quora is one of the most impressive sites i've seen in a while. here are a few of the details that really impressed me:
* pretty much everything is real time and extremely fast. even if you have 10+ quora tabs open.
* try logging out and having a friend log in. notice how you can log out all current sessions on remote computers, and how boxes are created for each user that has logged in on that computer. logging in then takes just one click (if it was set to remember).
* have a friend look at your profile. start editing your bio or title. the friend will see these changes in real time.
* start typing a response to a question. everyone can see who is responding to a question in real time. (imagine in HN had this amount of integration of real time data)
* the site search at the top is incredibly responsive and returns results for relevant questions, topics, and people all together in a dropdown
* site notifications additionally appear on the pages to which they are related. for example, if i visit a question where i have 3 outstanding notifications, they will all appear at the top of the page. if i visit a user's profile that has recently started following me, i will see that notification at the top of the user's profile.
* they already have a complete mobile site.
* on the implementation side, the html (html5) is already compacted, the js is combined and minified, and Steve Souders' best practices are already taken into account. this is expected for major web applications, but startups and non web-app sites (like blogs) often ignore it for a very long time or never do it at all.
- insanely polished for a private beta. (see treyp)
- nitpick: no full-text search (no indexed answer content to display when query doesn't match any question content) and/or an easy way to return to a question i recently viewed
- it is so fast. i didn't even notice at first. i just noticed i was clicking, a lot more than usual.
- it feels like browsing around silicon valley's water cooler (but tamer.) whether quora can keep the feeling of high-quality insight when it's no longer entirely composed of early adopters is the million-dollar question
- interesting/unusual content, for now. mark zuckerberg asking what companies facebook should acquire for talent, actually getting some interesting answers...
that was a bit vague. here's an example of a quality answer (though the real strength is in the consistency of the quality, for now) in response to the question:
How did Chatroulette become such a global phenomenon so quickly?
21 votes by Anon User, Kevin Li, Marc Bodnick, Dave Hodson, more
Anon user: "Chatroulette is the latest in a long line of lower-effort, higher-interaction social marketplaces. It literally has a higher risk-adjusted social ROI than almost any other site in the history of the Internet, and scales downwards especially well.
Let me explain my terms.
R: The (social) return of Chatroulette is an instant video conversation with another individual, a stranger. This basic return has been available in other venues for a while (see WooMe for a dating-specific version). What makes Chatroulette so different is not the high R, but the incredibly, historically low...
I: Investment. Meaning, the sum of risk taken, effort, financial cost, time cost, and technical skill. Chatroulette is near-zero on all of these. There is no effort, not even a sign up--just allow the flash app to access your camera, and you are done (the anti-eHarmony). There is no special skill required--this isn't like dragging your Mom through the facebook photo uploader. There's no incremental financial cost at all. There's no selection, paradox-of-choice paralysis--click a button, and you are matched (a two-way benefit--there's no waiting to be selected by picky counterparts). And, most importantly, there is no social risk--unlike dating sites, you have no idea who the other user is, and can descend into crazy/exhibitionist behavior with wild-eyed impunity.
As mentioned above, Chatroulette scales downwards especially well. Unlike auction marketplaces (divided by products) or dating/service marketplaces (divided by location), Chatroulette is perfectly usable with tens of individuals spread uniformly across the world, of any age or gender, with almost no common interests.
Every time a site comes out that simplifies an existing, popular use case, it does well--even when it offers far less functionality. It is literally disruptive in the Clayton Christensen sense. Think Twitter against Facebook; or the iPod against the many previous mp3 players; or the iPhone against previous smartphones. In the echo chamber of Silicon Valley, we greatly underestimate how high the 'Investment' (especially skill/effort) of using our products is, and are always surprised when 'dumbed down' products come out and do well. Who needs a Snuggie? Who has trouble wrapping a blanket around themselves properly, or thinks putting on a sweater is a hassle? More people than you think."
I've seen a couple references to Quora recently and I guessed it was just a StackOverflow/MetaFilter hybrid and as much as that might be a decent description I have to say I'm still impressed. Even little things like the clean design, friendly tone in their About page and their "challenges" (http://www.quora.com/challenges) all give me a great impression.
Actually, when Youtube sold in 2006 November it was already widely popular. 1650/80 ~ 20. Does this site have Youtube's 2006 November popularity / 20? Or potential? (I don't know, I'm asking...)
There is a genre-resemblance to StackExchange -- especially the Q/A/comment three-types of comments.
So far, some contrasts are:
- nothing as front-and-center about scores/achievements on Quora
- Quora far more focused on instant updates/notifications -- to the level of an instant-messenger's "...is typing a message", and immediate advisement of every upvote/response you get
As a result, they both feel a bit game-like, but with StackExchange the notable driver is, "I hit a new high level", whereas with Quora, it's "gotta click back to where the new stuff is happening right now".
EDIT: Sorry to ask here, but after reading that, I didn't get the impression that they were planning to send out additional invites anytime soon. (I just got one from Paul, thanks!)
I have 10 invites. First 10 emails to p at pstam dot com get them. I only ask that you tell me what you're up to (work/startup/school) as I enjoy meeting new folks.
On the links I clicked, middle-click-to-new-tab definitely worked.
Search is atop every page, just to the right of the logo -- and autocomplete is wicked fast.
When you click a topic -- which has a blue-background, rounded-edge 'tag' look -- you get the topic page, with a list of 'open questions', 'best questions', and 'topic activity' (both new questions and answers/comments). Not exactly recent questions, but pretty close.
Original post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1197146