Ask HN: Please review my app onesmallpage

[dshipper]

Hi Everybody, I just launched a web app called onesmallpage which aims to help you read more by emailing you a page (or more) of a book of a book every day. I'd like to hear your feedback on the design and functionality of the site. Also any feature requests, or discussions about the future of the site would be more than welcome.

http://onesmallpage.appspot.com

Basically the site came out of the idea that I do a lot of reading every day, but most of it isn't reading great books. I read my email, Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other websites every day and I thought that if I could channel at least a little bit of that reading into book reading I would be a more productive and well-rounded person.

Right now I'm pulling about 100 out-of-copyright books from Project Gutenberg for you to choose from. If the site gets popular I plan to add the entire catalog.

The way it works is you find a book that you want to read, enter your email, and we will send you up to 5 pages of that book a day.

Thanks for any feedback! Dan

[komlenic]

Neat idea. One potential issue I can see is someone wanting to read either more, or less, per day. In the case of more... I'm thinking "what if I get to a good part and want to read more today?" and in the case of less I'm thinking "great, I've got 20 'onesmallpage' emails piled up that I haven't read yet, delete and quit".

I didn't sign up to test, but if you're not doing so already, I'd definitely think about including some links/settings right in the emails that allow users to: adjust # of pages, etc... maybe even a "I don't really like this book, suggest something else" kind-of functionality.

Good luck!

[dshipper]

Yeah the reason I decided not to do that is because I thought it might be a little bit cumbersome to the user...I really wanted to make everything as simple as possible. But now that I think about it, I think it's definitely a necessary feature and one that can be made to be simple

[johnhok]

My initial thought when viewing the site was "what does this site do?". After clicking around quickly I still didn't quite get it until I came back here and read your description.

I think it's because you have two images and one is a screenshot of an email inbox. I think this may be confusing because the headings you have on them aren't quite visible at first glance. My suggestion would be to make it more visible or put some more description/explanation of your service like you have described right in this post here! I think that would clear up what the purpose of your app is.

Also on the page of book listings you may want to make each "book row" clickable. Possibly put a subtle background on mouse over and when they click it sends them to the page to enter their email. This makes it a bit more user friendly instead of scanning right and finding the appropriate "Start reading now" link.

Great idea though, I can find this useful reading the email on my smartphone on my way to school!

[dshipper]

That's interesting. Should I put the slogan more to the top of the page then? I'll definitely do something about making the columns clickable that's great thanks man

[agnesberthelot]

I really really like the concept. One page a day ... bit by bit, I would be able to finish a book! However, considering how many emails I receive every day, I am already skipping some of them so I can't guarantee to myself that I won't skip the page sent in the mail! But still I think it is a great idea. Wish you all the success.

Agnes

[dshipper]

Thanks!

[mctophysr]

This is a great idea. I feel like it would be better served if the different intervals between "readings" were longer... I'm more inclined to read a chapter about something in a book than I am to read seven pages at three different times. Maybe send half of a chapter at a time on Friday then the rest on Sunday evening.

[themagnus33]

This is cool idea, Dan. One possible feature I could see added-on that would improve this would be to have a alert sent if the receiver stops opening the emails for x number of days.

Just a thought and gl!

Magnus

[achllies]

Its a great idea. Congratulations on getting it up and working. One feature that might work well is allowing the user to do "flow control" by replying to the email you sent.

[dshipper]

Thanks I'm actually starting to work on that, that's a great idea

[mapster]

I love it! Great idea, At least I'm stoked about it now, would be nice to check in with us in 2 months to see if we've been good little readers :)

[dshipper]

Thanks, that's a good idea maybe I will.

[mdoyle]

Great idea. Impressed. Introduce the ability for me to request more pages via email? I can see me using this to read more in my lunch hour.

[dshipper]

I will be adding this in a forthcoming version, thank you for your feedback!

[ego23]

Looks like a sick idea dan.