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katieben

321 karma · joined October 4, 2010

Web developer/designer, jack-of-all-trades, merging web design with personal development. I love what I do!

http://yellowrubberball.com twitter: @heykatieben

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katieben··on Starting a SaaS is hard. Overnight success is a myth. Love what you do
Well put. This sounds like my experience, and I agree that the freedom to build what I want to put out in the world feels like wealth to me. I hope the money wealth follows. :) Cheers to SaaS adventures! Thanks for putting this out there.
katieben··on Show HN: Wiretap is a tool for integrating Apps w/REST APIs - need beta testers
Ooh, this is really neat. :) I'd love to test - would be incredibly useful for my project right now. I'll PM you :)
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Thanks! Thanks for the feedback! :) Haha, I love your idea, that's awesome - I'll do that. :) Thanks!
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Okay, cool - thanks so much for the feedback.
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
"We Now Support Metric!" :) Haha, just added it in about 15 minutes. Currently working on getting the user's location by IP address. Thanks for the feedback.
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
(and I'm in a similar boat too). I'm already healthy, but just want flat abs - I started this tool because I wanted to get a better idea of what I had to do to get that - how much weight to lose, or if I needed to be building muscle and not losing weight. I'm on MyFitnessPal, and a lot of women seemed to have that question. Working to get all types in here!
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Yeah, I could do that or MyFitnessPal - I guess I'm not sure on the ethics. People themselves want to share their photos, but is it okay to reach them through someone else's fitness site? Hacker News and non-fitness-related sites seemed kosher, but I'm not sure about those... advice?

I'm trying to think of ways to make it a win-win for everyone - maybe promote the site/product/trainer that helped a person, but in a way so that the site isn't selling a particular product. Ideas welcome.

katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Ooh, good call. Thanks. :)
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
I definitely want to target weight gain OR loss - or even staying the same, just trading fat for muscle - I just don't have enough stories yet so the code is pulling everything. Help me get some by sharing and telling your friends, or submitting yours! :)
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Hey there - I'll be showing stories of all kinds, though right now I just don't have that much data so the code is pulling everything. I need more stories! If you guys have a story of your own or know anyone, please submit or send them my way! :)
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Thanks for the feedback. :) I've made it prominent for now in hopes that it's clear how people can help the project - share so we can get lots more inspirational stories, but if it gets more annoying than useful, I'll move it. Thanks! And thanks for the encouragement! :)
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
On my to-do list. Thanks :)
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Thanks! :)
katieben··on Weekend Project: VisualizeFit.com
Ooh, cool, okay! Thanks! :)
katieben··on The Quadratic Equation, Dr. Seuss Style
I wrote this - thanks. :)
katieben··on Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever
Ditto here. I use GoDaddy for domain registration, and an InMotion VPS for hosting. The interface is confusing and cluttered, but their call-in support is always really friendly and reliable. Nothing makes my blood boil hotter than bad customer service, so despite GoDaddy's sins, their knowledgeable, friendly customer support team makes it worth it to me.

The purchasing process IS super greasy car salesman - I'd never ever refer a client to GoDaddy. They'd end up buying 20 things they didn't need, 20 times the cost it has to be. That gets obnoxious, but oh well - at least I know what to expect every time, and I can just say no. It beats talking to the unqualified or rude techies at other hosting companies.

katieben··on Learn Vim Progressively
I'd love to see this in emacs.
katieben··on Why every programmer should have a Tiddlywiki
I use MediaWiki now, I love it. It's free, and has really helped my organization. I use it for everything - passwords, API keys, links, random code snippets, etc. It's better than a text file to me, because both the structure and formatting ability encourages properly organizing data.

Though, it's most important to just have SOME well-greased system, no matter what the platform. If it's a text file that does it for you, great. If you spend 10 minutes trying to find a password - time to get a system.

katieben··on Is That Review a Fake?
Ditto, my thoughts exactly. And I DO use a lot of exclamation points, naturally.
katieben··on Twitter Bootstrap
Well, the downside of doing these so quickly (so far) does seem to be less time marketing them.
katieben··on Twitter Bootstrap
Yeah, I definitely am, though right now I'm thinking that's a good thing. I tend to take forever building/planning things and never launch.. the 1 x 52 project will get me in the mindset to actually launch, test concepts before spending too much time on anything, really make it an "M"VP. Are you posting your projects in a blog or somewhere I can follow?
katieben··on Twitter Bootstrap
Just used it today with my new 1x52 project: http://jambx.com/ - Twitter for song lyrics.

I'm doing some sort of new web project once a week, for hopefully a year. Writeup on my blog about it: http://kguac.com/2011/08/1-x-52-week-4-jambx-twitter-for-lyr...

katieben··on Ask HN: Web designers: do you consider Adobe CS5 necessary?
Cool, okay - can you explain what you mean by animation designer (maybe with a link)?
katieben··on Ask HN: Web designers: do you consider Adobe CS5 necessary?
Thanks so much for your input. I'm glad to hear that it's the industry standard. I think I'd rather swallow a high price point (either now or eventually) and learn the right way to do things, than there not be an industry standard.

I'll probably always be coding anyway since I work as a freelancer - I like coding anyway. I just want to learn best practices and do things the right way. I've at least learned by now that it's worth it to stop cutting corners. (:

I have to admit part of the reason I want CS5 is for the ability to edit RAW images (amateur photography), so I things like content-aware fill and better selection tools are looking pretty sweet... not sure if that's enough to convince me or not.

Speaking of scss - are you on a Mac? I'm thrilled with CSSedit as part of my workflow - I'd seriously miss the live view. But, it appears to not be compatible with scss..

katieben··on Ask HN: Web designers: do you consider Adobe CS5 necessary?
Hmm, what do you mean by lock-in?

I've tried GIMP, but the maddening UI you mentioned just isn't worth the frustration to me..

katieben··on Show HN: A Chrome extension that adds moustaches to every face on the web
hahaha okay props for an awesome idea (:
katieben··on Show HN: LazyMeter is the only to-do list you'll finish every day
The design is wonderful. Let me suggest one simple change that would make this more compelling for me..

Make the to-do list items in the list (graphic to the right) atomic and immediately actionable, following GTD priciples. Why? As a GTD/Vitamin-R/Pomodoro/Wunderkinder addict, the graphic communicates to me a to-do list set up for failure. Instead, I'd like to see something more like:

1. Send proposal for website redesign to Company X 2. Project Y: Devise a clearer method for moderators to invite members to private chat 3. Project Z: Contact 10 choreography bloggers to see if they're interested in cross-promotion

A to-do list like this would communicate to me that this service is developed by people who've studied GTD principles carefully and have something new to offer here. Take a look at the Vitamin R help docs - it reads more like a self-help book than a software manual, which I really appreciated. It won my trust by showing me that this guy had done the research, and really devised a productivity strategy that works.

On that note, it would be helpful to have a clearer message of how this is different than other to-do lists. I'm not quite sure yet...

Anywho, definitely glad to see another attempt at better productivity, and good luck to you! I look forward to learning more about LazyMeter. (:

katieben··on Ask HN: What upcoming conferences are you attending?
WordCamp SF, this weekend
katieben··on Lessons from a Design Legend (a before-and-after)
There's a standard "startup app look", and your first design was that - it didn't stand out from other apps. The new design is excellent, it feels much more like sending a gift. I can imagine users better connecting with the new design. Thanks for sharing these design tips. Bravo!
katieben··on Poll: How many hours do you work a week?
Agreed, it depends on how you define work. I spend most of my waking hours in front of a computer, and a lot of that is building something - though it may not always be paying client work. I really have no idea how many hours I "work".
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