Getting more mileage out of the initial wizard is definitely a really interesting idea. We've thought about that a lot and it's potentially the direction we might go.
Part of what worries us is whether users would feel overwhelmed by too many steps upfront without seeing their progress. Another idea that is similar that we are playing around with is replacing the current sidebar (that has instructional videos) with a sidebar that acts like a wizard, but with many more steps.
Got it. I hadn't noticed that earlier. Will look into it - you are right that the entire header should highlight instead of one line at a time. Thanks!
You are right. I posted a temporary demo homepage I created 10 minutes before the post - this way people wouldn't have to create an account to try it out. The real home page is http://boldcanvas.com/.
Regarding the hover over text color - we'll experiment with some options. Would you suggest using something with a stronger contrast?
Hi, thanks for the feedback. I like the idea of placing the hide button at the top instead of the slide. We'll experiment with both.
Regarding the "show me what's going to happen before I do it." Absolutely agree. Our real homepage is: http://boldcanvas.com/ - the link in the headline is just a demo page I created so HN users wouldn't be forced to create an account just to try or product
Co-founder here. My best friend and I quit our jobs a while back and have been working hard and bootstrapping this. This is an early version - we'll be adding more templates and features soon
These are small business sites, not content oriented sites (blogs, news sites, etc). If even 8 new people see your site per month and half turn into customers - that's not bad. Talking about a daycare, a tutor, a hardware shop, etc.
Agree completely. At the margin, $5m won't make a difference, just like at the margin donating $10 to cancer research won't make a difference. But that $5m check along with many other checks does make a difference - both in helping these school achieve even higher levels of excellence and in their ability to fund poor and middle class student tuition.
The dynamism of America partly depends on new entrants into the uber-elite of money and power. (Poor kids becoming super rich within one generation. They shake things up and change the way things are done.
This is partly a result of:
1. Poor kids getting into elite universities
2. The existence of highly elite universities
If you provide less funding to the Harvards and MITs of the world do you really expect them to keep getting better and better?
And if the overtime become "less awesome" then the benefits one derives from attending will decline.
In that case, the poor kid that managed to get into Harvard, etc (or any of the Ivys, they all provide great financial aid) wouldn't benefit the way today's attendee does. The path for that poor kid to break into the uber wealthy just became harder.
The Mark Zuckerbergs, Steve Schwarzmans of the world make America dynamic. Poor or middle class kids that break into the uber wealthy and disrupt the way things are done.
Non-elite universities don't make that path easier - regardless of how much money you throw at them.
Elite universities provide poor kids with things we need:
1. Status / credibility - maybe not important in tech, but definitely important in high-finance, politics, etc
2. Exposure to those who come from families that have done really well
3. Access to leading faculty and research opportunities
You can throw tons of money at non-elite colleges, they still will not be able to provide the above. I'm not saying that non-elite universities are useless - they are incredibly important for having a healthy middle class.
But what makes America great in my opinion is that every few years 5-10 kids that grew up poor make it to the top, change our world, and kick those that were complacent while at the top out.
Getting more mileage out of the initial wizard is definitely a really interesting idea. We've thought about that a lot and it's potentially the direction we might go.
Part of what worries us is whether users would feel overwhelmed by too many steps upfront without seeing their progress. Another idea that is similar that we are playing around with is replacing the current sidebar (that has instructional videos) with a sidebar that acts like a wizard, but with many more steps.