Ask HN: Please review my webapp http://cineight.com

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1642021

by yousuffauzan • 16 years ago

8 22 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I developed this app so that my friends and I can recommend movies to each other. I have also added movie list management, so one can maintain a list of movies watched, to watch, and filtered. There is a Feedback section in the app too. I would really appreciate if you guys could leave your reviews there also.

wihon• 16 years ago

Other than a short sentence on the homepage, there's no information about the site that you can access before signing up. The fact that you have to register before knowing anything will, I imagine, put off many potential users. They (and I) wanna know what they're agreeing to!

Edit: I think you should add some more info (maybe some screenshots, a lengthier description and some privacy stuff?), basically!

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

I will get working on this. Thanks

lzw• 16 years ago

No insult meant, but you lsot me at the home screen. The first thing you do is ask for sign up or login.... I have no idea how your app works whether ill want to visit it again or whether I even trust you, so I'm not going to start my experience by giving you info.

I see a lot of sites make this mistake. If you can't put people right into the functionality of the app so that they can play with it themselves, then give them a search box or at least tour of the app, epmhasising that it is free, to entice them to create an account.

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

Fair point. I will add some more info.

makmanalp• 16 years ago

More info doesn't matter. Add a "try it now" box or something.

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

I have added some more info. No screenshots yet though. Maybe I will add it later.

Thanks a lot

marcojelli• 16 years ago

I'm an avid movie watcher. I like the idea of getting specialized suggestions in a way that is more familiar/easily tailored than my current methods: blockbuster & netflix ratings. However, for new releases, my best bet is fan buzz through Fandango. My question: Is there a way to smartly aggregate some of these sources and tie in with a facebook API? Or maybe to link up with fandango or groupon to facilitate a commercial revenue model? Or API with facebook and foursquare so that when people check in it automatically allows them to rate movies and let their friends know. A further step would be allowing the most active users to be 'followed' by those interested in movie reviews by a group with similar tastes but is not interested in maintaining their own group. - Random Ideas. I hope you find some of this constructive.

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

Awesome! I made this app cause I always feel a need of knowing which movie to watch next. So instead of asking my friends every time I meet them about the movies they have recently watched, I thought this would be a better idea.

One of the things that I realized was that I value recommendations of only a small group of people. Someone may have liked a movie that I also do, but that does not mean I can trust their recos. Hence, a model which lets me actively add people to my list of recommenders.

I would certainly keep improving the app and integrate it with other useful services.

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I appreciate it.

hugopeixoto• 16 years ago

You have the Movies Watched / Movies to Watch labels mixed up.

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.

rjbond3rd• 16 years ago

Also I think you need to swap these labels when you click "How does this work?":

Movies To Watch - Movies that you have watched...

Movies Watched - Movies that you want to watch

dzlobin• 16 years ago

http://www.cineight.com Clickable link.

I agree with lzw though, you need a better landing page.

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

I have added some more info to the landing page, plus I plan to add screenshots etc to help the user understand what the app is about. However, I wish to keep it plain and simple. That is till I start getting more complaints.

RossM• 16 years ago

In my opinion on the landing page you should have two sentences saying what the app does - what problem it solves. Your registration form is short so keep that in a box to the right - login can go in a popup or on another page though right? Screenshots are good if it's obvious what is happening. The UI isn't loading properly for me at the moment but it looks fairly small and complex. I couldn't tell what was going on anyway.

minalecs• 16 years ago

I think how you find people needs a lot of work. Every time I add a movie, I should be able to see who else watched it or added it, and be able to see the other movies they've added or watched. At this time , its impossible to find users without first knowing who they are.

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

Yes. It wasn't in my original plan, but as this thing shaped up, I realize it must be added. So, just wait for a small while, and I will surely add better user discovery. Of course, any and all suggestions will be much appreciated

zoudini• 16 years ago

I found the some of the terms confusing... "My Recommendations" I thought would mean movies that were recommended FOR me not BY me. Also Movies To Watch is ambiguous and same for Movies filtered. The tooltip popups when you mouseover help but the button names should be self-explanatory. Also, as far as the UI/UX is concerned, maybe color-coding them would make the buttons more 'intuitive'.

Also, while I understand the primary aim of your site is to let users manage their lists/recommendations, this feels a lot like 'expert-mode'. I myself would love an 'easy-mode' wehre I could get my automatic recommendations from other sources (implementing your own may recommender is probably not worth it at this point and would suffer from a cold-start) but ALSO be able to manage them at the same time (recommend to friends/filter/etc).

Also, maybe this may work well with a Facebook/Twitter integration (like tweet that I just watched such and such movie).

Also, as much as game mechanics have been played out, I think it would definitely be useful to have a system for ranking/rating people who make recommendations. You could create experts (if you want to rip off 4sq et. al, you could make people experts by awarding badges for things like watching 10 horror movies or making 100 successful recommendations that people watched).

All in all, I think it has the beginnings of a good product.

yousuffauzan11• 16 years ago

I will change the titles of each tab. Just need to come up with better names. Facebook/Twitter integration is on the card. I am still thinking about their possible use. Thanks zoudini.

Ask HN: Please review my webapp http://cineight.com

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