We launch a feature here on Thursday, and the landing page section for it is the one new users keep bringing up on calls and in replies, more than the hero, more than pricing.
It is a simple block. One sentence: see the change before it ships. One picture of a working copy of your site with the change on it, and two buttons: approve, or send it back.
I think it works because it answers the question people actually have about any tool that writes code for them: what if it gets it wrong? The answer is not trust us , it is look at it first . The other sections explain what it does. This one removes the fear.
Curious what the equivalent section is on your landing page: the one that answers the fear rather than describing the feature. And for those who have run the test, did it convert better than the feature description?
@mikita_aliaksandrovich Congratulations to Mikita, Maxim, and Paul on this launch. Excited to see the team shipping again! :)
How I met the maker
I’ve known Mikita since his first launch on Product Hunt, and it’s been great to watch Ovren’s progress since then.
What is the product
Ovren helps you make real changes to your websites and apps using AI, without needing to write code. With today’s Live Preview launch, you can describe the change you want, see it on your actual page before it ships, and then create a pull request once everything looks right.
Why I endorse it
What I like most about Ovren is that it makes shipping changes easier for non-technical teams while still keeping developers in control through reviewable pull requests.
The team has worked hard on this, and I’d definitely recommend checking out Ovren and sharing your feedback!
@rohanrecommends Thank you, Rohan! That means a lot for three of us. You put the product in one sentence better then our page does: non-technical teams ship, developers stay in control. That is the whole idea. Let's see what people ship with it today!
@rohanrecommends Thanks so much!
Means a lot coming from someone who's watched Ovren since our first launch. Making changes easier for non-technical teams without taking control away from developers is the whole point for us, so it's great to see that come through.
@mikita_aliaksandrovich nice to see you guys pushing forward! excited about the changes you made and that it's targeting also marketers
@vibor_cipan Thanks, Vibor!
Marketers are a big part of who this is for: a new landing section or a banner you can click through yourself before you ask anyone to merge it.
@vibor_cipan Thanks! Marketers were the ones asking for this most after April. They knew exactly what they wanted changed, they just couldn't check it before a developer merged it. Now they can!
@mikita_aliaksandrovich @vibor_cipan Marketers are just a common example of usage. We see a much broader application for Ovren. Any UI-only specific change could be successfully previewed before the merge, which is a very human-oriented approach.
Congrats on the launch! Can I share the preview link with my team before approving, or is it only visible to me?
@dvoretskii Thanks! Yes, The preview has an Open button that loads it in its own tab with its own link, and you can send that link to your team before you approve. One thing to know: previews expire after a while, so share it while it's fresh. If it has expired, regenerate build a new one.
@dvoretskii Thank you, Sviatoslav!
Who on your team usually signs off on changes before they go live?
@dvoretskii The preview link is straightforward to share, and our goal is for any decision-maker or involved person to be able to review the preview. However, because the link contains unique names and couldn't be discovered by accident, the preview should only be distributed by sharing the URL directly.
The preview and the pull request give two people different things to review. That makes sense when the person requesting the change isn't the person merging it.
@oleksii_sekundant Exactly, and that split was the whole design decision. The person who asked for the change judges whether it looks right, and the developer judges whether the code is right. Before Live Preview, the developer had to do both, which meant guessing what the requester meant. Now each person reviews the part they actually know. Thanks for putting it so clearly.
@oleksii_sekundant Can confirm from the requester's side: that's the half I couldn't do before. Curious, on your team is it usually two people, or one person doing both?
Looks great. How long does it usually take from describing a change to getting the preview?
@tatsiana_tsybukova Thank you! Usually a few minutes. Once you approve the plan, the median time to a change ready for review is about 2 minutes, and the preview builds right after that. The step that takes longest is often the human one: reading the plan and approving it.
@tatsiana_tsybukova Thanks, Tatsiana! Out our curiosity, how long does a small change like that usually take on your side today?
Hi everyone, Paul from the Ovren team here.
Mikita mentioned the feedback we heard most often after our first launch: "I trust the pull request, but I can't read code."
I've felt the same way.
A while ago, I needed a small change to the pricing page at my other company. It wasn't urgent enough to make the next sprint, and I couldn't build it myself. I described what I wanted to Ovren in two sentences, and a few minutes later, it opened a pull request on a staging branch.
Our developer changed one line and merged it.
It worked. But there was one thing I still couldn't do myself: verify that the change actually matched what I'd asked for. The pull request was written for a developer, not for me.
That's the gap Live Preview is designed to close.
Now I can click through the updated page, show it to everyone who needs to sign off, and then hand it over to our developer for review.
If you're the non-technical person on your team, what's the one change that's been stuck in your backlog the longest?
@paul_chaus Thanks, Paul. Your pricing page story is pretty much where Live Preview started. The pull request worked, but you still had to take it on trust, and that one missing step is what we built today. Glad you can finally check it yourself before handing it over. Curious to see what people answer to your question.
@paul_chaus Great feedback. Thank you for highlighting the cases we are trying to solve with this product. It is also worth mentioning that the integration with Ovren completed in a few clicks, and configuration templates are created automatically to support users’ setup.
Nice update, congrats @mikita_aliaksandrovich and the team! Which frameworks does the live preview support right now?
@kate_ramakaieva Thanks, Kate!
@kate_ramakaieva Thank Kate! Right now Live Preview works with React and Next.js projects, which is where most of our users are. Other frameworks are on the list. Which one you are on? Knowing what people use helps us decide what to support next!
@kate_ramakaieva In addition to framework support, we have integrated a broad range of commonly used plugins and libraries. The offering covers highly technical elements, such as support for different protocols, as well as more design-oriented features, such as localization. It is worth trying on your project, and we are happy to provide support in any case.
What does the preview include... different viewport sizes or does the requester need to switch between desktop and mobile manually?
@nuseir_yassin1 Good question, Nuseir! There's no desktop/mobile toggle in the preview panel today. The Open button loads the preview in its own tab, so you can resize the window or use your browser's device mode to check mobile. Would a built-in switch be useful for your team?
@nuseir_yassin1 Paul's right, and it's a fair gap. Opening the preview in its own tab and using your browser's device mode works today, but a requester shouldn't have to know that trick. A desktop/mobile switch in the panel is now on our list. Thanks for raising it!