (it's in the Google Apps Marketplace already by the way).

~~~
namarojulian
Thanks! Google Molly at demogirl and say hi from me.

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pghimire
I tried to sign in with my google account only to get a 500. Please check
google sign ins. :

[http://www.memobuild.com/_ah/openid_verify?continue=http://w...](http://www.memobuild.com/_ah/openid_verify?continue=http://www.memobuild.com/register/federated/google&gx.rp_st=AEp4C1tRGrNmj7ieXys4FXketo5WC0ka4iOF0WU54D9Dfnh3xs-p76e72T7csrg5dACTQus25GobI_Ryldppy9LaVFkAI3YrPewFSCftS2RR-5z4NWymYMBYtyrtWO_3Bk0MwLfMWHnaB4t5MpsFiCPAVE7IsXW3lCU6H_53JBeFV-
DjQWwFarWJJELhr3GxxOoPlemT8ROb5PDDcptWSRKATtuHo1i15wlUkfm6E9bd9cofIf8baEmlJ-
KGOVjlp6ez4qWfROKs7ZymWJe38oA9_LMy52vFRhQb_Rqck9Uv0vhpJ7IHjxmuq_BhsIVBZQW4WQncIFvt)

~~~
pghimire
here is the message:

Error: Server Error The server encountered an error and could not complete
your request.

If the problem persists, please report your problem and mention this error
message and the query that caused it.

~~~
namarojulian
There is a glitch with Google login that causes this error when you click on
the "Continue to memobuild.." button. If you wait for the redirection instead,
it should work.. Am I correct?

------
rokhayakebe
You need to take it down, hire a designer (/copy writer) to redo the UI and
add pricing, otherwise everyday you are missing out on customers/revenue.

Although I have not played with the app, it seems to have a great potential.
There is definitely a need for this product.

~~~
namarojulian
Thanks! Monetization will come. Why take it down? On the contrary I'm trying
to get users.

