Adding a real-time "Town Square" to bring back the feeling of shared presence on the web
By
eustoria
Summary
The author describes adding a "Town Square" feature to their website — a small interactive strip at the bottom of each page where stick figures represent real-time visitors. Users can see what pages others are reading, walk around, and send messages. The goal is not to build another social network, but to recreate the feeling of shared presence and serendipitous human connection that the early web had, where you could "bump into" other people browsing the same site.
Source
Hacker NewsAdding a real-time "Town Square" to bring back the feeling of shared presence on the webcauenapier.comKey quotes
· 5 pulledThe goal wasn't to build another social network.
It was to bring back a small feeling that the web use
When you visit the site, you'll see a small strip populated by stick figures.
Each figure represents another visitor currently browsing the website.
You can see what page people are reading, walk around and send messages.
You might also wanna read
Locoround: A Community Platform for Local Engagement and Events
Locoround is a community-driven platform designed to facilitate local engagement by allowing users to share promotions, thoughts, and events
Product Hunt·11mo ago
lofi.town: A Cozy Multiplayer Productivity App with Live Lofi Music and Virtual Coworking
lofi.town is a productivity app that combines real-time coworking with cozy game elements in a multiplayer virtual world. Users can find foc
Product Hunt·10mo ago
Three talking points on fixing the social web: Newsmast at Public Spaces conference
The Newsmast team is attending the Public Spaces conference in Amsterdam, themed "Technology for Democracy." The article argues that the soc
blog-pat.ch·26d ago
Swarm by Foursquare: Location-Based Social Networking App for Logging Life Experiences
Swarm by Foursquare is a social networking and location-based app that helps users log their life experiences, discover places around them,
Product Hunt·11mo agoFaces: Platform for Instant Websites for Decks, Docs, and More
The article discusses a platform called Faces that offers instant sites for various purposes like decks, documents, and landings. It emphasi
Product Hunt·11mo ago
Why Websites Don't Need to Function Identically Across Every Platform
The article discusses the evolution of web design philosophy from the early 2000s obsession with pixel-perfect cross-browser visual consiste
Comments
Sign in to join the conversation.
No comments yet. Be the first.