StoryTime
Dev tools
code explainer
SHOW HN2019
193points
67comments
#197of 2,195 in 2019
Top 9%of 2019 by points
How HN took it
DebatedReal support and real criticism
12 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 14 critical, out of 39 comments about the project. Thread score -0.05.
Design: 2 for, 11 againstIdea: 7 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful concept for explaining code step by step
From 4 comments
I like this mode of explaining code things by slowly building up & talking through examples. I have been doing this in talks for a while to go over code bit by bit without…
sequoia on HNVery interesting concept, thanks for sharing! Context and intent are critical when trying to understand code - this looks like a useful way to capture that. Merging the call…
brnkrygs on HNThis is very cool. This is basically what I do when I'm making a presentation and talking about a block of code (albeit with a ton of work in Keynote to make it easy to follow).…
jedberg on HNI love this. This is how I document my side projects, I tend to write long stories to myself with chunks of code thrown in for clarity. This is much more elegant though.
freehunter on HN
Objections
Commentary text sits too far from the code being explained
From 4 comments
It may be a good idea to move the story text closer to the code. On a large monitor, I have to move my eyes quite a bit and it feels disconnected.
cabaalis on HNThe story text at the bottom is too far away from the code for me so I constantly need to "switch" between them and I don't have time to read both. Any reason for not putting it…
Kiro on HNThe text snacks should show up next to the code. Not fixed to the bottom. It makes it hard to follow.
whoisjuan on HN+1 - came here to say this. I love the idea, but the text block at the bottom of the screen and the corresponding code at the top left is a bit of a pain to go back and forth to…
vlucas on HN
Playback advances too fast to read; prefer manual pause/advance
From 4 comments
I think that the default behavior should be that the user has to click or press the keyboard to progress the story. I started reading one of the stories, and it quickly went…
scott_s on HNI think that pause-by-default is more important than keyboard support. Put another way, I don't think that "play" as in "play a movie" is the right metaphor. I think that by…
scott_s on HNIt moves a little too fast for me to read the message (bottom of my screen) and then flick my eyes back up to the code and internalize what it's doing. I'd prefer speed controls…
joshstrange on HNVery interesting concept. I found that the transitions were too quick for me to read the descriptions at the bottom of the page. It might be nice to set this transition interval…
broth on HN
Name oversells it; these are explanations rather than stories
From 2 comments
Innovative ways to explain code is a great idea and I love the project. However, I don't love the name. These are explanations - not stories (unless we consider stories as being…
dakom on HNI get where you're coming from, but "story" here seems more akin to a "user story" than literature. User stories have been used for quite a long time for both software…
LyndsySimon on HN
Requests
Keyboard controls and pause-by-default
From 2 comments
Good point. Will add keyboard support.
vidoss on HNIt moves a little too fast for me to read the message (bottom of my screen) and then flick my eyes back up to the code and internalize what it's doing. I'd prefer speed controls…
joshstrange on HN
Support for Bitbucket and GitLab
From 2 comments
Everything is about this is amazing except for 2 small things. 1) Not sure about private repos 2) I'm sure it doesn't work against bitbucket :(
WrtCdEvrydy on HNAnother Bitbucket vote here. Subscribed.
FascistDonut on HN
Private repo support
From 1 comment
Everything is about this is amazing except for 2 small things. 1) Not sure about private repos 2) I'm sure it doesn't work against bitbucket :(
WrtCdEvrydy on HN
Show code history over time via commit diffs
From 2 comments
Very interesting concept, thanks for sharing! Context and intent are critical when trying to understand code - this looks like a useful way to capture that. Merging the call…
brnkrygs on HNYeah watching a section of code over time was what I thought this was going to be initially. That sounds really useful for sharing the story of "how we got here" to new devs.
hsndmoose on HN
Questions
Is it open source or commercial?
From 1 comment
This is awesome, I've wanted a similar tool before. Is this open source or are you planning to commercialize? One bit of UX feedback - the modal with the commentary text is a bit…
MFLoon on HN
What happens to stories when code changes?
From 1 comment
so, what if my code has changed, will an old story matches the new code? a related project you might be interested in https://ourcodestories.com/
billconan on HN
Alternatives named
ourcodestories.com
From 1 comment
so, what if my code has changed, will an old story matches the new code? a related project you might be interested in https://ourcodestories.com/
billconan on HN
Presentation slides with code fade-ins
From 1 comment
I like this mode of explaining code things by slowly building up & talking through examples. I have been doing this in talks for a while to go over code bit by bit without…
sequoia on HN