7 ms·

Hacker News Reader for iPad

25 points by gmaster1440 17y ago

nanijoe 17y ago
what's wrong with reading HN in a web browser?
- gmaster1440 17y ago
  nothing whatsoever :) It just seems that extra functionality like the ability to read offline and maintain a collection of articles may be beneficial for certain people. I guess this app is for those people.
  - javery 17y ago
    Actually that is what instapaper is for.
    - gmaster1440 17y ago
      Indeed Instapaper can do it directly if you manually go to the HN site, find the article, and load the page; however, let's say you want to send this very old article for offline viewing. It may be on the nth page of hacker news, and you may never find it. Hacker News Reader stores all articles (critical information about them actually) to a db on your iPad, so you can decide to do whatever you want with them at any point in time with no hassle. Instapaper Pro for iPad is also $4.99 while Hacker News Reader is $0.99.
- jws 17y ago
  The HN user interface leaves a bit to be desired on mobile devices. Ever notice to "sorry I downvoted you" comments? That is people with touch screens. Another example, to reply to you I had to find your comment in the mysteriously small text, double tap zoom, pinch zoom, reposition, and then I could finally hit the microscopic "reply" link. It is a persistent itch that the site itself does not address. Some people do things with style sheets or HTML rewriters, some do it with an app. I'd do width sensitive CSS with the media type selectors if it were my site.
  - icefox 17y ago
    And the iPad isn't really a mobile device. It has a very large screen so large that it is the same resolution as one of my laptops.
    - jws 17y ago
      On my iPad my finger is many times the size of the voting arrows. Your pointing device on your netbook is pixel accurate with pre-click position feedback. But beyond the clicking, I think the reason I like the native HN app on my phone is because it makes better use of the pixels. On the web page there are great swathes of pixels that are not contributing. I'm not as sensitive on the ipad, but paid my $3 because the author promised an iPad upgrade, and HN on a small screen could be $3 better.
  - steveklabnik 17y ago
    I'm moderately scared to up/downvote people when reading HN on my phone. At a comfortable level of zoom for reading, the buttons are so small, and with no option to undo my vote, I'd rather not accidentally penalize someone.
pavs 17y ago
An app for every single websites out there is an awesome idea. At this rate App store will have millions of apps (there are ~100 million domains).
tumult 17y ago
Is this more than just a wrapper around WebKit that can also display the article headlines to the left? Or is there more to it than the screenshots show?
- gmaster1440 17y ago
  The cells on the left represent actual entries in a locally stored db using CoreData, meaning that they will always be there until you explicitly delete them. Each cell represents an Article object that has a title, url, author, and comment link. So, after the article are long gone off the homepage (or even off of the hn database), they will remain in your iPad with substantial information. There is also an Instapaper integrator button that will instantly send any article to your Instapaper account for offline viewing on a variety of devices, include the iPad. Hope that cleared any concerns.
  - icefox 17y ago
    Sounds like rss to me.
kqueue 17y ago
I don't get it. I go to HN using the web browser, and it is bookmarked. What's wrong with that? Easy and simple.
- gmaster1440 17y ago
  Nothing. See response to nanijoe's comment.
CraigPJ 17y ago
I for one welcome a dedicated app for the iPad espe ially considering the memory limitations with mobile safari on the iPad restricting the number of open tabs. The sidebar back button is a nice touch. One suggestion I would make though is to do something else with the page curl when clicking the "view" button. It's a nice effect but having the page curl remain visible makes it seem like you can just click the exposed page curl to go back and bring the native app back into view. Sine this doesn't actually do anything it's a bit awkward to keep hitting it instead of remembering to hit the sidebar back button.
- megablast 17y ago
  Wow, this looks ugly. It just goes to show it is a lot harder to design for the ipad, with its much larger screen than for the iPhone. For example, it seems silly to have the headlines (the most important info), crammed into the small bar on the left, with the huge space on the right used for displaying one headline and a menu. This is a waste of space.
  - gmaster1440 17y ago
    You bring up a good point megablast, designing for the iPad does bring new challenges of its own. Though I agree with your design criticism, the iPad Human Interface Guideline paper published by Apple is demanded to be followed upon submission of an App to the AppStore. The larger window on the right, the Detail View, is meant to handle a single unit of content at a time, in this case an HN article. This "Side View" perspective may seem awkward considering a large screen, but keep in mind that just because there is more space, not all of it should necessarily be used up :) You don't want to cramp up too much data or display too little. Maintaining a good balance between the two will come with time and experience.
- gmaster1440 17y ago
  Thank you CraigPJ for the constructive criticism. Will try to implement better usage of the page curl in the next version.
- jamesbressi 17y ago
Zev 17y ago
HN for the iPad is a great idea. Its certainly one that has crossed my mind (only to be put aside due to the lack of time - maybe in a few weeks, after the semester ends...). This app leaves a bit to be desired, however. At least, judging by a quick look at the screenshots.. to name a few things that jumped out at me: - Is that Marker Felt for the Y in the icon?! - The use of modal views bothers me; it doesn't completely hide the splitview column, but, you can't select anything in it anymore as a result. - The large emphasis on Instapaper makes it feel like the app is a glorified RSS reader meant to funnel you away from the app itself and consume the content elsewhere. - When you do view a story in-app, its just a UIWebView that opens the HN page; nothing different than using Safari. - Using a single line on the UILabel that has to be scrolled (instead of sizing it to fit, or just having multiple lines) seems like a hassle to find out the title of the story. - Why does the full URL of the story matter? Regular HN does fine without it. As an aside: Why aren't any of the HN iPhone/iPad/* platform apps open source? Seems like a no brainer to let anyone else submit patches. And from first hand experience, open source in the App Store does sell.
- gmaster1440 17y ago
  -That is actually American Typewriter -Fair enough -Perhaps, though it is one of the app's more productive functionality -What would you suggest it do? -Doesn't seem like too much of a hassle. Some titles are really long and scaling the size would create very small fonts. -Does it hurt? Fair enough, removed pricing and will post source code up on github. You made a substantial argument Zev. I was just hoping to make a bit as a fund-raiser for this event in school, but perhaps I'll leave that to some future game :)
  - Zev 17y ago
    What would you suggest it do? Reformat the text to fit the iPad's screen completely. Doesn't seem like too much of a hassle. Some titles are really long and scaling the size would create very small fonts. Its not much of a hassle. But, its still a hassle. And an unnecessary one. UILabel has a numberOfLines property. Please use it; the iPad has a nice, big screen. Does it hurt? Does it help? Many of the best iPhone and iPad UI's are about removing extraneous content. Just because you can have something on screen doesn't mean that it needs to be on there. Fair enough, removed pricing and will post source code up on github. No, no, no! Open source doesn't mean it has to be free! You can be open source and still charge for the application. I work on Mobile Colloquy; our source is available under a BSD license, yet on the App Store for $2. FWIW, I bought a copy of the app. And I'll be taking a look at the source and have a few (probably small as I'm slightly busy with finals) patches in a fork at some point this weekend, at latest! :)
jaxn 17y ago
I would love a good HN app for my iPad. This one is nit very good though (I am using it right now). It doesn't feel very well thought out. Instead of having articles always stay in the list I would rather them disappear after I read them unless I mark it as a favorite or comment on it. Also, what is this weird back button?
- Zev 17y ago
  Also, what is this weird back button? Likely an attempt at copying Instapaper's pagination; see "Pagination tap zones" on http://blog.instapaper.com/post/545408126 http://blog.instapaper.com/post/545408126
marknutter 17y ago
I honestly think most of the apps in the app store would have been better off as highly optimized web apps. When you look at the quality of gmail.com on the iPad, for instance, it makes you wonder why anyone bothers with apps. Not to mention, there is no approval process for websites. Someone just needs to make an iPad optimized version of HN
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
CraigPJ 16y ago
Several MUST have updates for the next version. First, stop sorting the articles list by alphabetical order of title. this sort makes absolutely no sense and makes in next to impossible to find new articles. Second, have some way of showing which articles have already been read. in iPhone apps vie written in the past I've typically changed the font style in the sidebar article listing. for example, once an article has been "read" change the font color in the sidebar to a "grayed out" style vs the regular black font color. With the way the current app sorts by alphabetical order plus no way of visually knowing which articles have already been read, it's nearly impossible to use the app well to keep up on new submissions on Hacker News

25 points by gmaster1440 17y ago

nanijoe 17y ago

what's wrong with reading HN in a web browser?

gmaster1440 17y ago
nothing whatsoever :) It just seems that extra functionality like the ability to read offline and maintain a collection of articles may be beneficial for certain people. I guess this app is for those people.
- javery 17y ago
  Actually that is what instapaper is for.
  - gmaster1440 17y ago
    Indeed Instapaper can do it directly if you manually go to the HN site, find the article, and load the page; however, let's say you want to send this very old article for offline viewing. It may be on the nth page of hacker news, and you may never find it. Hacker News Reader stores all articles (critical information about them actually) to a db on your iPad, so you can decide to do whatever you want with them at any point in time with no hassle. Instapaper Pro for iPad is also $4.99 while Hacker News Reader is $0.99.
jws 17y ago
The HN user interface leaves a bit to be desired on mobile devices. Ever notice to "sorry I downvoted you" comments? That is people with touch screens. Another example, to reply to you I had to find your comment in the mysteriously small text, double tap zoom, pinch zoom, reposition, and then I could finally hit the microscopic "reply" link. It is a persistent itch that the site itself does not address. Some people do things with style sheets or HTML rewriters, some do it with an app. I'd do width sensitive CSS with the media type selectors if it were my site.
- icefox 17y ago
  And the iPad isn't really a mobile device. It has a very large screen so large that it is the same resolution as one of my laptops.
  - jws 17y ago
    On my iPad my finger is many times the size of the voting arrows. Your pointing device on your netbook is pixel accurate with pre-click position feedback. But beyond the clicking, I think the reason I like the native HN app on my phone is because it makes better use of the pixels. On the web page there are great swathes of pixels that are not contributing. I'm not as sensitive on the ipad, but paid my $3 because the author promised an iPad upgrade, and HN on a small screen could be $3 better.
- steveklabnik 17y ago
  I'm moderately scared to up/downvote people when reading HN on my phone. At a comfortable level of zoom for reading, the buttons are so small, and with no option to undo my vote, I'd rather not accidentally penalize someone.

pavs 17y ago

An app for every single websites out there is an awesome idea. At this rate App store will have millions of apps (there are ~100 million domains).

tumult 17y ago

Is this more than just a wrapper around WebKit that can also display the article headlines to the left? Or is there more to it than the screenshots show?

gmaster1440 17y ago
The cells on the left represent actual entries in a locally stored db using CoreData, meaning that they will always be there until you explicitly delete them. Each cell represents an Article object that has a title, url, author, and comment link. So, after the article are long gone off the homepage (or even off of the hn database), they will remain in your iPad with substantial information. There is also an Instapaper integrator button that will instantly send any article to your Instapaper account for offline viewing on a variety of devices, include the iPad. Hope that cleared any concerns.
- icefox 17y ago
  Sounds like rss to me.

kqueue 17y ago

I don't get it. I go to HN using the web browser, and it is bookmarked. What's wrong with that? Easy and simple.

gmaster1440 17y ago
Nothing. See response to nanijoe's comment.

CraigPJ 17y ago

I for one welcome a dedicated app for the iPad espe ially considering the memory limitations with mobile safari on the iPad restricting the number of open tabs. The sidebar back button is a nice touch. One suggestion I would make though is to do something else with the page curl when clicking the "view" button. It's a nice effect but having the page curl remain visible makes it seem like you can just click the exposed page curl to go back and bring the native app back into view. Sine this doesn't actually do anything it's a bit awkward to keep hitting it instead of remembering to hit the sidebar back button.

megablast 17y ago
Wow, this looks ugly. It just goes to show it is a lot harder to design for the ipad, with its much larger screen than for the iPhone. For example, it seems silly to have the headlines (the most important info), crammed into the small bar on the left, with the huge space on the right used for displaying one headline and a menu. This is a waste of space.
- gmaster1440 17y ago
  You bring up a good point megablast, designing for the iPad does bring new challenges of its own. Though I agree with your design criticism, the iPad Human Interface Guideline paper published by Apple is demanded to be followed upon submission of an App to the AppStore. The larger window on the right, the Detail View, is meant to handle a single unit of content at a time, in this case an HN article. This "Side View" perspective may seem awkward considering a large screen, but keep in mind that just because there is more space, not all of it should necessarily be used up :) You don't want to cramp up too much data or display too little. Maintaining a good balance between the two will come with time and experience.
gmaster1440 17y ago
Thank you CraigPJ for the constructive criticism. Will try to implement better usage of the page curl in the next version.
jamesbressi 17y ago

Zev 17y ago

HN for the iPad is a great idea. Its certainly one that has crossed my mind (only to be put aside due to the lack of time - maybe in a few weeks, after the semester ends...). This app leaves a bit to be desired, however. At least, judging by a quick look at the screenshots.. to name a few things that jumped out at me: - Is that Marker Felt for the Y in the icon?! - The use of modal views bothers me; it doesn't completely hide the splitview column, but, you can't select anything in it anymore as a result. - The large emphasis on Instapaper makes it feel like the app is a glorified RSS reader meant to funnel you away from the app itself and consume the content elsewhere. - When you do view a story in-app, its just a UIWebView that opens the HN page; nothing different than using Safari. - Using a single line on the UILabel that has to be scrolled (instead of sizing it to fit, or just having multiple lines) seems like a hassle to find out the title of the story. - Why does the full URL of the story matter? Regular HN does fine without it. As an aside: Why aren't any of the HN iPhone/iPad/* platform apps open source? Seems like a no brainer to let anyone else submit patches. And from first hand experience, open source in the App Store does sell.

gmaster1440 17y ago
-That is actually American Typewriter -Fair enough -Perhaps, though it is one of the app's more productive functionality -What would you suggest it do? -Doesn't seem like too much of a hassle. Some titles are really long and scaling the size would create very small fonts. -Does it hurt? Fair enough, removed pricing and will post source code up on github. You made a substantial argument Zev. I was just hoping to make a bit as a fund-raiser for this event in school, but perhaps I'll leave that to some future game :)
- Zev 17y ago
  What would you suggest it do? Reformat the text to fit the iPad's screen completely. Doesn't seem like too much of a hassle. Some titles are really long and scaling the size would create very small fonts. Its not much of a hassle. But, its still a hassle. And an unnecessary one. UILabel has a numberOfLines property. Please use it; the iPad has a nice, big screen. Does it hurt? Does it help? Many of the best iPhone and iPad UI's are about removing extraneous content. Just because you can have something on screen doesn't mean that it needs to be on there. Fair enough, removed pricing and will post source code up on github. No, no, no! Open source doesn't mean it has to be free! You can be open source and still charge for the application. I work on Mobile Colloquy; our source is available under a BSD license, yet on the App Store for $2. FWIW, I bought a copy of the app. And I'll be taking a look at the source and have a few (probably small as I'm slightly busy with finals) patches in a fork at some point this weekend, at latest! :)

jaxn 17y ago

I would love a good HN app for my iPad. This one is nit very good though (I am using it right now). It doesn't feel very well thought out. Instead of having articles always stay in the list I would rather them disappear after I read them unless I mark it as a favorite or comment on it. Also, what is this weird back button?

Zev 17y ago
Also, what is this weird back button? Likely an attempt at copying Instapaper's pagination; see "Pagination tap zones" on http://blog.instapaper.com/post/545408126 http://blog.instapaper.com/post/545408126

marknutter 17y ago

I honestly think most of the apps in the app store would have been better off as highly optimized web apps. When you look at the quality of gmail.com on the iPad, for instance, it makes you wonder why anyone bothers with apps. Not to mention, there is no approval process for websites. Someone just needs to make an iPad optimized version of HN

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

CraigPJ 16y ago

Several MUST have updates for the next version. First, stop sorting the articles list by alphabetical order of title. this sort makes absolutely no sense and makes in next to impossible to find new articles. Second, have some way of showing which articles have already been read. in iPhone apps vie written in the past I've typically changed the font style in the sidebar article listing. for example, once an article has been "read" change the font color in the sidebar to a "grayed out" style vs the regular black font color. With the way the current app sorts by alphabetical order plus no way of visually knowing which articles have already been read, it's nearly impossible to use the app well to keep up on new submissions on Hacker News