Has anyone tried out the new website, datasheets.com? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: nherbw
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 02:21:18 pm
content: If so what do you all think?

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 02:44:48 pm
content: It wants me to register. Why?I hate sites like that. Why would I want to register when there are other good datasheet sites around that don't need registration? I really don't understand what the people behind this site think?So, thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with datasheetcatalog.com.

author: grenert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 03:46:17 pm
content: Go away, spammer.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 03:53:36 pm
content: ..and why exactly does the world need yet another datasheet site?I've not used it but can say with a fair degree of certainty that the parametric search will be rubbish.If Farnell can't get it right after all these years, what hope for a new site hosting a random collection of datasheets?

author: nherbw
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 03:55:52 pm
content: Hey, @david77. Part of the reason for the login is that you can save your past searches and start your own personal datasheets library. Also, we are working on some other features that will need to be associated with a login.@grenert I am not trying to spam, but am in fact looking for legitimate feedback on a new website that just launched. Datasheets.com has some really great features that can cut down on the process of searching for multiple datasheets especially for obsolete parts that are available in the market through distributors still stocking them, but the datasheet or parametric info might not be readily available.Thanks for the feedback!

author: nherbw
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 04:06:49 pm
content: Hey @mikeselectricstuff Interesting take and I agree - there are a lot of datasheet sites. But one thing that is different is that datasheets.com has partnered with SiliconExpert which empowers many of the distributors websites data. It’s the same data you see on the distributor websites, but now normalized and packed up in one gigantic website.And about the parametric search it really is better and one of the most powerful features of datasheets.com. SiliconExpert has a team of engineers that goes through each datasheet and matches the parameters of each part. You should really give it a try and see if it isn't better.

author: deephaven
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 04:17:43 pm
content: Looks quite good, however it doesn't seem to support UK distributors...

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 04:48:39 pm
content: Quote from: nherbw on July 19, 2011, 03:55:52 pmWhat a load of bull. The moment you decide to pack up, because you didn't manage to make the expected money, will be the moment all the carefully assembled personal datasheet libraries are toast.

author: grenert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 04:58:07 pm
content: Quote from: nherbw on July 19, 2011, 03:55:52 pmThen be upfront about it and open that this is your site (or certainly a site you are associated with), rather than try to pretend you're an unassociated person curious about it.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 08:31:17 pm
content: Quote from: nherbw on July 19, 2011, 03:55:52 pmit would have helped if you'd said a lot of that in your first post. Asking for feedback is fine, asking people about your website while failing to say it's yours is sort of spammy.No there is no excuse for a log in. Why is everyone bent on providing online services ? My datasheet library is always with me on a portable drive so if I'm at home, work or out with my laptop I have fast access and no logging in lark or dependancy on internet connection. I also carry a portable version of thunderbird so I have access to my emails anywhere without being tied to annoying webmail. I also use a number of other portable apps that keep me PC independent with no hassle. Why on earth should i want to log into a website ?

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 09:10:08 pm
content: QuoteFine, by all means offer extra features for registered users, but login is not necessary for basic datasheet search and download, and achieves nothing but pissing people off, so they go elsewhere instead of finding out how your site is or isn't any better than datsheetarchive.com, alldatasheet.com, digikey, findchips etc. etc. etc.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 09:19:44 pm
content: I just use the part supplier for datasheets in order to make sure i have the most accurate one for the part i'm buying.

author: Rufus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 09:34:04 pm
content: Quote from: nherbw on July 19, 2011, 02:21:18 pmI think it is slow,riddled with script, spammy and wouldn't register to use it anyway.My default browser settings render it as a blank page which kinda indicates the settings are working as intended

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2011, 09:55:12 pm
content: OK I registered to try your parametric search.DC-DC conveters - the only parameters are manufacturer, topology, number of outputs and minumum input voltage.And input voltage figures are alpha-sortede.g.2.520033.3I tried a few others but I just can't be bothered to recount how useless they were, apart from mentioning that it seems no category appears to have more then 4 parameters.A particularly useless example is eeproms, where the four parameters are manufacturer, interface type, supply voltage and screening level - WTF? Let me give you a hint - maybe capacity might be vaguely useful....QuoteWell that may be the case, but the parameters for them to compare have clearly been chosen by people who have absolutely no clue.Just like I predicted - a total waste of time. Makes the RS Components website look good - and that's a hell of an achievement.Complete and utter FAIL.

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2011, 12:55:25 am
content: I got an idea for you:You can generate a downloadable zip file with all the datasheet in a user's personal library. It can be generated on the go, so no hosting problems. You can organize them inside the zip as the user likes. For example:/Datasheets/Type/Sub-category-blah-blah/Manufacturer/Series/Datasheet.Because the zip files are generated, users arrange the folder structures as they want. Maybe they want to sort them by manufacturer first.Also, please keep application notes separate from datasheets.QuoteSecond to that. If you have people manually classifying stuff, you can have them pointing down the markings. Typically a manufacturer will have similar to each other datasheets.By the way, guys, why are you being so rude? I know he should have said his from the site, but you don't have to be so mean.Ivan

author: slburris
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2011, 02:56:08 am
content: The site is too slow to be useful.By making it so you have to log in, aren't you missing out on having google index allthe datasheets you have? I rarely go to a single datasheet site, instead I googlefor it.So for example, I googled for "8255a datasheet"The top 4 sites were datasheetcatlog.com, alldatasheet.com, datasheetarchive.com,and intersil.com (apparently they still make them!).Your site isn't on the first page of search results.OK, so let's try searching for "8255a datasheet site:datasheets.com".No results.Scott

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2011, 10:08:49 am
content: nherbw wanted some feedback and I wanted to sit down for a few minutes, so I decided to have a play with the parametric search.In principle the idea is good, but clearly the person(s) responsible for the chosen parameters have absolutely no clue about electronics. As Mike said before this is useless.Just a few examples, I picked some categorie at random.Toggle switches: no volt/amp rating selectableGeneral purpose BJT: no case style, no current, no hFEPower transformers: no voltage or power ratings of any kind selectable.WTF?And the website is slooooow.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 20, 2011, 11:35:03 am
content: I agree with most of the comments.Registration is an absolute killer, even if it is EEtimes which some may already be signed up for.No one like to be sucked into the "sales funnel" which coincidentally we mentioned on the AmpHour yesterday.Before I had ever logged in, I got spammed by EEtimes with a datasheets.com product listing. I was not impressed by that.And not being Google indexed is silly, although the site is new so it maybe indexable but not listed yet?But even so, I hate finding datasheet links on Google search and then finding out I have to register to get it, or wade through a page riddled with ads, as is quite common in this industry, to point of wanting to scream sometimes.If the express aim of the site is to give engineers datasheets, you should do just that, no mess, no fuss. And preferably with simple straight direct URL links I can possibly cut'n'paste into project documents.And yes, the parametric search criteria aren't very useful or well thought out, I'd much rather use say Digikey for parametric search in combination with findchips.com for price and availability.I'd LOVE to have all that in the one place, so the concept is sound, and the data seems to be there, but it just needs some work and more thought to make it the truly useful one-stop-shop they are hoping for.Dave.

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 20, 2011, 01:24:04 pm
content: Quote from: ivan747 on July 20, 2011, 12:55:25 amA sales rep pretending to be your average member is one of the worst crimes to commit on a forum and should be humiliated with extreme prejudice.

author: chipman
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 20, 2011, 03:57:42 pm
content: There are many datasheet search engines out there. datasheets.com is just one of several new sites and doesn't seem to offer much new.What do you guys think about the main datasheet sites like datasheetarchive.com, datasheetcatalog.com and alldatasheet.com.which one do you find has the best results and what are your likes / dislikes

author: AntiProtonBoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2011, 09:10:52 am
content: Any site that displays absolutely nothing, or is completely broken when JavaScript is disnabled is an instant fail in my books.

author: Bloch
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 22, 2011, 10:07:02 am
content: Quote from: nherbw on July 19, 2011, 02:21:18 pmokFirst get the fuc* out off my gmail acount. I did not ask for it.Jul 20 New Products Alert: Keeping you ahead of the electronic curveJul 21 New Products Alert: Keeping you ahead of the electronic curveJul 22 Not one today ?? try me and you will be blocked and I will gladly press the nice bigSPAMbutton gmail haveIt is slow. And it is year 2011 410 Errors, 113 warning(s)http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.datasheets.com%2Fsearch%2FHomePageAction.ad&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0A need to registerFAILIf you fix all this then i will alow you to PM me on this forum.

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 22, 2011, 03:19:14 pm
content: Pretty sure he's not coming back dude, at least not as that spammer account."Last Active: July 20, 2011"