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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 seme

by Zev 16y 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 16y 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 16y 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! :)
  - gmaster1440 16y ago
    I'll keep it free for now, until several patches later and the app becomes more or less worth the money. I appreciate your active participation :)
    - CraigPJ 16y ago
      Can we get a link to the GitHub source. I'd love to contribute to this app and make some useful improvements.

by Zev 16y ago

gmaster1440 16y 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 16y 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! :)
- gmaster1440 16y ago
  I'll keep it free for now, until several patches later and the app becomes more or less worth the money. I appreciate your active participation :)
  - CraigPJ 16y ago
    Can we get a link to the GitHub source. I'd love to contribute to this app and make some useful improvements.