
Show HN: Docverter: Convert your text content to PDF/HTML/EPUB with one REST API - zrail
http://www.docverter.com
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j45
This looks like a landing page site to measure interest.

I was hoping to try it out too but it looks like the API spec isnt finalized.

Some working demos would be great, as html to pdf is quite precarious
especially when it comes to reliable output given all kinds of html that can
be put into this kind of convertors. Reliable url to pdf is another thing
altogether.

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thibaut_barrere
I like the "buffer approach" (fake landing page and plans) personally,
although I have never implemented it so far.

I don't feel cheated - instead I'm glad someone is verifying the usefulness of
something before building it.

Life is short so I can only hope more software will be developed that way :)

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j45
Agreed, I don't have any problem with it ending up in a sign up screen, it's
good to have a sense of interest. Sorry if it came across in any other way to
the OP.

Perhaps I found this more to be an Ask instead of a show? Just thinking out
loud for what I might do with my own ideas in the future here.

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paulgb
I think you nailed what's off about this. I don't mind landing pages, but when
I see "Show HN" in the URL, I expect something already built. I don't feel
cheated, but I won't be upvoting either.

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mvts
I don't get why I should pay for this service. I could just download and
install pandoc for free on my system. Am I missing something?

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zrail
It's targeted at people using a cloud provider like Heroku or Appfog, who want
to use pandoc but can't install 2-3gb of software along with their app.

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mvts
Alright, that makes sense. Great idea and reasonable pricing, I wish you the
best of luck with your project.

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Iaks
A corollary to this service, on OSX and only for pdf, is to put the OS CUPS
print driver to use. I've always been impressed with how well the print ->
save as pdf functionality works on OS X. Recently I needed to batch it for
text files and looked up the specifics. (It works for html as well, just save
your sites procedurally and batch.)

/System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f infile -o outfile

As stated somewhere in the comments this service is probably aimed at people
on remote machines, but the above has been a handy trick for my local life.

I'm sure equivalents exist on Windows (PDFcreator comes to mind) and Linux.

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habosa
The OS X Save as PDF feature is amazing. I use it many times every day and I
never have messy random files laying around. It has never, ever failed me.

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wamatt
Nice :), though I would consider making your $5 tier free, in order to
encourage developer adoption.

Even though $5 isn't much, it's a bit more friction in the decision making
process.

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tehwalrus
would you consider having a discounted version for educational accounts? As a
grad student I would find this immensely useful, but I couldn't necessarily
afford it/justify the extra expense.

e.g. Prezi give 2nd tier accounts to academic email addresses for 1st tier
price (free).

obviously, it seems fair to wait until the system has a good revenue stream
before adding this kind of discount...

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zrail
I would definitely consider it. Go ahead and sign up for a beta invite and
I'll add it to the todo list.

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tehwalrus
Thanks, have done.

Just FYI, I didn't even click on the pricing buttons to see that there was
even a beta! Brain got to the 'it costs $5 per month' stage and went
'awwwww...'

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cnlwsu
Would be nice to have a demo example thing. I have had problems with bad
formatting results for these things before and don't want to sign up if I am
not sure it will work. Even something like the samples at
<http://htmltolatex.sourceforge.net/> would be nice

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zrail
Fair point. I'll have a demo and some samples up soon.

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simonbrown
> And when you outgrow it, we'll grow with you. Automatically.

Does this mean that when you exceed your quota, Docverter starts charging you
more without your permission?

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zrail
Great question. Docverter will charge you the smaller of 1) your selected
payment plan, 2) your payment plan + the additional per document charge * the
number of additional documents, or 3) the next payment plan up. Does that
sound fair, or do you think it would be better to get cut off? Maybe a toggle
switch in account settings?

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dgunn
The smallest would always be #1. You probably meant to only say 2 and 3. I
think a toggle switch would be a good idea. That's how most services allow you
to control your spending.

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zrail
Yep, you're right. Toggle switch and cost control options are now on the todo
list. Thanks!

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TamDenholm
Kinda unrelated but, thats a nice customised boostrap, did you do that
yourself or use something pre-made?

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zrail
Thanks. It's a slightly customized pre-made theme off of bootswatch[1]

[1]: <http://bootswatch.com/spacelab/>

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motter
Looks interesting. Is there a limit on document size?

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zrail
There isn't one right now but I may put one in depending on usage patterns.

