481 ms·

(un)classroom: Learn PHP and build apps in your browser

44 points by sshrin 14y ago

randomdrake 14y ago
This looked like a cool idea. However, it's clearly insecure so I can't recommend it to anyone. You say a login is required to run code but I can simply enable the Submit button and everything works? That's just extremely poor design. The same is true for all of your stuff behind your "paywall." Simply editing the HTML in an editor renders your site usable. You need to have validation on the server and the client. Simply providing client-side validation is not enough, especially for something that should be considered a teacher or tutorial.
- sshrin 14y ago
  We're actually moving to guest login and we will be removing the necessity to login but thanks for your feedback. The login is required because otherwise we can't save and pre-load the code for you the next time you visit the same activity. Edit: what I mean to say is the app itself is secure and so is our sandbox that runs the code and this is more of a UI issue that we'll fix immediately by removing the login prompt. Edit: The paywall is going away as well :).
  - randomdrake 14y ago
    If your client-side code doesn't even require server-side validation, it does make it difficult to trust or believe your sandbox or app is secure. As I said, it's a cool idea, but if you want developers to recommend this to people starting out, you need to make those developers confident that they're giving people something well-written and secure. Edit: Well, cheers to your edits! As someone who is often helping people with learning PHP, I will definitely keep an eye on this project as something to recommend :)
    - sshrin 14y ago
      Point taken and thanks for your feedback. We've removed the pay wall for the PHP course for now until we fix the UI. Thanks and you can also reach me at krishna@unclassroom.com.
- crozzfire 14y ago
  Guest support is now live :)
jenius 14y ago
I went to this site and left immediately after seeing a combination of bootstrap and really poor design. Regardless of how nice the backend may be, a project like this needs a designer to be successful.
- sshrin 14y ago
  Thanks for your feedback. More info here: http://blog.unclassroom.com/2012/03/getting-on-hn-front-page-apologies.html http://blog.unclassroom.com/2012/03/getting-on-hn-front-page...
- joering2 14y ago
  you were lucky to be able to go back. Me @ Chrome could not go back - it automatically was jumping "back" from HN to that website.
  - sshrin 14y ago
    Sorry about that. We've identified a bug with how we handle the history state. Thanks for pointing out.
Maven911 14y ago
neat idea and i like it, i am curious on what is your competitive advantage here - what would you say you do differently/better then let's say codeacademy ? And how much do you expect to charge people for this ?

44 points by sshrin 14y ago

This looked like a cool idea. However, it's clearly insecure so I can't recommend it to anyone. You say a login is required to run code but I can simply enable the Submit button and everything works? That's just extremely poor design. The same is true for all of your stuff behind your "paywall." Simply editing the HTML in an editor renders your site usable. You need to have validation on the server and the client. Simply providing client-side validation is not enough, especially for something that should be considered a teacher or tutorial.

sshrin 14y ago
We're actually moving to guest login and we will be removing the necessity to login but thanks for your feedback. The login is required because otherwise we can't save and pre-load the code for you the next time you visit the same activity. Edit: what I mean to say is the app itself is secure and so is our sandbox that runs the code and this is more of a UI issue that we'll fix immediately by removing the login prompt. Edit: The paywall is going away as well :).
- randomdrake 14y ago
  If your client-side code doesn't even require server-side validation, it does make it difficult to trust or believe your sandbox or app is secure. As I said, it's a cool idea, but if you want developers to recommend this to people starting out, you need to make those developers confident that they're giving people something well-written and secure. Edit: Well, cheers to your edits! As someone who is often helping people with learning PHP, I will definitely keep an eye on this project as something to recommend :)
  - sshrin 14y ago
    Point taken and thanks for your feedback. We've removed the pay wall for the PHP course for now until we fix the UI. Thanks and you can also reach me at krishna@unclassroom.com.
crozzfire 14y ago
Guest support is now live :)

jenius 14y ago

I went to this site and left immediately after seeing a combination of bootstrap and really poor design. Regardless of how nice the backend may be, a project like this needs a designer to be successful.

sshrin 14y ago
Thanks for your feedback. More info here: http://blog.unclassroom.com/2012/03/getting-on-hn-front-page-apologies.html http://blog.unclassroom.com/2012/03/getting-on-hn-front-page...
joering2 14y ago
you were lucky to be able to go back. Me @ Chrome could not go back - it automatically was jumping "back" from HN to that website.
- sshrin 14y ago
  Sorry about that. We've identified a bug with how we handle the history state. Thanks for pointing out.

Maven911 14y ago

neat idea and i like it, i am curious on what is your competitive advantage here - what would you say you do differently/better then let's say codeacademy ? And how much do you expect to charge people for this ?