For the record, I learned how to code less than 2 years ago, next to my full time job.
I rarely have the time to complete a side project, so I challenged myself to make a functional website in a weekend.
The idea was simple, to be able to create a short URL to share a list of websites.
It's not revolutionary, but I was surprised not to find more sites to do that. Bit.ly had such a system a few years ago called "Bundles", which they shut down.
I often see interesting lists on Twitter or in articles, but keeping track of all this is sometimes complicated. That's where I got the idea.
So I created Multy over a weekend and was thrilled to see that I could make a functional site, no matter how small, in such a short period of time.
I still have a lot of ideas to improve it, such as adding private links, or a very simple statistics system.
I would like as much as possible not to create an authentication system and keep the concept as simple as possible.
I haven't necessarily thought about monetization, but there may be some ideas! I didn't create it to make a fortune anyway.
I would like to have your opinion on its current version, and on the evolutions I could bring to it.
Thank you for reading me and taking the time to test Multy!
This looks perfect for remote learning. Teachers typically have a bunch of resources that they want to use for the class they're teaching, and sometimes their link is going to be in printed material that the student will have to type in. This seems like a nice solution to that problem.
Currently I use bit.ly for this, but it means generating lots of links. What is helpful on bit.ly is the bookmarklet. Being able to add a link to a bundle from a bookmarklet would be quite nice if you haven't done it already.
Really nice project! I love that you built and launched something over the weekend. I remember how liberating the feeling was when I realized I could make some corner of the Internet my own.
Also minor suggestion - I might list a couple more examples with links or make the link more prominent, as my eye didn't immediately catch the "see an example" button. The overall UI is fantastic.
I use a Chrome Extension called OneTab that allows me to collapse all of my tabs into a list. You can also "Share as webpage" but the design leaves a lot to be desired. Congrats on the project!
This is such a great idea. So much nicer to include a single link at the bottom of a comment for all mentioned references. For that usage it might be nice to be able to refer to each link as say [1], [2], [3] and have those numbers also show up in the multi-link page.
Pretty cool; reminds me of Insight Browser's multiple tab behavior. [1] For example, the browser has a functionality that when you load HN, it automatically opens the first few links in separate tabs.
I don't know if there's enough overlap in what you do that you could work with them (maybe via deep linking with fallback?), but it'd be interesting! They're a cool group of founders (YC W19, I think), and their extensible mobile browser is now my go-to on iOS.
For a few days now I've been thinking about an API system allowing users to create lists directly, without going through Multy. With a POST that would return a unique link to a JSON. This would allow people to integrate their own system to their site/application.
If I had to monetize a part of Multy, maybe it would be this API, I don't know what you think?
Thank you for your report, I'll try to fix the issues you mentioned.
For the last one, it takes some times because I verify the metadata from the URLs, and check if the website exists. I don't know if it's a good idea but this is how it works right now. And this is why you see the target url with a 301.
I don't want users to do link cloaking on Multy and if people click on something on Multy, they are aware of where they're going.
This is why I do that, and this is why I also want to integrate a domain blacklist.
Good question and right now I don't have an answer... I thought about checking a blacklist before create any list but I had trouble to find a good domain blacklist.
We can always handle spam with checking IP / number of requests but it's easy to say ;)
I would love a browser add-on to go with this to gather up the links as you browse. I used to do this with mailephant (now defunct) that allowed me to queue up links and snippets of text related to links in a nice list to email along with an email template. good work and definitely useful.
You might be looking for something like One-Tab.[1] In addition to saving groups of tabs, you can share links to the groups of tabs. That being said, it may not 100% fit your use-case.
For reference, the original author did a Show HN when they released One-Tab.[2]
https://histre.com/ might be what you're looking for. You can save your browsing history (tree-style) via open-source browser extensions, take notes on the links, add highlights, and share them as a notebook either publicly or privately.
[+] [-] kickscondor|5 years ago|reply
* https://tray.club - like this, but allows subpages and notes areas.
* https://gossipsweb.net - pay $1 to be in this directory ('cozy web'-type vibe)
* https://terra.finzdani.net - personal directory
* https://marijn.uk/linkroll/ - another one
* https://href.cool/ - mine
But I love the simplicity of Multy - dump your links and click create. Great work.
[+] [-] codazoda|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abhinav22|5 years ago|reply
Should be against the rules. I don’t have the ability to report, hence posting here
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
For the record, I learned how to code less than 2 years ago, next to my full time job.
I rarely have the time to complete a side project, so I challenged myself to make a functional website in a weekend.
The idea was simple, to be able to create a short URL to share a list of websites. It's not revolutionary, but I was surprised not to find more sites to do that. Bit.ly had such a system a few years ago called "Bundles", which they shut down.
I often see interesting lists on Twitter or in articles, but keeping track of all this is sometimes complicated. That's where I got the idea.
So I created Multy over a weekend and was thrilled to see that I could make a functional site, no matter how small, in such a short period of time.
I still have a lot of ideas to improve it, such as adding private links, or a very simple statistics system. I would like as much as possible not to create an authentication system and keep the concept as simple as possible. I haven't necessarily thought about monetization, but there may be some ideas! I didn't create it to make a fortune anyway.
I would like to have your opinion on its current version, and on the evolutions I could bring to it.
Thank you for reading me and taking the time to test Multy!
[+] [-] kybernetikos|5 years ago|reply
Currently I use bit.ly for this, but it means generating lots of links. What is helpful on bit.ly is the bookmarklet. Being able to add a link to a bundle from a bookmarklet would be quite nice if you haven't done it already.
[+] [-] Jaxkr|5 years ago|reply
Keep it up!
[+] [-] primitivesuave|5 years ago|reply
Also minor suggestion - I might list a couple more examples with links or make the link more prominent, as my eye didn't immediately catch the "see an example" button. The overall UI is fantastic.
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maskys|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zuhayeer|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adambware|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
I will check if I can create my own browser extension!
[+] [-] kirubakaran|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danvayn|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tux1968|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
So for example multy.me/xXere-1 and you'll be able to go directly to the link?
[+] [-] gnicholas|5 years ago|reply
I don't know if there's enough overlap in what you do that you could work with them (maybe via deep linking with fallback?), but it'd be interesting! They're a cool group of founders (YC W19, I think), and their extensible mobile browser is now my go-to on iOS.
1: https://insightbrowser.com/
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
For a few days now I've been thinking about an API system allowing users to create lists directly, without going through Multy. With a POST that would return a unique link to a JSON. This would allow people to integrate their own system to their site/application. If I had to monetize a part of Multy, maybe it would be this API, I don't know what you think?
[+] [-] filt|5 years ago|reply
When clicking the grid view, it does not work with åäö. And probably other character as well.
https://multy.me/x7R7AB
If I add two urls, most of the time, the last one does not show up.
If i add a URL that has a 301 to another url, it's the target url, not the one i entered, that get's published.
When clicking "create list" it takes 5-8 seconds before the list is created. This seems like a long time for such a simple operation.
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
I don't want users to do link cloaking on Multy and if people click on something on Multy, they are aware of where they're going. This is why I do that, and this is why I also want to integrate a domain blacklist.
[+] [-] ljf|5 years ago|reply
What is your plan to deal with spam or abuse of the service?
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
We can always handle spam with checking IP / number of requests but it's easy to say ;)
[+] [-] jamescampbell|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jstrieb|5 years ago|reply
For reference, the original author did a Show HN when they released One-Tab.[2]
[1]: https://www.one-tab.com/
[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5356823
[+] [-] kirubakaran|5 years ago|reply
For example, here is a public notebook: https://histre.com/pub/notebooks/zk4s2695/product-road-map-t...
[+] [-] jamescampbell|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
I never built an add-on for a browser so it will make a good challenge. Maybe for this week-end ^^
[+] [-] albertgoeswoof|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adder46|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adder46|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] d33lio|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Etheon|5 years ago|reply
Feel free to check it and I will be happy to have some feedback on my code. Since I'm self-taught, I'm sure I make big mistakes!