

Ask HN: looking for criticism for projectEUREKA.org - uzurpatorul

ProjectEureka (http://www.projecteureka.org) is a compendium of problems. I know that there are thousand of problem sites, I also know that the name sounds awful similar to projectEuler (we are not very imaginative).  However, I believe that there are many puzzle solvers/math enthusiast in HN willing to give it a try and share their experience with us.
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thamer
Some quick thoughts:

* Make the logo link back to the index.

* Don't make me register. I'd like to try the problems but am not interested in saving my results. I can't try such and such problems because I need an account simply to validate my answers .

* I'm not sure if displaying the last 10 on the front page is a good idea... if I come back tomorrow to check this problem I saw there, will I have to go to page 2? ProjectEuler's page has them in increasing order.

* Remove some text. “Average User Rating: easy ” can be transformed into “Easy” in the blue problem header, for example. Make it easy to see and filter. You can use images there as well, or colors. Difficulty: Green → Orange → Red.

* The list of solvers is unreadable. Why is it in italics? What's its maximum length? You could use something like the “following” list on twitter: lots of small icons (24x24 or so).

* Also either display the login or the name, not both.

* Why do you limit top user to 10? It makes sense for problems as they take a lot of space, but you could easily display users hundred by hundred.

* Are tests made of problems? What if I've already completed the 5 problems a test contains when I start it? Do I automatically win?

* I don't have an account so I can't check, but do you allow LaTeX in the discussions on each problem? Is there an option to add code? Is it allowed? Is it colored when entered?

* The white space on top is way too large.

* Is this a website or a “framework”? Revise your wording on the right.

* In general, try to avoid “database views”. I don't know how to word this better, but don't put “fieldname: fieldvalue” in your texts. For example in the submitter name: “test submitted by $name on: $date”. You don't need a colon here, this is not how you would write it in a letter for example.

* Put all your tags in lowercase. Fibonacci stands out and Einstein is missing a capital E.

* Are you displaying ALL the tags? What will happend when you get to a thousand?

* Could the problems be put in different math groups? Set theory, algebra, geometry (can a submitter upload images?), trigo, etc. Beware, this could be confusing: should I put this in the “Algebra” category or tag it as algebra?

All in all, these are small things. Great website!

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uzurpatorul
Thx for your time, this is the kind of comment I was looking for:

* Make the logo link back to the index. did that, * Don't make me register. I'd like to try the problems but am not interested in saving my results. I can't try such and such problems because I need an account simply to validate my answers.

I am going to allow unregistered users to solve problems, however, I have to
uglify the form with captcha,

* I'm not sure if displaying the last 10 on the front page is a good idea... if I come back tomorrow to check this problem I saw there, will I have to go to page 2? ProjectEuler's page has them in increasing order. My thought behind this was if u come tomorrow I don’t want to see the same problems (hopefully solved problems ;-) )

* Remove some text. “Average User Rating: easy ” can be transformed into “Easy” in the blue problem header, for example. Make it easy to see and filter. You can use images there as well, or colors. Difficulty: Green → Orange → Red.

Great point, will do that.

* The list of solvers is unreadable. Why is it in italics? What's its maximum length? You could use something like the “following” list on twitter: lots of small icons (24x24 or so).

* Also either display the login or the name, not both.

I wanted to display the name, but also didn’t want to force the user (when
registering) to go to a painful process, hence, not all the users have names.

* Why do you limit top user to 10? It makes sense for problems as they take a lot of space, but you could easily display users hundred by hundred.

I wanted to have top 10 ;-),

* Are tests made of problems? What if I've already completed the 5 problems a test contains when I start it? Do I automatically win?

No, you have to answer them again.

* I don't have an account so I can't check, but do you allow LaTeX in the discussions on each problem? Is there an option to add code? Is it allowed? Is it colored when entered?

At this chapter there is still more work ahead, currently only some special
math characters are supported (like x^(y) – power, x_(1) , ..)

* The white space on top is way too large.

agree

* Is this a website or a “framework”? Revise your wording on the right.

English is second language for me, so framework sounded cool, I guess I have
to look it up in the dictionary.

* In general, try to avoid “database views”. I don't know how to word this better, but don't put “fieldname: fieldvalue” in your texts. For example in the submitter name: “test submitted by $name on: $date”. You don't need a colon here, this is not how you would write it in a letter for example.

agree

* Put all your tags in lowercase. Fibonacci stands out and Einstein is missing a capital E.

agree

* Are you displaying ALL the tags? What will happend when you get to a thousand?

No, only top 100

* Could the problems be put in different math groups? Set theory, algebra, geometry (can a submitter upload images?), trigo, etc. Beware, this could be confusing: should I put this in the “Algebra” category or tag it as algebra?

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turtle3
You waste alot of space in your layout. Specific thoughts to address that:

* Trim some of the top and bottom padding off of the logo.

* Instead of having the search field inside each of the tab groups, pull it out so that it is in the upper right, just under the "logged in as" text. Search all entries when someone searches, and group the -results- in a list that can be filtered according to type. So instead of "search problems", you just search, and the results page is showing results All (5) | Problems (4) | Tests (1). This helps by pulling the actual content up in the default views, by extracting the search form to a more discrete location.

* I'd personally have a little less margins on the left and right of the site, and a little more padding in the sidebar items, but this is just nitpicky.

I like the site's concept, but didn't do anything because I hate registering.
Just let me play around and then register later if I really get hooked.

ot: How the heck do you make a list on hn?

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uzurpatorul
Yeah, I am not particularly happy with the layout and spacing either. Moving
the search on the upper right corner save some space, but I think it makes the
search a second class feature. However, I like the idea of making the search
across the site (problems, tests, etc…), which will DRY my code quite a bit.

This is the second comment about solving a problem without registration; I
guess I have to open the gate ;-).

I didn’t get your last question.

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turtle3
Last question was not for you, specifically. Was generally asking if there is
a way to format a list of bullet points here on hacker news.

Good luck!

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streety
In my opinion eureka doesn't sound anything like euler. Personally I would
stop worrying about that but if you can't I would suggest you stop apologising
for it anyway.

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uzurpatorul
I am not worried, I got that comment few times before, wanted to acknowledge
it (and don’t get it again).

