News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

auoerlclh

Re:Ask HN: How do you make money from your side projects? on Tuesday March 28, 2017 @06:49PM (#13981566)
I can't tell you about getting views, but I can name a few things about your site that turned me off. These are intended as constructive criticism, so sorry if they come off as harsh.

1. The background looked kind of cheesy. It's not a huge deal, but a solid color would look nicer.

2. There's a timer the second I load the page. If I'm trying to relax with Sudoku, this site is not for me. It looks like you can turn it off, but I know people who will just leave once they see the timer. Timed games are pressure-inducing and not fun for them.

3. I don't know what the various tools shown do. Why would I need a pencil tool for sudoku on the computer? Can't I just type the number I want? What's the one that looks like a checkbox? Why is there an error check? Other sudoku apps just mark it in red if it's wrong. (These are things I would think as a normal user. Obviously I read the tooltips, but most users will not.)

Overall impression - hard to use, not fun. Plus, a little late to the Sudoku trend. There are thousands of Sudoku sites and mobile apps. What would be my incentive to use yours? If I already have one I like, why would I switch? Also, I have ad blocking turned on, but if there were ads and I saw them I would never come back to your site. (Obviously different people have different feelings about that.) I can pay 99 cents for a great Sudoku app on my phone with no ads.