HN user

yjsoon

47 karma
Posts6
Comments7
View on HN

Conceptually: I like the idea of giving some personality to the "type here and see something happen" code-learning toolkit, at least for the HTML/CSS course. Not sure how well this specific concept will go down with the entire range of K-12--I see this working well for grades 4-8 boys. (I teach programming to grades 8-11.)

Some specific issues:

- I'm a little worried about how the site throws a lot of (presumably unlicensed, at the moment) brands at the user. The Avengers logo, Samsung-branded phone in the HTML/CSS course, the DC Flash icon...

- Some essential lesson navigation elements ("results" in the JS course, "next" in both courses) are quite far down the page, which isn't great for users with small screens. A browser maximised for a 900px-height screen seems to work ok, but any smaller and the learner will have trouble finding the "next lesson" button, which can't be much fun.

- HTML/CSS course: Getting the learner to hit "check" immediately sometimes hides the result that would have shown up in the "browser". This could be confusing.

All the best!

I agree with the above - in its current form, I think you'd attract early adopters who, even if they love your product, might have trouble convincing others to sign up and fork out for it. With an institutional model, said early adopters (presumably those in charge of educational technology spending) can try and push it out to teachers in their school.

Along these lines, perhaps consider some way to allow those who use and love your product to bring others in with minimal friction - let them try out the product in an administrative and student role, without having to sign up and learn on their own. Most teachers I know won't try something out until they really see the value in it (i.e. students engaged, fulfills some kind of need).

I thought that, of the lot, the Madrid logo really just stood out very distinctively.

I agree that the "M" is a little understated. However, I personally don't feel it's so important that Madrid "owns" the logo at this stage - it'll come to identify with the city eventually if they win the bid and the logo enters the public consciousness.

Alternate logo and real-life usage of the Madrid logo at the designer's site: http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Madrid-2016/182876