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Show HN: Zephyr – Collaboration for teams and freelancers

14 points by gotzephyr 11y ago

gotzephyr 11y ago
This is our first release, built to showcase the card based UI and platform command system, come and try packing and flipping our cards. Also modules for chat, pinboard and storage for you to play with. As we roll out beta there will be further modules added for productivity and a suite of core enhancements, new command functions to push faster usage, the Zephyr analytics engine and more. Would very much love to have you onboard, also any feedback you have. Thanks!
fragmede 11y ago
Does this have anything in common with the Zephyr instant messaging protocol designed in the 80's created at MIT as part of Project Athena? A quick look at the link didn't seem like it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_(protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_(protocol) It's not the sexiest new protocol, but there are still pockets where it's still used, particularly SIPB. No other product (save Zulip which used Zephyr on the back end anyway), has had the same notion of messages having both a class and instance which makes it hard to replace, so I'm stuck on screen + barnowl for the time being.
- gotzephyr 11y ago
  Ha, no. It's just the same name.
  - tux 11y ago
    Yeah there is also Zephir Language > http://www.zephir-lang.com/ http://www.zephir-lang.com/ Same names is very confusing.
    - gotzephyr 11y ago
      That's a different spelling. I see what you are saying though. Name's just a name at present, a working title, and everything is under test to produce the best product possible for launch.
      - tux 11y ago
        Oh you're right sorry, I did not even see that until you mentioned it.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
bshimmin 11y ago
I'll be honest - I find the UI impenetrable. It's dark and full of fiddly icons and I'm not sure what I can click, what I can drag, etc. If there's any way you can find someone amenable who has no personal attachment to this project (ie. hasn't used it before, doesn't really know what you're trying to achieve) and has strong UI/UX sensibilities to take a look over this, I really think you should. Sometimes when you've built something and you're proud of it, it can be very hard to have an objective perspective on how usable something is.
- junto 11y ago
  I didn't want to be negative, but I had the same impression as you. As far as I can make out, something like Asana is their direct competition and from a UI perspective, it is so much cleaner: https://asana.com/product https://asana.com/product
  - gotzephyr 11y ago
    They're just further down the road than where we are, with more lots more money and a ton of engineers and designers...ha! When we launch I would very much hope your opinion would alter, if you would like to join our beta you will be able to keep updated with our progress :-)
    - junto 11y ago
      True! Congratulations on launching. That is always such a huge step to make.
      - gotzephyr 11y ago
        Many thanks! :-)
- ericcholis 11y ago
  The UI is quite jarring at first, and doesn't give any call to action or incentive to "try" anything. The "Join the Beta" window is overlaying the "Welcome to Zephyr" box, which is confusing. The dark color scheme is nice for a workspace, but the font size is difficult to read with large quantities of text. This makes it harder to onboard a user. Also, I took myself to the home page (https://zephyrplatform.com/ https://zephyrplatform.com/) in hopes of a nicer pitch....and was presented with a sparse version of the demo.
gotzephyr 11y ago
Thanks for all the comments, massively appreciated! Just remember its a first demo release, we've still much more to do before we launch, especially on the UI. Everything has to start somewhere, but you will see many improvements as each week rolls by, would very much love to see you all on our beta so we can show you what we can do and how Zephyr will be progressing.
chandika 11y ago
I'm struggling to understand the purpose of this compared to other collaboration platforms. Could you elaborate why this should matter to a team above and beyond other collab platforms out there?
- gotzephyr 11y ago
  We're only around 20% of our final build functionality on this demo. It's just a little taste of what Zephyr can do. Tasks, events, screenshare, integration with mail and other 3rd party systems, analytics and a lot more besides will be rolling out. Basically you and your team will be able to create your data, visualise it how you want, analyse it and store it on Zephyr. All on one platform, across all your devices, fully secured. This isn't our final product but if you do want to come onboard and see what we can do and how we will benefit you and your business, sign up to the beta as I would very much love your help in making Zephyr (even more) awesome ☺
almaspite 11y ago
Super cool, well done!
- gotzephyr 11y ago
  Thanks! :-)

14 points by gotzephyr 11y ago

This is our first release, built to showcase the card based UI and platform command system, come and try packing and flipping our cards. Also modules for chat, pinboard and storage for you to play with. As we roll out beta there will be further modules added for productivity and a suite of core enhancements, new command functions to push faster usage, the Zephyr analytics engine and more. Would very much love to have you onboard, also any feedback you have. Thanks!

fragmede 11y ago

Does this have anything in common with the Zephyr instant messaging protocol designed in the 80's created at MIT as part of Project Athena? A quick look at the link didn't seem like it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_(protocol) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_(protocol) It's not the sexiest new protocol, but there are still pockets where it's still used, particularly SIPB. No other product (save Zulip which used Zephyr on the back end anyway), has had the same notion of messages having both a class and instance which makes it hard to replace, so I'm stuck on screen + barnowl for the time being.

gotzephyr 11y ago
Ha, no. It's just the same name.
- tux 11y ago
  Yeah there is also Zephir Language > http://www.zephir-lang.com/ http://www.zephir-lang.com/ Same names is very confusing.
  - gotzephyr 11y ago
    That's a different spelling. I see what you are saying though. Name's just a name at present, a working title, and everything is under test to produce the best product possible for launch.
    - tux 11y ago
      Oh you're right sorry, I did not even see that until you mentioned it.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

bshimmin 11y ago

I'll be honest - I find the UI impenetrable. It's dark and full of fiddly icons and I'm not sure what I can click, what I can drag, etc. If there's any way you can find someone amenable who has no personal attachment to this project (ie. hasn't used it before, doesn't really know what you're trying to achieve) and has strong UI/UX sensibilities to take a look over this, I really think you should. Sometimes when you've built something and you're proud of it, it can be very hard to have an objective perspective on how usable something is.

junto 11y ago
I didn't want to be negative, but I had the same impression as you. As far as I can make out, something like Asana is their direct competition and from a UI perspective, it is so much cleaner: https://asana.com/product https://asana.com/product
- gotzephyr 11y ago
  They're just further down the road than where we are, with more lots more money and a ton of engineers and designers...ha! When we launch I would very much hope your opinion would alter, if you would like to join our beta you will be able to keep updated with our progress :-)
  - junto 11y ago
    True! Congratulations on launching. That is always such a huge step to make.
    - gotzephyr 11y ago
      Many thanks! :-)
ericcholis 11y ago
The UI is quite jarring at first, and doesn't give any call to action or incentive to "try" anything. The "Join the Beta" window is overlaying the "Welcome to Zephyr" box, which is confusing. The dark color scheme is nice for a workspace, but the font size is difficult to read with large quantities of text. This makes it harder to onboard a user. Also, I took myself to the home page (https://zephyrplatform.com/ https://zephyrplatform.com/) in hopes of a nicer pitch....and was presented with a sparse version of the demo.

gotzephyr 11y ago

Thanks for all the comments, massively appreciated! Just remember its a first demo release, we've still much more to do before we launch, especially on the UI. Everything has to start somewhere, but you will see many improvements as each week rolls by, would very much love to see you all on our beta so we can show you what we can do and how Zephyr will be progressing.

chandika 11y ago

I'm struggling to understand the purpose of this compared to other collaboration platforms. Could you elaborate why this should matter to a team above and beyond other collab platforms out there?

gotzephyr 11y ago
We're only around 20% of our final build functionality on this demo. It's just a little taste of what Zephyr can do. Tasks, events, screenshare, integration with mail and other 3rd party systems, analytics and a lot more besides will be rolling out. Basically you and your team will be able to create your data, visualise it how you want, analyse it and store it on Zephyr. All on one platform, across all your devices, fully secured. This isn't our final product but if you do want to come onboard and see what we can do and how we will benefit you and your business, sign up to the beta as I would very much love your help in making Zephyr (even more) awesome ☺

almaspite 11y ago

Super cool, well done!

gotzephyr 11y ago
Thanks! :-)