Ask YC: Feedback on my new Template Creation Web App

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=222272

by carpo • 18 years ago

3 4 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

http://www.widgely.com

Widgely is an online template builder that lets people create, share and use templates to make many different types of document. These can then be downloaded as PDF, embedded into websites or viewed through widgely.com.

The site is in beta, and has been live for a few months now - mainly friends and family testing it while I make changes and add extra features.

I've just released the latest version (PDF download and a "Template Wizard" for creating templates) and was hoping that some people here might be interested in taking a look and posting any feedback they have.

Cheers, thanks for your time :)

volida• 18 years ago

- I doubt mainstream users understand or care what's a pdf

- The problem in any idea is how to make it appealing, and in this case how to does the word spread about your web service.

- The public url for sharing their docs will help only if done right, so you should emphasize on making it more usable and visible...

Maybe you should make it possible, these documents to be embedeed in social networking sites and also make it possible to add some images.

- The other thing is user experience, starting from using words people recognize easy.

For example "usa a template" should be "create a new document"

carpo• 18 years ago

Thanks for taking the time to comment, i really appreciate it.

Spreading the word is one of the things I'm trying to work out now. Good point about the public url ... it should be easy to use and remember.

Images can already be added to documents and templates. If a template has an image field, the user can just click it to change to another one. I've created a bunch of custom border, background and decoration images so that there is already some for users to choose from.

I provided the PDF download so that documents could be printed easier than through a browser, with higher quality. I hope that people will care because it does provide a benefit to them ... but perhaps I could say it in a better way on the front page

whatusername• 18 years ago

How many people work in large corporations? Are there really companies that share data around that isn't PDF?

Sure - I'm working at a 3 letter big tech company, but still, This is 2008, PDF is pretty common.

ScottWhigham• 18 years ago

I like it - well done and good luck. I'll never use it but I see the value. If this were part of a site that I already used regularly, I'd use it but TBH I don't need/want another thing to bookmark remember that is so specific that I'll never remember/find it again.

Ask YC: Feedback on my new Template Creation Web App

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