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Re:Show HN: I made an app that consolidated 18 apps (doc, sh... by yoz on Sunday January 07, 2024 @02:59PM (#38904609)
Initial impression after a few minutes of use: there may be a huge amount of power here, but the app and site seem to be completely lacking guidance and I've no idea what to do or how to learn.

I've installed it on my Mac and am trying to add a set of records representing contacts with a couple of basic fields: name, phone, birthdate. I want to query those records elsewhere in other modules.

The app is giving no guidance on how to do this. On open, it just shows me a blank tab, and I had to try a few different controls to work out how to add a module. I don't know which module I should use to add queryable records, so I'm trying Board.

Now that I've added a board, I can add a first record but there doesn't seem to be a way to add a second. There are columns named "None" and "Unnamed"; the one named "None" has the first contact in it. Pressing the "+" button in the corner adds another column. Eventually, I drag the record from "None" to "Unnamed"; "None" disappears, now there's just "Unnamed", and I can add other records.

I'll keep playing with it a little, but there's only so far that people can be expected to try to work out the usage model that you've designed this for. Sure, there are loads of modules, but how do they link together? An example setup for a fictional team might really help here.

Re:Show HN: I made an app that consolidated 18 apps (doc, sh... by harrisonlo on Monday January 08, 2024 @01:32AM (#38908898)
Noted on the lack of guidance and onboarding. I can see the confusion you had with the board module and have some ideas on improving it. Thanks for giving it a try.
Re:Show HN: I made an app that consolidated 18 apps (doc, sh... by joenot443 on Monday January 08, 2024 @09:08AM (#38912095)
Piggybacking to say I really like GP's suggestion of a living demo the user can jump right into after onboarding. I'm working on a similarly open-ended product right now and I've been thinking hard on ways to avoid the daunting "what now?" feeling of being presented with a big, unfamiliar, blank canvas.
Re:Show HN: I made an app that consolidated 18 apps (doc, sh... by 0thgen on Friday January 19, 2024 @04:00PM (#39061100)
I honestly found it pretty intuitive. Every module uses the same basic action-flow, which was super clever UI design on the creator's part