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An iPhone interface for Hacker News

45 points by ashu 19y ago

ashu 19y ago
Please let me know if you like it! I presume quite a few hackers out here are like me constantly checking hacker news on their iPhones while they are out. The pinching and zooming is great, but it gets tiring after a while; so I figured I should do something about it. Given that Buxfer already had a good iPhone interface, it did not take that much time to build it. Of course, this is unofficial. Hopefully, PG won't have a problem with it since it does not create any additional requests for the HN server; just routes request through Buxfer.
- mrtron 19y ago
  I like it. How do you build your web iPhone interfaces? A custom "framework" or leveraging an open source project? Do you plan on building a Buxfer native app?
- dcurtis 19y ago
  I like it, but comment replying isn't working ("A network error occurred. Please refresh before continuing."). The only thing I would suggest is that you make the hot spot on the comment smaller (only the top, maybe), because when I drag my finger, it keeps clicking the comments.
  - ashu 19y ago
    Just fixed that error. Replying should work now... I will keep thinking about the reply "hot spot"...
lyime 19y ago
Thanks :) I was hoping someone would whip something up.
pibefision 19y ago
Also, would be great a better interfase for BlackBerries! :)
Alex3917 19y ago
I just tried this on my phone. It looks really really good. (Much better than you would expect if you just clicked on the link in Firefox.) Great job!
danw 19y ago
Awesome, thank you. Has news.YC got an api yet or is this done by scrapping?
- ashu 19y ago
  No API, just plain old lib-www-perl :)
danielha 19y ago
Ok, this seriously rocks. Thanks Ashwin! I'd like to make an iPhone interface for Disqus in the near future. Any pointers to nice resources?
- ashu 19y ago
  I used Joe Hewitt's excellent iUI library as the base, although hacked it quite extensively. Also, prototype.js is always a time saver. The hardest part about the iPhone app, I felt, was just reducing clutter.
- danw 19y ago
  Theres a series of articles on A List Apart: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/putyourcontentinmypocket http://www.alistapart.com/articles/putyourcontentinmypocket Also check out iui, which makes getting an iPhone site up and running real easy and fast.
phil 19y ago
Beautiful stuff, Ashwin!
KB 19y ago
Great idea Buxfer guys. A simple version of this can also be done through mofuse, granted I think the Buxfer one looks better. I was able to create a News.YC in about a minute. Here's the link to the preview. http://gg20o9.mofuse.mobi/iphone/preview/ http://gg20o9.mofuse.mobi/iphone/preview/
- ashu 19y ago
  The buxfer version is actually much more functional as well. It allows you to reply as well as vote stories.
wallflower 19y ago
Thanks for taking the initiative - works very well on the iPhone. I'd ask you to do the recently added 'comments' stream but I'm afraid (ok, certain) that it would make me use the interface more (which is bad in a way - I have 8aweek on my computer(s) limiting access)
earle 19y ago
i think this needs to be extended quite a bit, but its a start.

45 points by ashu 19y ago

ashu 19y ago

Please let me know if you like it! I presume quite a few hackers out here are like me constantly checking hacker news on their iPhones while they are out. The pinching and zooming is great, but it gets tiring after a while; so I figured I should do something about it. Given that Buxfer already had a good iPhone interface, it did not take that much time to build it. Of course, this is unofficial. Hopefully, PG won't have a problem with it since it does not create any additional requests for the HN server; just routes request through Buxfer.

mrtron 19y ago
I like it. How do you build your web iPhone interfaces? A custom "framework" or leveraging an open source project? Do you plan on building a Buxfer native app?
dcurtis 19y ago
I like it, but comment replying isn't working ("A network error occurred. Please refresh before continuing."). The only thing I would suggest is that you make the hot spot on the comment smaller (only the top, maybe), because when I drag my finger, it keeps clicking the comments.
- ashu 19y ago
  Just fixed that error. Replying should work now... I will keep thinking about the reply "hot spot"...

lyime 19y ago

Thanks :) I was hoping someone would whip something up.

pibefision 19y ago

Also, would be great a better interfase for BlackBerries! :)

Alex3917 19y ago

I just tried this on my phone. It looks really really good. (Much better than you would expect if you just clicked on the link in Firefox.) Great job!

danw 19y ago

Awesome, thank you. Has news.YC got an api yet or is this done by scrapping?

ashu 19y ago
No API, just plain old lib-www-perl :)

danielha 19y ago

Ok, this seriously rocks. Thanks Ashwin! I'd like to make an iPhone interface for Disqus in the near future. Any pointers to nice resources?

ashu 19y ago
I used Joe Hewitt's excellent iUI library as the base, although hacked it quite extensively. Also, prototype.js is always a time saver. The hardest part about the iPhone app, I felt, was just reducing clutter.
danw 19y ago
Theres a series of articles on A List Apart: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/putyourcontentinmypocket http://www.alistapart.com/articles/putyourcontentinmypocket Also check out iui, which makes getting an iPhone site up and running real easy and fast.

phil 19y ago

Beautiful stuff, Ashwin!

KB 19y ago

Great idea Buxfer guys. A simple version of this can also be done through mofuse, granted I think the Buxfer one looks better. I was able to create a News.YC in about a minute. Here's the link to the preview. http://gg20o9.mofuse.mobi/iphone/preview/ http://gg20o9.mofuse.mobi/iphone/preview/

ashu 19y ago
The buxfer version is actually much more functional as well. It allows you to reply as well as vote stories.

wallflower 19y ago

Thanks for taking the initiative - works very well on the iPhone. I'd ask you to do the recently added 'comments' stream but I'm afraid (ok, certain) that it would make me use the interface more (which is bad in a way - I have 8aweek on my computer(s) limiting access)

earle 19y ago

i think this needs to be extended quite a bit, but its a start.