You're right that getting developers to switch to visual programming will be tough. But we believe that:
1. In the right use case (standalone API/workflow, multiple LLM calls, concurrency etc.) working visually is going to be 10x better than code
2. There's a growing segment of non-developer-but-technical people: Self-taught builders, Product Managers, IT/Automation specialists. We think these people are currently stuck with existing tools that are very limiting. And once they're able to deploy real products with visual programming it will be a gamechanger for them.
3. Collaboration - Even if developers prefer textual code when on their own, when they're working with non-developers (product teams, clients etc) there's a big benefit for being able to share and present how things work.
Pricing is indeed something we're still trying to figure out.
Currently we see differentiation as a combination of simplicity and elegance/visual quality.
Meaning platforms like Flicker are too cluttered and outdated in terms of how galleries look.
But in this too we still have a lot to learn and figure out.
For simply sharing specific photos - GPhotos' native share feature is great.
Our product is for people who are looking for a more advanced publishing option. Something like a website or portfolio, but super quick and easy to create.
This is simply much faster and easier than any other way.
Wordpress and other blog sites require quite a lot of effort and technical knowledge. We aim to democratize photo sharing and let anyone do it quickly and effortlessly.
Super interesting. Thanks for the detailed thoughts and link.
The thinking behind the vertical masonry grid is that by always having semi-visible pictures in view it draws the eyes down to keep scrolling.
If that makes sense.
Will definitely check out the links and consider further.
Map and text blocks - These are currently not supported, but we're still considering different use cases and will add features to match the ones we focus on soon.
Videos - These are currently not supported but might be added soon. They pose some storage and pricing issues but we'll try to solve that. Again depending on the use case we end up pursuing
Longevity - This is a legitimate concern. Obviously we're hoping that this product keeps growing and plan to maintain it. Regardless - The north star of this product is to be fast and easy to set up. So we hope that the time investment won't be that big anyhow.
Pricing and Storage - We've just launched so the pricing plans will definitely change over time. We'll take that into account.
Syncing albums - Seamlessly syncing albums to online galleries was our dream. Unfortunately Google's API doesn't support that (for obvious security and privacy concerns).
We'd love for your mom to give our product a try and will be happy to give her a generous period of free usage of the premium plan for some of her feedback.
If you're interested, please reach out at [email protected].
You're right about trust being important.
We're working hard to show that we're real people with good intentions.
I actually didn't consider that using AI to generate some blogposts (that aren't the main content of the site) would have negative impact on how people perceive the product.
So thanks, we appreciate the feedback and will take it into account moving forward.
Re: Videos - we currently don't support them but might add that capability in the future.
Videos complicate things both in terms of the product and because they're much more expensive to store, so they'll complicate the unit economics.
Regardless - online video storage is currently very expensive. The leading platforms are Vimeo and Wistia, so you might consider them for now.
About editing - what are you looking to do? I'll try to point you in the right direction.
You're right that getting developers to switch to visual programming will be tough. But we believe that: 1. In the right use case (standalone API/workflow, multiple LLM calls, concurrency etc.) working visually is going to be 10x better than code 2. There's a growing segment of non-developer-but-technical people: Self-taught builders, Product Managers, IT/Automation specialists. We think these people are currently stuck with existing tools that are very limiting. And once they're able to deploy real products with visual programming it will be a gamechanger for them. 3. Collaboration - Even if developers prefer textual code when on their own, when they're working with non-developers (product teams, clients etc) there's a big benefit for being able to share and present how things work.