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Wow. I'm a long time Android user and probably pay more attention than most, and I had no idea web apps had gotten quite this nice. Currently the only web app /

by itp 11y ago

Wow. I'm a long time Android user and probably pay more attention than most, and I had no idea web apps had gotten quite this nice. Currently the only web app / web shortcut I have installed is the HackerWeb app[0], which is nice but clearly not taking advantage of all of the functionality it could. I "installed" Flipkart Lite and the Voice Memos demo app to see the state of the world. Clearly it's possible to build some really nice web apps these days! I hope to see more of it moving forward. [0] https://hackerwebapp.com/ https://hackerwebapp.com/

cheeaun 11y ago
Hi! Creator of HackerWeb here, just wondering what kind of additional functionality that you're expecting?
- itp 11y ago
  Hey! Sorry if that comment came out a bit harsh; I definitely didn't mean it to. As evidenced by the fact that I continue to use the web app over any of the native options, I'm obviously a pretty happy user. So, random thoughts/feedback: - I wish I could login, comment, maybe even receive comment notifications? Although the last would clearly be an improvement on HN itself. - I wish I had some preferences available to me, e.g. always open links externally vs. inside the app itself. (I can long-press on a link and select "open in Chrome" of course.) - Flipkart has some pretty slick animations. The primary thing that jars me about HackerWeb is how abrupt everything is compared to native apps. Obviously nothing huge; just stuff I didn't know was even possible. Anyway, let me at least grab this opportunity to thank you for your work!
  - lewisl9029 11y ago
    > I wish I could login, comment, maybe even receive comment notifications? AFAIK authenticated user actions (logging in/commenting/profile management/etc) are simply not exposed through the official HN API. I don't think there's much third party developers can do about that, unfortunately. But yes, web apps have come a long way. Apple treating web apps as second-class citizens will probably still pose a huge barrier to widespread adoption for quite some time though.
  - cheeaun 11y ago
    Hah, I don't see your comment as harsh at all :) So as for your feedback: 1. I myself also wish that I could login, comment, etc. Unfortunately the official API doesn't allow it yet. Other HN apps implement those by scraping HN, save your username/password somewhere but I didn't choose this route because it might be a maintenance nightmare for me :( 2. Regarding the 'open new tab/window' preference for links, I've been thinking about this for a long time. Will experiment soon :) 3. Animations. I'll need time to implement those :P Glad to know that you like my app! Cheers.
- WildGreenLeave 11y ago
  I have tried multiple Hacker news native application, and I didn't like any of them. I, however, love your Hackerweb web app. Its clean, simple and fast. And it feels like a native app.
  - cheeaun 11y ago
    Thanks! Glad to know that you like the app :)
- jicea 11y ago
  Only one for me: get the previous icon back! I've really tried to like the new one but I still miss your previous icon. Joke aside, HackerWeb is an awesome example of a webapp done right. It's the only web app on my home screen, and my favorite Hacker news reader on mobile, beating any native app I've tried. Awesome job! Do you have any feedback about issues your encounter for the development? I'm thinking about iOS updates, responsive design with iPad etc... ?
  - cheeaun 11y ago
    Thanks! If you're interested in the issues I encountered for dev, I recently blogged some of them in my article here: http://cheeaun.com/blog/2016/03/building-hackerweb-ios/ http://cheeaun.com/blog/2016/03/building-hackerweb-ios/ (Also note that I've released an iOS counterpart of the web app).
jseliger 11y ago
Actually, let me piggyback on your comment and ask a usability question: Has anyone written an OS X app to make OS X play nicely with Android phones by syncing contacts, emails, calendars, and audio? I ask because Apple did something supremely annoying with an iTunes, OS X, or iOS update a while ago: Contacts and calendars no longer sync directly from OS X to iPhones and vice versa. This is monumentally annoying. iPhones are now pretty expensive and don't have this one feature that I used to find incredibly useful. I know there are ways to accomplish this via iCloud, but I neither like nor trust iCloud and don't need it.
- e40 11y ago
  You can connect your gmail account on a Mac and it sync's contacts. I do this so my VoIP apps have access to my gmail contacts, which are shared with my Android phone.
  - rcarmo 11y ago
    This. It just works (mostly), although be prepared to put up with some weirdness if you have custom fields and pixelated avatars.
- mercutio2 11y ago
  Note that this feature was added back to OS X circa Mountain Lion or Yosemite. You can sync your calendars and contacts only to and from your Mac if you want to.
- peterburkimsher 11y ago
  jseliger - Thank you for saying this! I can't use iCloud when I don't have internet access. This is usually when I'm travelling, which is also the time I most need to manage new contacts and calendars. I'm still using iTunes 10.7 and iOS 6.1.3 on Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks. It required some framework hacking to make it work, but it's the only way to get offline USB sync and a (beautiful) Retina display. Oh, and don't forget the ability to sync Safari Bookmarks. I used to be able to sync Notes too, but Apple broke that in 10.8 Mountain Lion. If any company can offer an ecosystem comparable to Apple circa 2011, I'd be persuaded to switch. For now, I have to stick with my old iPhone 4S. Surprisingly, I haven't really missed out by not upgrading.
thekingshorses 11y ago
If YC provides API like reddit, you can build really good client using web technology. https://hackerwebapp.com/ https://hackerwebapp.com/ is best you could do without good APIs. This is my reddit client. https://reddit.premii.com/ https://reddit.premii.com/ - You can login, upvote, reply, save, and tons of other things.
- agumonkey 11y ago
  I didn't know premii had other 'backends'... life: changed.
odbol_ 11y ago
I read the post, then looked up ServiceWorkers and this progressive web app stuff, and it doesn't seem that useful. You don't have access to files, or hardware (Bluetooth/sensors), or notifications, so what's the actual use case? It seems like it's just a way to be able to make cross-origin requests in a browser. Can it even do that? Seemed like it had a bunch of security considerations that make even that not useful.
- rictic 11y ago
  Service worker supports notifications: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/03/push-notifications-on-the-open-web?hl=en https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/03/push-notif... The primary use cases for service workers today are robust offline support and notifications. More generally service worker gives you broad and very fine grained control over your app's use of the network. Service worker itself doesn't give additional cross-origin request abilities, except by giving more control over caching. Web Bluetooth is still a work in progress, but you can try it out: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/07/interact-with-ble-devices-on-the-web?hl=en https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/07/interact-w... (disclosure: I work on this kind of stuff for Google)

by itp 11y ago

cheeaun 11y ago

Hi! Creator of HackerWeb here, just wondering what kind of additional functionality that you're expecting?

itp 11y ago
Hey! Sorry if that comment came out a bit harsh; I definitely didn't mean it to. As evidenced by the fact that I continue to use the web app over any of the native options, I'm obviously a pretty happy user. So, random thoughts/feedback: - I wish I could login, comment, maybe even receive comment notifications? Although the last would clearly be an improvement on HN itself. - I wish I had some preferences available to me, e.g. always open links externally vs. inside the app itself. (I can long-press on a link and select "open in Chrome" of course.) - Flipkart has some pretty slick animations. The primary thing that jars me about HackerWeb is how abrupt everything is compared to native apps. Obviously nothing huge; just stuff I didn't know was even possible. Anyway, let me at least grab this opportunity to thank you for your work!
- lewisl9029 11y ago
  > I wish I could login, comment, maybe even receive comment notifications? AFAIK authenticated user actions (logging in/commenting/profile management/etc) are simply not exposed through the official HN API. I don't think there's much third party developers can do about that, unfortunately. But yes, web apps have come a long way. Apple treating web apps as second-class citizens will probably still pose a huge barrier to widespread adoption for quite some time though.
- cheeaun 11y ago
  Hah, I don't see your comment as harsh at all :) So as for your feedback: 1. I myself also wish that I could login, comment, etc. Unfortunately the official API doesn't allow it yet. Other HN apps implement those by scraping HN, save your username/password somewhere but I didn't choose this route because it might be a maintenance nightmare for me :( 2. Regarding the 'open new tab/window' preference for links, I've been thinking about this for a long time. Will experiment soon :) 3. Animations. I'll need time to implement those :P Glad to know that you like my app! Cheers.
WildGreenLeave 11y ago
I have tried multiple Hacker news native application, and I didn't like any of them. I, however, love your Hackerweb web app. Its clean, simple and fast. And it feels like a native app.
- cheeaun 11y ago
  Thanks! Glad to know that you like the app :)
jicea 11y ago
Only one for me: get the previous icon back! I've really tried to like the new one but I still miss your previous icon. Joke aside, HackerWeb is an awesome example of a webapp done right. It's the only web app on my home screen, and my favorite Hacker news reader on mobile, beating any native app I've tried. Awesome job! Do you have any feedback about issues your encounter for the development? I'm thinking about iOS updates, responsive design with iPad etc... ?
- cheeaun 11y ago
  Thanks! If you're interested in the issues I encountered for dev, I recently blogged some of them in my article here: http://cheeaun.com/blog/2016/03/building-hackerweb-ios/ http://cheeaun.com/blog/2016/03/building-hackerweb-ios/ (Also note that I've released an iOS counterpart of the web app).

jseliger 11y ago

Actually, let me piggyback on your comment and ask a usability question: Has anyone written an OS X app to make OS X play nicely with Android phones by syncing contacts, emails, calendars, and audio? I ask because Apple did something supremely annoying with an iTunes, OS X, or iOS update a while ago: Contacts and calendars no longer sync directly from OS X to iPhones and vice versa. This is monumentally annoying. iPhones are now pretty expensive and don't have this one feature that I used to find incredibly useful. I know there are ways to accomplish this via iCloud, but I neither like nor trust iCloud and don't need it.

e40 11y ago
You can connect your gmail account on a Mac and it sync's contacts. I do this so my VoIP apps have access to my gmail contacts, which are shared with my Android phone.
- rcarmo 11y ago
  This. It just works (mostly), although be prepared to put up with some weirdness if you have custom fields and pixelated avatars.
mercutio2 11y ago
Note that this feature was added back to OS X circa Mountain Lion or Yosemite. You can sync your calendars and contacts only to and from your Mac if you want to.
peterburkimsher 11y ago
jseliger - Thank you for saying this! I can't use iCloud when I don't have internet access. This is usually when I'm travelling, which is also the time I most need to manage new contacts and calendars. I'm still using iTunes 10.7 and iOS 6.1.3 on Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks. It required some framework hacking to make it work, but it's the only way to get offline USB sync and a (beautiful) Retina display. Oh, and don't forget the ability to sync Safari Bookmarks. I used to be able to sync Notes too, but Apple broke that in 10.8 Mountain Lion. If any company can offer an ecosystem comparable to Apple circa 2011, I'd be persuaded to switch. For now, I have to stick with my old iPhone 4S. Surprisingly, I haven't really missed out by not upgrading.

thekingshorses 11y ago

If YC provides API like reddit, you can build really good client using web technology. https://hackerwebapp.com/ https://hackerwebapp.com/ is best you could do without good APIs. This is my reddit client. https://reddit.premii.com/ https://reddit.premii.com/ - You can login, upvote, reply, save, and tons of other things.

agumonkey 11y ago
I didn't know premii had other 'backends'... life: changed.

odbol_ 11y ago

I read the post, then looked up ServiceWorkers and this progressive web app stuff, and it doesn't seem that useful. You don't have access to files, or hardware (Bluetooth/sensors), or notifications, so what's the actual use case? It seems like it's just a way to be able to make cross-origin requests in a browser. Can it even do that? Seemed like it had a bunch of security considerations that make even that not useful.

rictic 11y ago
Service worker supports notifications: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/03/push-notifications-on-the-open-web?hl=en https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/03/push-notif... The primary use cases for service workers today are robust offline support and notifications. More generally service worker gives you broad and very fine grained control over your app's use of the network. Service worker itself doesn't give additional cross-origin request abilities, except by giving more control over caching. Web Bluetooth is still a work in progress, but you can try it out: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/07/interact-with-ble-devices-on-the-web?hl=en https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/07/interact-w... (disclosure: I work on this kind of stuff for Google)