PlayCode
Dev tools
browser code sandbox
SHOW HN2022
397points
102comments
#86of 2,570 in 2022
Top 4%of 2022 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
12 positive, 23 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 9 critical, out of 46 comments about the project. Thread score +0.12.
Design: 4 for, 3 againstExecution: 3 for, 1 againstPricing: 1 for, 2 againstIdea: 1 for, 0 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fast live view and speed compared with other web IDEs.
From 3 comments
Great project! Love the focus on speed as well compared to other web IDE competitors out there. However, that carefree plan 8 lines of code thing seems ridiculous, no? Most of…
ndom91 on HNThis is actually incredible! The live view updates so fast. There more I look at this the more amazed I am. There's even a feature to publish the page with a custom domain? And…
roetlich on HNThanks, that's very impressive!
synergy20 on HN
Clean, dark-mode interface that is simple to use.
From 2 comments
I actually used this as an online editor for my Javascript interview. I love the interface and the pure dark mode throughout the UI.
shmde on HNReally love the interface. Very simple and easy to use. The themes are good as well.
pyrossh on HN
Impressive solo effort building a complex tool.
From 2 comments
I’m amazed that you were single-handedly able to build such a complex utility working solo in your free-time. I’m impressed with all the features you’ve added and that the pro…
cebert on HNwow this is bult by a single man? I am an avid user of this site. I thought it is a VC backed product or something. Neat work. Thanks for building this. It used to be free…
saasxyz on HN
Objections
Free tier limits (8 lines of code, 30 minutes per day) seem too restrictive.
From 3 comments
Great project! Love the focus on speed as well compared to other web IDE competitors out there. However, that carefree plan 8 lines of code thing seems ridiculous, no? Most of…
ndom91 on HNThe free tier on that page says you get "8 lines of code". Is that a typo? Does the app really not let you write more than 8 lines of code? Of what use is that to anyone?
bogwog on HNwow this is bult by a single man? I am an avid user of this site. I thought it is a VC backed product or something. Neat work. Thanks for building this. It used to be free…
saasxyz on HN
Logos of major tech companies on homepage seem misleading.
From 2 comments
If I can offer one minor criticism when i see every major tech company listed as your users, I instantly get a sense of a distrust as people do this to inflate the legitimacy and…
deanc on HNThose company-legitimacy boxes are useful for b2b sales when you're trying to sell a product that the companies in question actually pay for. This doesn't seem to be what you're…
scrollaway on HN
Sign-up and pricing information is unclear.
From 3 comments
@ianberdin, there's a link to "Sign up." But it doesn't give a good indication of what signing up does. Does it give me access to additional features? Does it sign me up for…
jawns on HNI can't tell from the landing page, what are the limitations of the free version / what do you get for subscribing? I always want to know this before I invest my time in anything.
Wowfunhappy on HN> I work full time now because of the freemium business model Could you describe the model? I can't see any pricing on your site.
XCSme on HN
Requests
Open-source the code or parts of it.
From 2 comments
Any chance you've open-sourced any of this? I've been looking for a way to run Node.js packages in-browser!
virgil_disgr4ce on HNFor sure. There are a lot of things to do: - files tree, - windows manager (it looks simple to implement, yet 2000 lines of code), - tabs, - better syntax highlighter, - code…
ianberdin on HN
Write a blog about the development journey.
From 3 comments
I wish you had a blog detailing your journey! Perhaps I missed it - but would love to learn more about what got you into the project and how you kept going!
pkrotich on HNThis is very impressive! I also admire that you stayed working on it for 6 years! Here's a quote I stumbled upon just earlier today: "Genius is eternal patience". I think it…
murdho on HNThank you for your kind. It is hard to forget problems, so I remember anyway :) As I said above: where to start a blog? What kind of subjects interesting for HN?
ianberdin on HN
Fix English grammar on the homepage.
From 2 comments
If I were to offer some feedback, the English on the homepage needs some tightening up. There's some bad grammar in there. That would definitely make it look a bit more…
tentacleuno on HNNot OP, but here's a couple of quick fixes for you (honestly, your English is pretty good): "Play with any of 2 millions of NPM packages ..." -> "Play with any of 2 million NPM…
Zanni on HN
Questions
How the freemium model works and what paid features include.
From 3 comments
> I work full time now because of the freemium business model Could you describe the model? I can't see any pricing on your site.
XCSme on HNI can't tell from the landing page, what are the limitations of the free version / what do you get for subscribing? I always want to know this before I invest my time in anything.
Wowfunhappy on HNImpressive work! > I work full time now because of the freemium business model. Not sure, if i understand correctly. You're working fulltime on this project, because the freemium…
lagrange77 on HN
How it differs from CodePen and similar editors.
From 1 comment
how is this different from other online editors,e.g.codepen etc
synergy20 on HN
Whether the product can be embedded in other software.
From 1 comment
I love this. Could it be embedded for use in other software? Curious as we might have a use case if so.
sgammon on HN
Alternatives named
CodePen
From 2 comments
how is this different from other online editors,e.g.codepen etc
synergy20 on HNThanks for the question. First of all it isn't a Pen :) Codepen is a community first while having a pretty limited and slow editor without NPM modules, multiple files, rich…
ianberdin on HN
webden.dev
From 1 comment
Nice work! I wish I would have come across this sooner or I might not have started building https://webden.dev for the past year haha. PLAYCODE is definitely more robust as far…
inflam52 on HN
VS Code web
From 1 comment
OP, I've been working on a very similar thing for some years now, too. I could write a book about this at this point, but I will avoid gushing here. Please let me share some…
heddycrow on HN