[HN Gopher] Show HN: Postcard - Easy way to make a personal website ___________________________________________________________________ Show HN: Postcard - Easy way to make a personal website Today I'm launching Postcard! I started Postcard when I deleted most social media, but still wanted a way to keep in touch with friends and my network. When I worked at Webflow, it became clear to me that most website builders are way too complex for individual users. So, I drew inspiration from social media - where all you need is a couple photos and text fields to get a great site online. So, I think I've about achieved a site builder that even my Mom could use. The product seems simple, but there are many under-the- hood optimizations. There's caching, CDNs, custom domain support, TLS certificate issuance + management, dynamically-generated open graph images, image optimizations, email sending, full-text RSS feed, email reputations, and more. It also uses a couple new products to make the domain connection process easy. Let me know if you have any feedback or questions! PS - Rumor is that Twitter is shutting down Revue. If you want help transferring content and subscribers over to Postcard, just email me! Author : philip1209 Score : 85 points Date : 2022-11-10 16:48 UTC (6 hours ago) (HTM) web link (postcard.page) (TXT) w3m dump (postcard.page) | stolenmerch wrote: | Honest, good faith question here. One stated goal of building | this is because you "deleted most social media, but still wanted | a way to keep in touch with friends and my network." How does | this solve that? Keeping in touch is not about the web presence, | it's about the network. How does this work differently than | something like about.me? | philip1209 wrote: | Yes, like the other comment mentions - there's a built-in | newsletter that also acts like a light blog. Check out how I | use it on my personal site: https://www.philipithomas.com/ | | I also custom-generate OpenGraph images for each page and post, | which makes them look great when shared on social networks. My | philosophy is that you should be able to write once, then share | everywhere - which I chat more about in the launch post here: | | https://www.contraption.co/news/launching-postcard | davidbanham wrote: | This has an email newsletter built in. People can subscribe via | the site and you can publish newsletters through their back | end. | herzigma wrote: | I had a chance to play with Postcard pre-launch and...it's kind | of amazing. It's a "just enough" product if all you want is a | landing page, a way to collect email addresses, and a way to send | people communications (marketing updates, newsletters, etc.). | | The "defaults" are smart: they'll build you a page based on | public info (I think mine was from Twitter and Gravatar), and | they focus on a single simple, clean layout. Best of all, it | takes only a minute or two more to hook it up to an existing | domain (no futzing with DNS) or buy one yourself. | | It took me less than 5 minutes to get https://herzigma.com up and | running! | | Kudos to the team for being super focused and executing to well. | This is now my go-to recommendation for professional | websites/landing pages. | [deleted] | creeble wrote: | Weird -- I signed up a few months ago, from what I thought was an | HN announcement. But search doesn't show anything else here. | | Anyway, great little website-maker! | philip1209 wrote: | I had mentioned it in a comment a couple months ago, which is | probably how you found it! But, I hadn't submitted it yet as a | Show HN yet. | | Here was the comment: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32869408 | fraXis wrote: | Can you talk a bit more about the tech stack you are using for | this and how long it took you from the time you started working | on it until you had it up and running? | philip1209 wrote: | Sure! | | Tech stack is Rails with Hotwire on the frontend. I'm hosting | on Render.com, and using their custom domains support to issue | certificates. | | It looks like I had an MVP done in May [1], then spend the | Summer doing lots of testing and refinement. Speed was a big | focus - I wanted sites to be ultra-quick. I do this with a mix | of caching in Memcached, image optimization source sets, CDN, | and more. Plus, I'm dynamically generating OpenGraph images for | each page using headless Chrome. | | I also use a couple fun technologies for custom domains: | | - If you already have a domain - I use https://entri.com to | connect it, which is a new product that's like Plaid for | domains | | - If you don't have a domain - I use Google Domains Express | Checkout API [2], which lets you directly purchase a new domain | and automatically connect it to Postcard | | Let me know if you have any other questions! | | [1] https://www.philipithomas.com/posts/sharing-a-project-i- | buil... | | [2] https://developers.google.com/domains/express | EGreg wrote: | Would you be interested in upselling users to have their own | community? It's an open source solution that supports events, | shows, and services (that you can pay to book). See what I | mean at https://qbix.com | | You can click on the example apps in there to see them on | mobile/desktop. | | Discourse is great forum software. And Wordpress is great | publishing software. Qbix integrates with those too. I can | see your site to eventually attract a lot of people who want | to get paid for their products or services. | | (However, I realize they can use calendly for booking events, | zoom for the actual videoconferencing, youtube for videos, | stripe for selling subscriptions, and maybe a | Facebook/Telegram/Discord group for customers to connect... | but then they also wouldn't need Entri since they can make a | Facebook or Linktree profile.) | 0xbadcafebee wrote: | Personal websites should be personalized tho. It's like Facebook | vs Myspace. Myspace allowed you to easily personalize your page, | and there were tons of really cool unique pages. Facebook killed | personal expression; you get to pick a cover photo, a personal | photo, make posts, and that's it. Then they dominated the world, | and an entire generation grew up never knowing that the internet | used to be fun. | philip1209 wrote: | I would like to see more personal websites in the world! And, | the reality is that most site builders are not accessible. | Single-digit activation rates are pretty common. And, most | people won't spend thousands of dollars worth of money or time | to build a personal site. | | So - I don't intend for Postcard to be used by everybody. But, | for people who want a personal site but don't have the time or | skills to customize a site - I made Postcard! | 7thaccount wrote: | I do like the concept. Thanks! | katsura wrote: | I think mmm.page [0] is supposed to take care of the fun and | customization loving niche. It's been on HN before [1], and you | can even try it without sign up. | | [0] https://mmm.page/ | | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27128424 | xhfloz wrote: | Creator of mmm.page here. Thank you for mentioning the | project. Imo we need better, more expressive/accessible | creation tools, before we can have an interesting internet | filled with true variety (meaning content that isn't gate- | kept by those who can code, or forced into templates). I've | spent the past two years on the creation tool side, and it's | nearing completion, with a beta rolling out soon. (Currently | it's in alpha.) If you're interested in any part of this, | feel free to follow me on Twitter (@xhfloz). | | A thread with some updates here: | https://twitter.com/xhfloz/status/1590113525015674880 | | Separately, it's great to see more projects in this space. | Congrats on the launch, philip1209. | philip1209 wrote: | Thanks, xhfloz! I hadn't seen mmm.page before, but it looks | powerful. | 101008 wrote: | I'd love something in between MySpace and Twitter. Which would | be like MySpace but with only text updated and without that | much personalization. | ddm379 wrote: | I don't miss Myspace, but it would be nice to force my visitors | to hear a ska song on autoplay. | philip1209 wrote: | (Source on the Revue rumor: | https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/twitter-will-shut-d... ) | Tijdreiziger wrote: | Website is totally borked for me on iPad Safari. Looks like the | CSS isn't loading. | philip1209 wrote: | Oh no! It's looking ok on my end. Can you try reloading? | madjam002 wrote: | This feels like a modern version of Matmice, anyone here remember | that? :-) | qiller wrote: | More like a-bit-more-recent Forrst | vehemenz wrote: | - I can tell immediately what the product is and how much it | costs. | | - The profile photo as the favicon is a nice touch. | | - Price point looks about right. | | How about a dark mode? | philip1209 wrote: | Absolutely - dark mode is high on my list! If you subscribe to | https://updates.postcard.page, I'll post there when it's ready. | turtlebits wrote: | The problem I have with these "easy"/low code/push button type of | services is that they're extremely bloated and generally slow. | The few I clicked on are all over 1 mb. | | I remember seeing some others that built static sites off Notion | and were even larger. | philip1209 wrote: | Hmm, sites shouldn't be slow! Most Postcard pages can get a | score of 100 on Google's pagespeed test. I do this through a | mix of caching and image optimizations. | | What are you seeing that's slow? I'd love to dig into it! | extr0pian wrote: | Agreed. Although not super normie friendly, you can make a | decent one-pager with some rudimentary HTML knowledge and a few | lines of CSS to make it pretty. Though I appreciate the | creator's intention, encouraging people to have their own | public website separate from closed social media networks like | LinkedIn. | suprjami wrote: | Idea for improvement: show the webpage creation interface without | needing signup. I want to see what it's like to use without | making an account. I won't bother with sites which immediately | ask for login. This doesn't have to be an interactive demo, just | screenshots are fine. | | I suspect I'm not the target audience anyway. I'd rather write a | custom Jekyll theme and use git to publish with the GitHub Pages | push hook. This sounds like it's much simpler, maybe something | like the Blogger interface. | philip1209 wrote: | Yes, that's fair feedback! A better site editor is on my queue. | Thanks for the suggestion. | suprjami wrote: | Good luck! Congrats on getting a product to market. This must | feel pretty huge and exciting for you :) | ddm379 wrote: | I second this noting that folks reading here, specifically, | probably wouldn't benefit the most from it. What I'm thinking | is it'd be nice to see before referring it to a non-technical | relative or friend who doesn't even know what git is. | e-clinton wrote: | Looks pretty good. Congrats. You selected good examples that make | it feel relatable for me. | | Don't love the price. I'm a big fan of small once/year pricing | which makes it an impulse purchase... to justify this at $8/month | I would need to actively be doing something with it | philip1209 wrote: | On the checkout page, there is an $80/year option. I just | didn't want to complicate the marketing page, but it seems like | I should add the optional yearly pricing there. | greentea22 wrote: | $8 a month is ridiculously overpriced. | flappyeagle wrote: | nothing is overpriced if someone is willing to pay | nonethewiser wrote: | I opened the site and poked around quickly. I thought "Hm... | simple. Kinda interesting. I wonder if hackernews comments will | evaluate the utility of it." | | It was not until your comment that I realized it's a paid | product. I never would have imagined that. | [deleted] | shahahmed wrote: | this is cool! i've always struggled supporting custom domains. | what dns wizardry does one need to do to support custom domains? | philip1209 wrote: | I'm using Render.com's custom domain features, which issues TLS | certificates and manages them using LetsEncrypt! | | Two other things that have been nifty are: | | I also use a couple fun technologies for custom domains: | | - Entri [1] a new product that's like Plaid for domains. So, | you can normally get the domain set up without copying records | into the registrar. | | - If you don't have a domain - I use Google Domains Express | Checkout API [2], which lets you directly purchase a new domain | and automatically connect it to Postcard, also without copying | records into the registrar. | | [1] https://entri.com | | [2] https://developers.google.com/domains/express | shahahmed wrote: | oh wow thank you! | jaredcwhite wrote: | Far be it for me to criticize solo startup products--any | achievement in this space is immense! | | But in general...something that routinely irks me is the lack of | truly outstanding design/typography in a lot of "start a | website/blog/whatever in 5 minutes" stuff I see pop up. At least | this isn't using some crappy monospaced font (that trend is so | cringe), but...just a basic Tailwind theme isn't all that | appealing IMHO. I think any indie project to help folks get a | website online should offer something truly | exciting/quirky/artistic on the design side so it's not just a | clone of bland corporate media. | | All that aside, congrats on the launch and I hope it's the start | of good things to come! | philip1209 wrote: | Thanks for the feedback! I plan to offer some alternative | themes. I chose to spend my time making custom color support | robust. For instance, there's dynamic code that determines | which label colors have highest contrast on buttons depending | on the theme color. So, there's some abstracted complexity | there. | | While the Postcard marketing page looks a little tailwind-y, I | hope that the individual homepages look more polished and | distinct. I've been working with a designer to tune everything, | and I'll continue to make improvements. | jaredcwhite wrote: | Awesome to hear that, and again I don't wish to sound like | I'm criticizing Postcard specifically, more just generically | shouting into the interwebs. I look forward to seeing more | themes down the road! | rambambram wrote: | I personally like the sites/blogs with a crappy monospace font, | as long as they have something interesting to share with the | world, preferably by RSS feed. | | But I do agree that websites with an artistic touch in the | interface are more than welcome. For my own website project it | was a constant battle choosing between some artistic freedom | and expression on one hand, and making it useful and easy on | the other. | | In the past, I made what I call the Quick Design module | (https://try.hellowebsite.online/quickdesign/) where users | could easily click together a goodlooking website design. They | layout is always the same, but a preselected or random | combination of colors and other settings gives some very nice | results. I definitely would love to explore this even more in | the future. | [deleted] | last_responder wrote: | Just signed up. I like the simplicity. I currently use Cloudflare | pages for my personal site and I like the idea of using this in | stead since I can fire up anything I have a make a quick post. | Price is in a good spot for my taste. Quick question - | | - Do you have any plans for sub-pages? I like to keep my resume / | CV handy on my personal site and don't really see a way to do | this cleanly. | | - I don't see a way to edit or delete a post. | | - Posts with images see to show the raw filename like | [[img111.jpg]] . Will there ever be thumbnail previews? | philip1209 wrote: | That's great! | | Sub-pages are something I'm considering. Some users have linked | out to a Notion. Also, the site supports embedded files - so | you could even embed a PDF on the homepage. | | Would you mind emailing me the formatting of the page you | expect? Resumes formatting can get complex, so I want to make | sure I support what you're envisioning. | last_responder wrote: | Will do ! Thank you . Wanted to let you know I am now a | paying customer. Cloudflare auth worked perfectly. | philip1209 wrote: | Excellent, thanks so much! | | The DNS integration tool is is https://entri.com - they're | doing a great job. | fraXis wrote: | Nice work! Account signup was fast, and the interface was very | easy intuitive and easy to use. | | A nice feature would be for the ability to process/save the | collection of email addresses to my ConvertKit account (and have | the email signup confirmation sent to the user sent from | ConvertKit itself). | | What service do you use now to handle the email signups (and send | confirmations) on our Postcard page? | | Edit: Sorry I just realized, that the email signup is for sending | out updates when I update my Postcard page. | philip1209 wrote: | Hey, great feedback! | | I plan to add a Zapier integration to Postcard so that you can | connect signups to wherever you want. (And, if you want to | import your Converkit account to Postcard - just email me!) | | I was also using Convertkit for a personal newsletter, and got | tired of using a business tool for an individual use case. So, | the Postcard posts do send out via email. Posts also show up on | the site - so that you can share it on any other networks you | want. | | Thanks for the feedback - seems like I can make these details | more clear in the app, including how posts work! | recuter wrote: | I clicked the 'Make Your Website' CTA immediately hit the signup | form and promptly bounced. That is not to say this thing won't be | successful, just that I am clearly not the target audience. | | It might be worth it to expose a way to try it out and explain | why I should use it over the many other ones like it. Or not. | Whatever converts better. | | But if not on the website itself at least tell us these things | here in the Show HN :) | | My question: whom are you targeting? And how will you get at 'em? | [deleted] | philip1209 wrote: | Hey! Yeah, some site builders don't require you to create an | account to try the product. I take a different approach so that | the site is mostly pre-filled by the time you see it. | | I try to address this by linking to a bunch of Postcard example | sites on the homepage. | | For why to use Postcard - I'm setting out to build "dependable | tech tools" [1]. I think we need more unitasker applications | that just do a good job, and just stick around. And, personal | websites are something that I think more people should have - | but, that no big VC-backed startup will ever focus on because | it's a small market. | | Postcards themself are a great personal website that's well- | designed and has a nicely integrated newsletter. The newsletter | posts also get featured on the site, and there's features like | full-text RSS built-in. | | [1] https://www.contraption.co/news/introducing-contraption-co | recuter wrote: | > I try to address this by linking to a bunch of Postcard | example sites on the homepage. | | I think I've developed a sort of blindness to the social | proof thing with <human head in a circle and positive text | blurb> so it took me a bit to realize those are clickable | examples of actual user websites and not just endorsements. | Makes sense. | | > but, that no big VC-backed startup will ever focus on | because it's a small market. | | A ton have come and gone like: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterous (It even starts with | a P, ha, time is a flat circle) | | I believe it had custom domains at some point and a built in | newsletter/rss and the thing that made it popular at the time | was that you could email it your posts. | | You should copy that feature. :) | | Cool, and good luck. | philip1209 wrote: | Thanks! Postcard already supports embedded posts, a | newsletter, and even full-text RSS. Check it out in action | on my personal site: https://www.philipithomas.com | rroot wrote: | I came to say exactly this. | cercatrova wrote: | Interesting that I can immediately tell it's a Tailwind website, | with the colors, Inter font, dot grid background etc. | | Regarding the content itself, looks good. Looks like it's | following the classic $8/m model for hooking up a custom domain, | like every other site builder. | tshaddox wrote: | I mean it's a lot more Tailwind than the colors, font, and | background. Some of the site is almost byte-for-byte HTML | straight from Tailwind UI components such as: | | https://tailwindui.com/components/marketing/sections/feature... | | Which is the whole point of Tailwind UI, of course! It's a | great product, but like Twitter Bootstrap before it is at risk | of becoming a victim of its own ubiquity. | philip1209 wrote: | Totally fair! I also haven't spent much time polishing the | marketing page - as you start to use the app, you'll see that | a lot of the dashboard components are more custom. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-11-10 23:01 UTC)