The central value proposition is its reimagined UI, making threaded replies more visible and more interactive by separating conversation topics (threads) into different columns.
It’s currently just an MVP, but I expect to at least improve the UI and maybe rearchitect the system in the near future.
I shipped an MVP of an instant messaging app that re-imagines the dynamics of chat. Your conversation is no longer limited to the vertical direction. It can expand in the horizontal direction to separate different but simultaneous topics!
I also did a couple of Show HN posts for it. Didn't get much traction with either, but it's ok because I think my next steps are to revise the landing page and get a more proper UI.
I don't get it. Are you threading but just making threads side by side? The demo isn't making much sense because logically they could be all vertical.
And if you're just placing threads to the side, doesn't this require the main thread to be squeezed? I can't imagine this would look good on a phone except in landscape. But I haven't used landscape since I had a physical keyboard. Everything you have tells me this is what you're doing: a style change.
I think the demo needs a more clear example. What does it look like? The demo should make it abundantly clear what's happening and what your product solves. That's your 1 minute to get me hooked and read more. To get me to try it. New styles, even if more efficient, have more friction, because it is new and things aren't where you expect. Your demo needs to show that it is worth the friction.
Thanks for the feedback -- definitely agree on the demo! Based on some feedback from one of the Show HNs, I'm planning to make some fake little chat bot, so users have something to interact with (albeit in a very scripted/formulaic way) instead of sending a link to a friend. The chat bot will replace the static demo entirely.
It's definitely a style change first and foremost. I got sick of this pattern: friend sends message1, message2, message3; I respond reply1, reply2, reply3. And then they probably reply to some (if not all) of my replies. Usually it's pretty clear which message corresponds to which topic, but it's always messy. With XpanXn, it's explicit and visually obvious.
Each topic column is a fixed width. You can pan around the chat canvas and zoom in/out exactly as you'd expect! In fact, another motivator was knowing that a lot of people like really small font sizes on their phones. This way, you tailor font size just by zooming in/out. There's definitely some opportunity to improve that, but for now, I think the ability to pan tends to most of that concern.
1. Threads aren't secondary. There's no secondary window, and threads don't get lost in the amalgamation of main window messages. All threads are presented equally, which brings me to...
2. It's visual. You see the entire graph -- how the conversation flows -- and you directly interact with the chat canvas.
As someone who’s one week into a four-week gap between knowing there will be layoffs and knowing who exactly will be laid off, I completely agree. There’s some comfort in knowing that the layoff benefits are already defined, but they’re pretty bad for early career employees like me.
My nights are starting to focus on preparing for a job search.
Hey everyone, my name is Peter and I developed XpanXn ("Expansion") after wondering if instant messaging could better mimic real-life conversations if it were designed more like a mind-map.
XpanXn is an instant messaging app where your conversation is not limited to the vertical direction; it can expand in the horizontal direction to isolate different conversation topics being discussed simultaneously. Along with redesigning the dynamics of instant messaging, XpanXn also offers better privacy with no third-party data mining. You're the customer, not the product.
My intent is for this to be a minimum viable product. There's quite a bit of refinement needed to get XpanXn to realize its full potential and match the features we've come to expect from instant messaging apps.
I hope you'll give XpanXn a try -- no account needed. I'll be standing by to answer questions, and feedback is much appreciated!
It is very clever idea but i do agree with bruceb. You want MVP, but definitely spend more time on the demo. Me clicking on something and seeing an image of it negates and doesn't inspire me at all with your call to action to sign up.
You should be setting up a demo like letting me have a conversation with a bot.
Bot: hello there, how are you today?
-> Me: [any answer really]
-> Bot: I know we didn't finish this conversation, but can you tell me more about [any answer really]?
Bot: did you know this is similar to Slack's threads?
-> Me: No I did not know that.
-> Bot: Well now you do. Check out more features.
-> Me: Yeah this is so cool.
-> Bot: I'm glad you knew about it.
Bot: How's work today?
-> Me: Good.
-> Bot: That is good. Work is okay here too.
-> Bot: I know I started another conversation before finishing this one, but would you consider using it for work?
Bot: Do you have any pets?
-> Me: [any answer]
-> Bot: That's cool if you prefer, as I do prefer [any answer] myself.
Bot: You know, I built this project during the quarantine of COVID-19. Are you working on anything?
-> Me: Oh wow. I'm not working on anything. [any answer really]
-> Bot: I'm still adding more features to it. Do you have any suggestions or are you ready to sign up?
Something like that would probably suffice.
I know me and... everyone I know who is more than a 1-dimensional character in my life meaning we have more than just "hi how are you" conversations discuss multiple topics and sometimes I have to say, "regarding the above... " or "we were talking about it earlier, but didn't finish..."
Anyways, I hope this helps you, and I am completely validating your idea. Even the price... I'd suggest a free version with limits if that is something you'd consider, or just a trial demo might suffice. I'm a believe in some freemium to an extent, but thats just me.
Hey everyone, my name is Peter and I developed XpanXn ("Expansion") after wondering if instant messaging could better mimic real-life conversations if it were designed more like a mind-map.
XpanXn is an instant messaging app where your conversation is not limited to the vertical direction; it can expand in the horizontal direction to isolate different conversation topics being discussed simultaneously. Along with redesigning the dynamics of instant messaging, XpanXn also offers better privacy with no third-party data mining. You're the customer, not the product.
My intent is for this to be a minimum viable product. There's quite a bit of refinement needed to get XpanXn to realize its full potential and match the features we've come to expect from instant messaging apps.
I hope you'll give XpanXn a try -- no account needed. I'll be standing by to answer questions, and feedback is much appreciated!
I've been working on a chat web app for the past few months. Its defining feature is that it reimagines the way in which conversations flow, allowing them to be really nonlinear.
It's almost ready for a ShowHN. I just have to get the websockets working!
Sounds similar to some work I’ve been doing, so thanks for unknowingly validating my design!
At my employer, I’m spearheading a wholesale reimplementation of outdated process automation software, turning everything into Django web apps.
I’ve been working with a monorepo and monolithic deployments to maintain development velocity but recently started transitioning the CI/CD pipeline to deploy each application/service in the monorepo independently. The pipeline packages common assets (including, e.g., manage.py, common HTML templates, and the dependency spec...all housed in the same monorepo) into each app directory before the deploy stage.
Meanwhile, local developers clone the entire monorepo, and when they launch localhost, all of the services come online simultaneously. (That’s the goal, at least!)
I was already excited to see my work come to fruition, and now I’ll be keeping an eye on Khan Academy, too!
That does sound pretty similar (though our services all have the luxury of serving nothing other than GraphQL!).
Our current plan for local development is to continue cloning the monorepo and firing up all of the services. Go services don't take a whole lot of resources, so we think this plan will work fine for quite a while.
I've encountered this being used as a crutch for poor employee performance on a software project focused on replacing a legacy application.
An employee with little programming experience used his supposed lack of context as an excuse for poor work and disinterest despite having been given an overview of (1) what the legacy software does and why, (2) the broader project goals, and (3) the immediate project goal (i.e., replacing the existing software). The employee similarly hid behind their lack of technical understanding, asking questions to "learn" but ignoring the answers.
The author isn’t worried about the takeoff speed in that quote; he’s thinking about the increased duration of the flight as stiff winter headwinds (at cruising altitude) decrease the aircraft’s groundspeed.
Prevailing surface wind direction doesn’t vary much with season.
