Panda: a tool for hackers and designers

by fatiherikli • 12 years ago

73 39 12 years ago

The internet just got a little more distracted

hhsnopek• 12 years ago

Which is why I don't use it anymore. It's nice to use in the beginning, but it starts to get detracting every time you open a nice tab.

siphr• 12 years ago

I'd be very interested to know how you get by without it. It might sound like a joke but I am super serial.

ahmetsulek2• 12 years ago

hey! that's why we've created the web version as well, so you can have it whenever you want instead of having as your start page http://usepanda.com/app

nkozyra2• 12 years ago

This seems like a muddled UX to me - either it could all be integrated/aggregated and filtered or it should be more focused to start.

I'd also say from the UX perspective there's a bit of an expectation that [ left side in a list right side in expanded view ] tends to denote a relationship between the two when in fact there is none.

Feels like an aggregator that didn't want to just be an aggregator. It does look pretty, though.

apricot13• 12 years ago

I'd also say from the UX perspective there's a bit of an expectation that [ left side in a list right side in expanded view ]

I think its because when you first load it the left is smaller than the right and you dont notice the site titles.

Been clicking for a few minutes and still unsure whats going to happen when I click something

ripb• 12 years ago

I'd also say from the UX perspective there's a bit of an expectation that [ left side in a list right side in expanded view ] tends to denote a relationship between the two when in fact there is none.

I agree. I clicked the links on the left expecting some sort of in-page action, but was met with tabs being opened which is counter-intuitive to what one has come to expect with in-site/in-app menus.

Or perhaps I've just been spoiled by UI's like that of Alien Blue for Reddit?

nkozyra2• 12 years ago

Or Gmail. Or countless others.

If you're going to split the screen I think it needs to be split in half for there to be an expectation that they're independent, unrelated elements.

rssems• 12 years ago

love it

chunkstuntman• 12 years ago

Small bug: when clicking on an "Ask HN" or any HN link that just drops to the comments section, an error page [0] appears.

[0] http://usepanda.com/app/item?id=7743604

kovrik• 12 years ago

Very complicated UI

joshdance• 12 years ago

I think the feeling of 'missing something' is a false fear. If something is really good, or really popular, you will see it (like 2048). When you need inspiration you can find it. But what most people need to do (myself included) is seek inspiration less and do more work.

monkeynotes• 12 years ago

This is true if you only judge what is 'good' as something that has mass appeal. What if you are into esoteric stuff that most people don't get? Also I think you undervalue inspiration, the work can be effortless when you have the right motivation.

akaralar• 12 years ago

I agree that if something is really popular, you'll see it. But being popular doesn't imply that it is really good, or something really good might not always be popular. Also 'popular' depends on the filter bubble you are currently in (whatever your sources are). I also agree that we should do more work, which is why I've always been a fan of curated sources by people (or algorithms, as in Zite) whose taste I trust instead of browsing through an endless stream of feeds and websites. I'll always choose the option of a daily or weekly newsletter instead of browsing through the site every hour or so.

Kurtz79• 12 years ago

Yes, there is something as too much of a good thing.

Even if I mostly browse Hacker News, I usually see quite a few in-depth articles that would really merit more attention than what I usually I give them, just because I'm distracted by the next shiny news item.

At some point, it ceases being inspiration and "professional interest" and becomes entertainment, or just distraction.

(This is just how I feel personally, I don't want to diss the app that looks very nice).

brador• 12 years ago

You're right, but a lot of inspiration comes from serendipity. Just randomly clicking and hitting a link that sparks for you. It's why I created http://skimfeed.com to scratch my itch.

Additionally I've found focusing on the work of others rather than "news" works best. Show hn, tutorials, questions and answers on topics of interest (stack is huge), new plugins, that sorta thing. That way you're improving even in your downtime.

jonamar• 12 years ago

Strong start. I like being able to hit up a single place for a quick pulse on what's going on in the industry and then jumping back out without having to spend a lot of time screwing around on 15 different sites. There's so much good stuff out there -- I leave feeling energized every time I visit the site. Looking forward to seeing how they work out the kinks and polish the UI.

ecesena• 12 years ago

I agree, and actually like hn as I can come at every hour and find something interesting. I don't feel the fear to miss something (it's not timely ordered), just the pleasure to be always satisfied.

duiker101• 12 years ago

I have to say that while all the info was in front of me, it still took me a while to understand what i was looking at...

louisfrankland• 12 years ago

Personally don't really have much time to browse through but its a nice tool for quickly browsing through at a glimpse. Looks really nice too

fka• 12 years ago

I already use it, but the last update with "Latest" and "Popular" switches made me a little confused. When I press "latest" button, does it switches to latests or already showing the latests? Maybe a slider switch instead of toggle switch would be more clear.

Also, as a non-designer user, I'd like to use designs section to see 9gag items :)

So, It's a great, every-day-use tool for me :)

rince• 12 years ago

The Popular/Latest buttons are a nightmare. It's only by using the 2x/1x button I realised that clicking on the button changes the view to what was previously on the button.

jamesmcbennett• 12 years ago

Supernice feed that is simple for me to use. I clicked the buttons and everything seemed easy enough to understand. I don't really get some of the comments here as I find the UI easy to understand as in I clicked everything, it worked, then I understood it.same as I do for every new site I encounter..

(Disclaimer: Friend of one of the guy's behind this.)

u124556• 12 years ago

Whenever I see a panel on the left of some main content I expect it to do something to that content.

Perhaps the problem is that the Dribble side feels like the main content for the page. I mean, you can even hide the left panel to let the "main content" take over the whole screen!

calgaryeng• 12 years ago

This might not have been the best name for a product, given the very popular Pandas[1] package that will probably win in Google.

[1] http://pandas.pydata.org/

theg2• 12 years ago

This was my first thought as well. However...aren't we going to run out of names eventually for projects? Unless we all start making words up which defeats the purpose of a memorable named (unless you're Google).

jonnyparris• 12 years ago

I think it's a sweet solution conceptually even if it needs a bit of work on the UI to be more intuitive. Not a designer myself, but I see the value in being able to indulge in a sort of binge scrapbooking.

(Disclaimer: Also a friend of one of the guy's behind this.)

davidhariri• 12 years ago

I like the chrome extension

foc247• 12 years ago

If you design every day, this is definitely a good way to simplify the supply of inspiration. Decent start.

niix• 12 years ago

Really like the UI. Reminds me of Designspiration.

xpop2027• 12 years ago

Would be awesome if this incorporated inbound.org and growthhackers.com

BorisMelnik• 12 years ago

This is a fun little tool. I keep the "use as website" bookmarked on my toolbar. This tool actually used to be called "geisha" and the logo was of a geisha girl. IT was deemed offensive so they changed it to Panda. I personally like to use it just for inspiration before I am getting ready to do a new design. Not to copy anything, but just to get my creative juices flowing.

xemoka• 12 years ago

Previously seen as Geisha: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7319937

However they renamed due to seeing their name as belittling to female developers/designers.

uses• 12 years ago

Looks nice, really like the left sidebar.

Since this site only works with a 5 sources at the moment, it could tell me a bit deeper info about the links it's getting, besides the title.

4 of 5 sources (exception being sidebar.io) feature 2 similar metadatas: # upvotes and # comments. They're important metrics for me as a browser figuring out what's important. Show these on the page (optionally?).

And look how much work I have to do to say, see news from HN and DN:

1) load page (shows HN for instance) 2) click hamburger 3) click DN icon 4) (close hamburger?)

If this is an aggregator, it could do more to make this my awesome news dashboard, showing content from everywhere mixed together. Maybe mix HN, DN, and sidebar (textual content, i.e. titles) in the "text list" sidebar. Your hamburger menu would hide/show these from the mix. And same with Dribble/Behance (visual content) - show them as a mix in the right side. Or just keep separate sections/columns for each source.

Though either way, I like the color coding to indicate what source I'm looking at, e.g. blue for DN, orange for HN.

There's definitely value in this, and that value is a special purpose RSS-like reader bringing similar sites into a unified happy design aesthetic with crisp UI.

mimighost• 12 years ago

No offense, but I think "a tool for hackers and designers" is a pretty bad title for what you want to publicize.

ChrisArchitect2• 12 years ago

I actually really like Panda but it's old news https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7386597 the Geisha renaming thing was pretty high profile as far as our community goes/happened so quickly...so I dunno how it was missed

ChrisArchitect2• 12 years ago

yeah yeah, downvote, whatever. One nice thing DN has is when you submit a new link it searches and says 'that link was posted x hours ago, are you sure you want to post it again?'

Panda: a tool for hackers and designers

Related Stories