Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos(kickfolio.com)

55 points by edowling 13 years ago | 48 comments

steve8918 13 years ago |

Very interesting, but one big flaw is that the app look like a video, with the Play button on it. I clicked on it and was waiting for the video to play and then I realized that I was supposed to interact with it with my mouse. I would consider changing the icon, or having a bubble that pops up and tells you that you can interact with it like an app.

chrisnolet 13 years ago | |

Good feedback, thanks mate. I'm just wondering what kind of an icon we could implement - maybe a small iPhone-shaped watermark, perhaps even with a play button or cursor pointer inside of it?

edowling 13 years ago | |

Thanks for that. Will look at ways we can improve the experience.

chime 13 years ago |

My portfolio looks different when I'm logged in vs. when I open up the URL in incognito window. That's ok (HN does it too) but you should give me some way of previewing the guest-view. E.g. https://kickfolio.com/chirag?preview or something.

Bug: When I'm logged in, https://kickfolio.com/chirag/tip-of-my-tongue and https://kickfolio.com/chirag/ktype show "We're sorry, but something went wrong."

Also, is there any way for someone to claim their own app? I test added 'Angry Birds' to my portfolio and it worked. What if someone else adds my app?

edowling 13 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback! I've just spotted your error in the logs so will work to fix it today.

Preview view is a good idea - will see about how we can implement it.

We're planning on adding a dispute resolution process for apps. One of the use cases we've identified is that a business might want to feature an app as a marketing tool, while the freelancer who made it might want it as a portfolio tool. Automatic verification doesn't seem possible, so we're currently building a manual dispute resolution process.

jonny_eh 13 years ago | | |

Maybe there's some way for you to generate a special key/phrase that the app owner can embed in their app store listing to prove that they own the app.

MaxGabriel 13 years ago |

You do a much better job that app.net at demoing your service. I can't even see what an app.net site looks like, whereas I've seen your service and am already really excited about it.

robomartin 13 years ago |

This is more of a Pieceable comment/question rather than kickfolio.

One concern I would have would be that apps are now usable outside of the device. If you have a paid app are you opening the door to free usage? Say you have a specialized calculator of some sort. Now anyone can use it for free through a browser.

I realize that there's a cost associated with the number of simultaneous users. Maybe that's the limiting mechanism.

Also:

https://www.pieceable.com/facebook

"We will be winding down the Pieceable service at the end of the year so we can focus on the new challenges and opportunities at Facebook. Facebook is not acquiring the company, technology, or customer data. We know many of you have come to rely on the Pieceable service, and we want to make sure that you can continue to do so even after we shut down our hosted service on December 31, 2012. In a few months, we'll be releasing an open source version of Pieceable Viewer that you'll be able to run on your own Mac hardware - we'll have more details on that soon."

Which is potentially good news long-term.

chrisnolet 13 years ago | |

We limit the app demos to a 1 minute maximum, then the simulator resets. We figure this is probably enough to prevent people from abusing the free time. Also, if the developer has a data-driven app that could be exploited in under a minute, they don't necessarily need to upload a demo and could just stick with the screenshots to showcase their app. Do you think that's a good solution?

We've been in close touch with the Pieceable guys. We've been talking to them about how we can continue to run with the technology beyond the end of the year and we don't foresee any issues with continuing that integration or providing something similar. Good pick-up!

robomartin 13 years ago | | |

Sounds good. How about sound? This is particularly important for games. We are on track to publish several games. Without sound the demos would not be appealing at all. For example, there are times when the player would hear a spoken prompt. Without it he/she would not know what to do.

duiker101 13 years ago |

it looks nice and not expensive but i did not understand the "demo" part, where are they? also what are the main differeces with other similar services? i rember seeing one some time ago that so a lot similar, something like app.net but i am not sure, but another example is limelightapp.com

good job anyway it looks really nice!

Oh one last thing, will the bar be always stick to the top of my page? that's something i would prefer not to be on my app's page. Users do not know i use your service and i think it might be confusing. I can understand if it might stay there with the free plan but with the paid ones it must go away IMHO. that said, Good Luck. ;)

edowling 13 years ago | |

The demo's are an optional extra. You can check out a demo here: http://www.edwarddowling.com/victorian-opera

or here: http://kickfolio.com/examples/modest

Just click play twice and away you go!

(Tech is from the great guys at Pieceable).

The bar is only there if you are logged in, so users won't see it.

edowling 13 years ago | |

Just wanted to touch on differences with other services. We've really focused on the folio element, allowing people and businesses to create a complete presence online. Instead of single pages, we feel developers want to create a complete online portfolio of their work outside of Apple's walled garden, with a minimal amount of effort required to maintain it.

chrisnolet 13 years ago | |

Thanks Duiker, I'm just coding up something hide the Kickfolio bar on Folio and App pages as requested, (unless you're logged in). Thanks for the idea!

gozman 13 years ago |

Hey guys, great use of Pieceable to innovate the app feedback piece. I like your templates too!

How are you guarding against other upstarts in this space like ooomf (http://ooomf.com) that are also bringing great design to mobile app landing pages (where launchrock et. al. don't shine as much?)

Also, any hope to solve the app preview problem in a way that doesn't use Flash so that it can run on Mobile Safarai?

edowling 13 years ago | |

Thanks. We'd love to have the demos not require Flash but it is how Pieceable works. With the team moving to Facebook, we have a few options to explore about the future of the tech.

Thanks for pointing out ooomf. I hadn't seen them before. I like to think every new service in this space is great validation for us. I think there is enough room in this niche for several players to exist to cater to different needs.

gozman 13 years ago | | |

I agree. You guys are definitely onto something. App discovery sucks right now. I can't wait to see it fixed!

epaga 13 years ago |

Extremely impressive right off the bat. Signed up right after seeing the positive app reviews be fetched. But how do I sort the apps once I've added them? See here: http://kickfolio.com/epaga I'd like to have EmptyInbox be the one at the top.

edowling 13 years ago | |

At the moment it sorted by most recent. Would love to have them jiggle like the home screen so you could move them around! Would be a fun bit of jQuery.

pasalot 13 years ago |

Just a small comment from me. Checked out one of the folios and noticed clicking on a demo says it requires flash. Disappointing as I am on an iPad. Surely many potential app users will. E browsing on their iOS devices? Did I miss something?

l4u 13 years ago |

I don't think white apple products can be used according to the marketing guideline.

apitaru 13 years ago |

I've just posted a couple of projects and love the way it looks. As for the live-demo part, I haven't uploaded the apps yet, wondering if you'll be streaming audio, as my apps are sound-centric (Sonic Wire Sculptor, Numby)

Great job!

chrisnolet 13 years ago | |

We don't stream sound at the moment but it's a good idea. We're looking at ways we can extend the tech to incorporate sound, thanks for your feedback! http://kickfolio.com/apitaru

mamatta 13 years ago |

Great idea! I can really see this taking over this growing "marketplace" space. How do you render these demos/simulations on the browser

chrisnolet 13 years ago | |

Thanks, much appreciated. We've integrated the live apps via Pieceable, who run an iOS simulator in the cloud and stream video back to the browser.

Smudge 13 years ago |

I enjoy the concept and the snappiness of the app previws. But, to me, the layout's use of subtlepatterns.com seems a bit gratuitous.

edowling 13 years ago | |

Fair comment. Custom CSS is available for pro and unlimited plans, so you can customise how it looks. Ultimately, we'd love to have several themes and templates available.

mbenjaminsmith 13 years ago |

Please consider adding Android as well as Mac apps. I'd sign up for an unlimited account today if you handled Mac apps.

edowling 13 years ago | |

Great to hear! Definitely coming soon - if you have signed up for a free account, you'll be the first to know when we add it.

RileyJames 13 years ago |

Kickfolio is an awesome product. Can't wait for a gem/api so we can incorporate kickfolio's into Dragonfly.

xoail 13 years ago |

just trying to understand how is this different from app.net? which also helps in creating app micro sites.

chrisnolet 13 years ago | |

Two things:

1. We focus on the folio element, so you build a profile rather than marketing one app at a time. You can also explore other developers' work: http://kickfolio.com/explore

2. You can run live, interactive demos: http://kickfolio.com/examples/modest

Thanks for your feedback - it's a good reminder that we need to keep clear differentiators.

mattberg 13 years ago |

very impressed. a couple of questions:

is it possible to change the url of the app? for example my app title was pretty long and would be nice if the url was shorter.

how often do you check for updates on the screenshots and description, etc? i have an update releasing in the next week or so.

android???

edowling 13 years ago | |

Not yet possible to change app url. Definitely coming soon, along with Android.

We don't check for updates to screenshots and reviews yet - you can remove the app and add it again. We don't like the idea of updating someone else's website if they don't want us to, but being able to opt-in to auto-update is probably the way forward.

savories 13 years ago |

"Get a great looking, reponsive website with zero effort." typo found

edowling 13 years ago | |

Thanks! I'll fix it now and push it later today.

nbclark 13 years ago |

Is this using the same type of tech as Pieceable?

(Just saw the other comment: Yes)

taphangum 13 years ago |

This is really good!

do you have a personal email i can contact you on?

duiker101 13 years ago | |

hello@kickfolio.com ?

edowling 13 years ago | | |

Yep - thats the best one.

frankdenbow 13 years ago |

looks good, but how is this better than App.net (what I used most recently)?

edowling 13 years ago | |

I touched on this with this reply: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4196850

In short, we're focusing on a folio element and also the interactive app demos, allowing visitors to actually try and app before the download it.

Rodeoclash 13 years ago |

Looks awesome

chrisnolet 13 years ago |

Love it!

dr42 13 years ago |

I liked it until I clicked the Modest demo and it said my iPad needs Flash installed :(

Wouldn't that be a not-so-great idea for an iOS centric audience?

chrisnolet 13 years ago | |

We're trying to find a non-Flash solution for this. Might fall back to the screenshots for iOS for now. Good pick-up, thanks.

We are putting a big emphasis on responsive design and we want to do the best job possible of displaying apps on the iPhone and iPad.