ThemeSquirrel

Web and SaaS

template marketplace browser

SHOW HN2012

78points
40comments
#305of 1,677 in 2012
Top 19%of 2012 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

4 positive, 7 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 7 critical, out of 21 comments about the project. Thread score -0.14.

Design: 2 for, 4 againstIdea: 2 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

  • Clean design and large previews are easy to scan

    From 2 comments
    • Your site is much better than most of the scrolling preview sites (e.g., thethemelist.com is stylistic but too visually overpowering and cluttered for my eyes to parse). I say…
      nhebb on HN
    • I built ThemeSquirrel since I really like ThemeForest, but absolutely hate the browsing method. I don't want to mouse over every thumbnail to see the larger preview.…
      polyfractal on HN
  • Much faster browsing than ThemeForest

    From 1 comment
    • Much faster browsing. I would like some way of grouping and also upvoting. I know, we're never satisfied.
      jpdoctor on HN

Objections

  • Dense grid and infinite scroll are distracting and hard to bookmark

    From 2 comments
    • It works really well. But, I consider anyone who finds the dense grid display easier than browsing down a list a savant; I have trouble focusing on just one thumbnail in the sea…
      adambard on HN
    • Great site, however hate the infinite scroll. Makes it impossible to bookmark your place in the list (and is very disorienting). Also the animations of new tiles coming in are…
      XLcommerce on HN
  • Marketing images on thumbnails are unwanted

    From 1 comment
    • Great idea, however one of the things I most dislike about ThemeForest that is still present here are the marketing images for each theme. I'd rather just see a picture of what…
      aculver on HN
  • Sub-category acorn toggles are not obvious

    From 2 comments
    • It is not obvious that the acorns are actually disclosure arrows – they look like just list bullets. I think using the standard triangle shapes would be better. Or perhaps acorns…
      roryokane on HN
    • i didn't even notice the acorns until you mentioned it. don't sacrifice usability for better looks.
      jrberger on HN
  • Some categories show no results

    From 1 comment
    • Drilling down to some categories yields some with no results. (Maybe grey out and don't provide a click-thru to the category if it has no items..)
      jrberger on HN

Requests

  • Single-column or list display mode

    From 1 comment
    • I've begun to suspect the same thing. I'd love to read that article if you can find the link. I'll add "Single-column mode" to my to-do list. I think I will also make the "Large…
      polyfractal on HN
  • Sorting and filters such as price and rating

    From 2 comments
    • Sorting options (sort by name, price, rating, etc) are on the short list for me to implement. I actually have a lot of that data in my database right now, just no code to…
      polyfractal on HN
    • Looks cool, and a nice way to get some affiliate revenue. I would suggest adding some filters (like sort by number of purchases, price, etc.), and search parameters.
      byoung2 on HN
  • Live preview inline beside a list

    From 2 comments
    • would it be possible to have a display mode where: at the left would be a single-column scrolling list of the templates as they currently are (thumbnail + title), then to the…
      jrberger on HN
    • It would be nice if clicking a thumbnail went straight to the live preview. Or, if each thumbnail had two links visible, one for the info page and one for the live preview. I…
      epikur on HN
  • Upvoting or comments

    From 2 comments
    • Much faster browsing. I would like some way of grouping and also upvoting. I know, we're never satisfied.
      jpdoctor on HN
    • Up voting thru your app (plus comments) might be an interesting value add.
      jpdoctor on HN

Questions

  • How the crawler was built and what stack was used

    From 1 comment
    • I apologize in advance if this isn't the correct place to ask, but how were you able to create a page crawler like this? What does your stack look like?
      ilovezombies on HN
  • Whether the maker earns affiliate revenue

    From 1 comment
    • Just wondering, do you earn anything out of this? Does Themeforest have an affiliation model, if so, is it per click or purchase?
      alpb on HN

Alternatives named

  • thethemelist.com

    From 2 comments
    • checkout http://thethemelist.com, which provides that. and a real screenshot of the theme
      aibon on HN
    • Your site is much better than most of the scrolling preview sites (e.g., thethemelist.com is stylistic but too visually overpowering and cluttered for my eyes to parse). I say…
      nhebb on HN
  • Scrollsy

    From 1 comment
    • I built ThemeSquirrel since I really like ThemeForest, but absolutely hate the browsing method. I don't want to mouse over every thumbnail to see the larger preview.…
      polyfractal on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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