

Spend time learning, not searching - a directory for online learning resources. - freshfey
http://www.skillpunch.com

======
inuhj
Search results:

"Backbone.js": 0 "Medicine": 0 "Physiology": 1 "Design": 7+ results, 2 of
which are books and wouldn't qualify as "online learning resources" "Android":
4 results, all paid "Objective-C": 1 result, paid "Ruby on Rails": 2 results,
both railstutorial.org(1 is the amazon book, 1 is the website) "Machine
Learning": the URL for ml-class.org doesn't show? All I see is a headline for
"Machine Learning" with no description. Why would I click that?

Great idea, but right now there aren't enough search results for me to
consider using this service again in the future.

Suggestions: Consider manually curating some of the common search terms for
now. Also, put a link somewhere for creators of online learning resources to
add their products. If I owned DiveInToRadiationTherapy.com I would want to
add my product to your search engine.

~~~
christiangenco
This is precisely what I was going to say.

I'd like to add that "coffeescript" returned zero results and "javascript" a
lowly two (both paid courses from udemy.com), even with the wonderful
codeyear.com and codeacademy.com.

~~~
freshfey
You are right. We wanted to launch fast, that's why we couldn't include all
resources we wanted. They are very high on our list of "next to be added" :)
Thanks for taking the time and checking it out!

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unreal37
0 results for ".NET"?

You should really put at least 5 or 10 results for the top 25 web technologies
before posting this to Hacker News. Squandered marketing opportunity.

Also I notice you use Amazon.com affiliate code, udemy affiliate URL, and
such. So perhaps your early emphasis is only on learning resources that PAY
you to be listed? You should be more up front about that. This is just a
specialized affiliate link site.

~~~
freshfey
Yeah, we'll add .NET as well. We focused on launching fast and didn't think
about that :)

No we want a balance of free and paid resources, because sometimes the free
resources aren't necessarily the best ones. Udemy and amazon were included
because they were the easiest to include with respectable content. The user
should decide whether he/she will pick the paid or free resource to learn
from, not we.

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darksaga
I think these guys are a lot smarter than you think.

Step 1: Create a basic app with some paid resources. Step 2: Post on Hacker
News. Step 3: Get great feedback (all free) about how to make app really
successful so people use it. Step 4: Make the recommended changes and the
second iteration is a smashing success.

Very smart guys - I tip my hat to you.

~~~
salemh
Truly an MVP? Seems very light on the actual content. Interesting launch, I'm
curious as to thoughts or copycats of very minimal launches with no "content"
but launching only for feedback.

~~~
freshfey
Well we don't have zero content. We have some, of course not everything, but
we're working on it. And like I said earlier there's a fine line between
trying to launch fast and filling it with content which at the end (maybe)
nobody even uses. This way we found the topics interesting to most people and
we'll quickly iterate on that!

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ekianjo
"Ruby" -> 5 results, all paying ? You mean, there is no reliable source to
learn Ruby online for free? Needless to say, this is hardly conceivable.

~~~
freshfey
You are right, there are of course awesome sites to learn Ruby online for
free, and we'll definitely include a whole batch of 'em in the iteration, they
just didn't get into the first launch! ;)

~~~
ekianjo
Thanks!

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teja1990
Hey, it is a good site. When I typed Python I did get some good results.But
when I typed Java ,I got results but all of them are links from Amazon. There
are many free resources for learning java, it'd be better if u link them up :)
And for node.js , nothing came up , try linking some books, screencasts and
podcasts.

EDIT:I typed api and i get info about finance,capital and ROI :(

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freshfey
We (me and @therod on twitter) built this page in one week.

There are a lot of great online learning resources but not one place where you
can search for all of them (right now we have around 2800 entries, we'll add
more every day), that's where Skillpunch.com comes in. The idea is that we
help you find the interesting stuff and get out of you way afterwards. This is
just a MVP. We're really interested in building ratings, user-submitted
content and some social features (like discussing about a course, etc.), it
all depends on the feedback, we'll hopefully get.

We hope you like it :) The backstory with details (how and why can be found
here: [http://www.explodingfistbump.com/articles/how-and-why-we-
cre...](http://www.explodingfistbump.com/articles/how-and-why-we-create-a-
directory-for-online-learning-resources))

~~~
laaph
That link gives a 404 for me. :(

Also, going from your webpage, hitting the about button, it says you can read
about the development progress, seems to link to the same place (well, without
the "www"), and it also 404's.

Thanks!

Edit: Seems to be a typo, you have

[http://www.explodingfistbump.com/articles/how-and-why-we-
cre...](http://www.explodingfistbump.com/articles/how-and-why-we-create-a-
directory-for-online-learning-resources)

in the links, and going to explodingfistbump.com and following the link there,
it is

[http://www.explodingfistbump.com/articles/how-and-why-we-
cre...](http://www.explodingfistbump.com/articles/how-and-why-we-created-a-
directory-for-online-learning-resources)

where the difference is the "d" in "-we-created-a-directory-"

Edit again: Foo URL shortening. Well, anyway, the second link works, the first
one doesn't. I hope you can find the typo from this.

------
aroberge
Premature launch? Linear algebra: only Khan academy videos. Relativity:
nothing. Various other topics in Physics: nothing. Seriously, you have a long
way to go before you can even approach Google, not to mention some already
existing portals.

~~~
freshfey
I'm sorry that you feel that way :( We'll keep working hard at it and maybe
someday, we'll be able to make you happy as well :) As for the topics: on it!

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Permit
Nothing for C# (could be the #, admittedly), HTML5, canvas animation, canvas
or "C". :(

It found C (Without quotations) but it was in the context of other words: VC,
Capital, CSS etc.

~~~
freshfey
We'll look into adding those topics, since they are very important, thanks.

As for the search, it isn't working perfectly (yet), we're on it! :) Thanks!

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libraryatnight
I put in art, and it came up with things with art in the word, example:
Partial Fraction Expansion. So I decided to search, "art" with quotes, and it
came back with nothing.

It'd be neat if when I searched for Art it brought up the Art History category
I found down the list immediately, and then other things like the Photography
category.

edit: I'm no expert on search or designing a search so this is not at all
stated eloquently, I hope you understand my meaning.

~~~
freshfey
We do and of course you're absolutely right. The search algorithm is far from
perfect. It'll definitely work better on the next version :) Thanks for your
feedback!

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desireco42
I started with no linking it, after few searches, however deficient they might
have been, I kind of like this.

I think people who complain about affiliate code just feel sorry they didn't
come up with something like this.

I would put free and commercial resources in separate columns or just color
them differently and make sure there are both of them present.

Good luck.

~~~
desireco42
And seriously .Net is a must

~~~
freshfey
very high on the list, thanks! :)

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cosmez
its a great idea, just a little bit more polish and i might consider using it

suggestions:

if there's nothing found, try listing some results from google (or a link to a
google search)

after hitting search, the most important thing to list is the search result,
not the logo (try showing a very small logo on the results page)

~~~
freshfey
Thanks for the feedback!

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krober
Cool idea! Is it mainly a science/tech directory, or do you plan on
incorporating other online learning resources (like language learning
sites/books/etc.)? It looks like mainly Khan Academy results show up for me.
Also, you have "Communication" as an example search term, but it doesn't
return any results.

~~~
freshfey
Thanks! No, we'll try to cover all topics. That's just the beginning and
resources like Khan Academy are highly respected and useful, that's why
included it from the start.

As for the search term, the search algorithm isn't perfect yet, working on it
:)

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joelpetracci
Great idea!

One comment: A search for "Python" returned some good results, but you only
list one format for them. "Learn Python the Hard Way" has six different
formats including a free format (HTML). You only list the online video course.

~~~
freshfey
Thank you. You're right, in the first batch we looked for a balance between
paid and free resources that's why we just chose a few providers of online
courses/screencasts/books, the other formats will be added soon. :)

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thesash
Love the idea, this could be killer if it were more complete

Suggestions (didn't see anything from these come up in my initial searches):

Teamtreehouse.com

lynda.com

codeschool.com

codeacademy.com

~~~
freshfey
You're absolutely right, these are a top priority on our list (we compiled a
huge list while researching the idea). Thanks for the suggestions! :)

~~~
thesash
Cool, looking forward to seeing it grow

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DanielStraight
It would be nice to have a table of contents in addition to the search.

~~~
freshfey
something like this? <http://www.skillpunch.com/entries>

~~~
DanielStraight
I found that. If it started collapsed and had the ability to expand and
collapse categories and subcategories, it could serve as a table of contents.
Right now it _is_ the contents, not a table thereof.

~~~
freshfey
Yeah this would make sense. We'll look into that for the next iteration,
thanks!

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larrydag
The interface is easy, simple and intuitive. It's something that I aspire for
my website. Its a great resource. Just curious how you will drive traffic
without the content?

~~~
freshfey
That's the question, we'll be able to answer you in a few days/weeks. We
believe that as long as we solve your problem (search for online learning
resources), you'll find use and come back.

~~~
larrydag
I suppose you could partner with learning organizations that want a fast and
simple way to search reference materials.

~~~
freshfey
Yes, we're planning on doing that. However we thought that we might need a
base of traffic to even talk to them, otherwise it wouldn't make sense for
them I suppose.

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plainOldText
nothing on Haskell :(

~~~
gtani
There's tons on haskell

[http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/o5iov/modern_reallw...](http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/o5iov/modern_reallworld_haskell/)

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mrcharles
I searched for 'django' and it found nothing.

~~~
freshfey
We'll add some django resources as soon as possible! :)

