Pen.io
Productivity
simple page publishing
SHOW HN2011
108points
96comments
#92of 1,097 in 2011
Top 9%of 2011 by points
How HN took it
DebatedReal support and real criticism
16 positive, 16 neutral or asking, 6 mixed, 21 critical, out of 59 comments about the project. Thread score -0.06.
Execution: 3 for, 9 againstDesign: 6 for, 4 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 5 againstIdea: 3 for, 1 againstDocs: 1 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
Clean, minimalist design and simple signup
From 4 comments
This is pretty dope. The design is particularly excellent. Nice work
healthyhippo on HNLove the super simple sign-up. I think this combined with the basic gist of start.io would make a killer app.
ajaymehta on HNI like this. Very minimalistic, easy to use.
phatbyte on HNI like this... Very minimalist but cool. Rich text editing would be a pretty sweet addon.
cosgroveb on HN
Interesting concept of instant text pages
From 2 comments
I really like this. It's how the Internet should've worked a long time ago. ;)
savrajsingh on HNI love it. Better, I showed my wife and she loved it too. One thing that I wanted while I was editing was a tag list (like you have on the About page, but right there on the edit…
dhbradshaw on HN
Objections
Plain-text password stored in cookies is a security risk
From 2 comments
Be careful with JavaScript and saving plain text passwords in cookies: http://cookie.pen.io I just stole your password. :) ``` <img src=""…
ElbertF on HNWhy are you asking plain text password once I have logged in ? Its incredibly risky and scary.
ved on HN
Domain name suggests something sexual or rude
From 3 comments
Immature as it may sound, pen.io may not be the best choice for a domain name; at first glance I think of body parts.
hnal943 on HNI suppose I'm pretty immature, but when I saw the URL I immediately assumed it was a Web 2.0 porn site.
ctide on HNFWIW, when I see pen.io I get a penis/penile sort of vibe. Beautifully executed service, though.
trampsymphony on HN
Non-Latin (Devanagari) text displays garbled
From 2 comments
Very nice site and well executed, however... It doesn't support Unicode? I created http://namuna.pen.io/ with devnagari script and it shows garbled text. I hope you know that…
g00gle on HNI am on FFox 4 beta 11 on WinXP and I tried it with IE7 also. I get this on both: http://imgur.com/q0PfT
g00gle on HN
Page names run out quickly and are not user-selectable
From 2 comments
I wanted to test this and decided on the name "test", which was taken. I tried "test1", then "test12" .. etc. My point: let me choose if I want a nice URL, and if I decide, then…
lordlarm on HNI'm not an expert in these sorts of things, but even that is probably asking for trouble (though considerably less so.) What's worked for me in the past was to generate a random…
bmelton on HN
Requests
Ability to delete pages
From 2 comments
It would be good if I could delete a page that I just created!
liamk on HN¿How can I delete the page?
pmarin on HN
Markdown or rich text support
From 3 comments
Sweet. <center> worked, that made me happy. I think you should implement Markdown.
unicornporn on HNNice concept - would be good to have a footer link to the instructions when in edit mode. For me, being able to use markdown or similar would be a big plus.
conjectures on HNI like this... Very minimalist but cool. Rich text editing would be a pretty sweet addon.
cosgroveb on HN
Random or title-based page URLs
From 2 comments
I wanted to test this and decided on the name "test", which was taken. I tried "test1", then "test12" .. etc. My point: let me choose if I want a nice URL, and if I decide, then…
lordlarm on HNI think you should give them out editable pretty URLs made from title of the post such as pen.io/this-is-a-test-page instead of sub-domains. This will also help you with the SEO.…
kuldeep_kap on HN
Hashtag grouping of pages
From 1 comment
Would be cool to add a grouping by hashtag function. So I choose the page name for my first entry to be Test123, and I also add hashtag #StartupPosts Then later I make an entry…
Jsarokin on HN
Self-hostable version
From 1 comment
I like this, however, I'd rather this be something I could deploy privately on my own web hosting. I've been looking for a simple cms system when I write plain text files and…
sfphotoarts on HN
Questions
Why is the password asked again after login
From 1 comment
Why are you asking plain text password once I have logged in ? Its incredibly risky and scary.
ved on HN
How the concept came about
From 1 comment
How did you come with the concept? Future update idea, if you could collate pages you've created. Instead of it getting lost in the void if you forget the IRL and need it months…
caudipublius on HN
Alternatives named
TidyPub
From 2 comments
Reminds me of TidyPub, also featured on HN a few months back: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1952882
aquadoctorbob on HNI immediately thought the same thing. This is far, far too similar to TidyPub, though they do both look great... so I guess I can't complain? Nice work, regardless.
guynamedloren on HN
Jottit
From 1 comment
Or Jottit? http://jottit.com/ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=54977 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48770 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=73049
jacobolus on HN
TiddlyWiki
From 1 comment
Or TiddlyWiki? http://www.tiddlywiki.com http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3433 <-- Check out the low id, '1432 days ago' Such an awesome thing.
_sh on HN
Jekyll
From 1 comment
https://github.com/mojombo/jekyll
JonnieCache on HN
min.us
From 1 comment
I'd recommend reversing the workflow like http://min.us. Accept the content first, then authenticate when users try & save. It removes a barrier to entry, and for people just…
lurchpop on HN