Ask HN: Review my startup: http://sparkwall.me

[JohanE]

Hi All, 

Just released our private beta of Sparkwall and we would love to hear your feedback! 

Sparkwall is a visual collaboration tool that helps remote dev and creative teams communicate by sharing designs in real time.  The app is built on node.js, socket.io and MongoDB using Amazon EC2 and S3 for hosting and storage.

Some of our features: - Upload files through drag-and-drop - Support for 300 different image formats - Write text and draw freely.  - 16000x9000px work space - Point with your mouse, and ppl can see it in real-time <-- I like this feature :)

 We are currently running on Firefox 4 and Chrome 8+ (Other browsers will be supported shortly)

Invitation Code: HACKERNEWS Sign up: http://sparkwall.me

Thanks

Johan Ekhager Co-founder / CTO 

http://sparkwall.me

[JohanE]

Link: http://sparkwall.me

[dangrossman]

I recall something exactly like this on HN a few weeks ago, public with a unique URL for each wall, except it didn't have shared mouse pointers. What was that post?

[JohanE → dangrossman]

Interesting. Couldn't find any post of it. If someone remember the name or post, please reply here. Good to know about similar products. :)

[dangrossman → JohanE]

Here it is:

http://corkboard.me/Ix1gsxLPuz

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2486982 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1962554

[JohanE → dangrossman]

Oh, thanks alot! Will check it out.

[oberglof → dangrossman]

would be really interesting to find out

[swanson]

Are you using node.js for the whole stack? Or is there a Rails app running alongside for doing user accounts, payments, the marketing site/landing page etc?

[JohanE → swanson]

It's all built on node.js. We used rails before to handle user accounts and static pages but realized we could make it all with node.js and MongoDB instead with some cool template language. :)

[swanson → JohanE]

Are you using a library for the user stuff in mongo/node, if you don't mind me asking? I haven't found anything that seems better than devise/cancan.

[JohanE → swanson]

We've built a lot on our own. Maybe Senchalabs Connect can help you, otherwise check https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/modules. Don't know if it's better than devise/cancan though.

[Omni5cience → JohanE]

Devise and Cancan are User Authentication middleware for Rails

Check out https://github.com/ciaranj/connect-auth I can't vouch for the effectiveness, but it seems to be under active development.

[anselmo_silva]

An absolutely thumbs up for the idea behind. It looks so well executed on a beautiful refined layout. Success.

[JohanE → anselmo_silva]

Thanks for those warming words! :) Invite your friends/co-workers! And if you want to give more feedback, contact me at johan@sparkwall.me. //Johan

[ffumarola]

I like it. Good MVP. I could see my ecommerce company using it.

What features are you planning on rolling out?

[JohanE → ffumarola]

Thanks! Just curious, how do you think you would use it? New features are coming, support for safari, IE9, iPad/iPhone and Android and then make current functionality smarter and better. We will also listen to users so they can say what they want us to focus on.

[ffumarola → JohanE]

Our designers frequently mock up designs for new features / versions of the site. They then get email responses that say X,Y, and Z (multiple times from different people). Sometimes they get conflicting X-1 and X-2.

With this I could see them sharing the wall with everyone and then getting collaborative feedback from all of the stakeholders.

What features specifically are you implementing? I would like undo, redo, step backward, step forward, and a better way to manage text.

[instakill]

Looks good. The creative team at our digital agency love it.

[JohanE → instakill]

Thanks! Would be great to hear their thoughts aswell, if you don't mind.

[Omni5cience]

I'm curious if you were inspired by Jef Raskin and the ZUI

[amourgh]

i need an invite code to sign up could u send me please one : amourgh@gmail.com

[JohanE → amourgh]

You're invited!

[joezhou]

amazing! Google docs watch out this is way cooler

[JohanE → joezhou]

Thanks! :) Any other thoughts about the funtionality?