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Show HN: A fast RSS reader I built with a friend

50 points by Casperin 6y ago

Casperin 6y ago
I built this with a friend. We wanted a reader that is simple and fast and can be navigated using shortcuts, but isn't a single page application. Sorry about not really showing anything before you sign up. It's very mvp right now. You can just use a throw-away email if you like :)
- tleb_ 6y ago
  I haven't tested it, but it really reminds me of Miniflux. Would you mind comparing your product to Miniflux? Also, what is the business model?
  - Casperin 6y ago
    I can try. We haven't used Miniflux at all. We only tried it out a bit before we started working on our own. * Miniflux is great. It's the closest to what we'd like. * It is self-hosted and Open Source. Ours is not. * It uses more JS than we do. And JS is required, I think (it's not in weloverss). * Miniflux currently has more features than we do. As for the business model. For now it's completely free because we just want to gauge interest. But the idea is to add a subscription fee in the future. We really don't like ads, so that seems to be our only good option.
    - helb 6y ago
      Miniflux works fine without JS, it's used just for few things like keyboard shortcuts or the "fetch original content" button.
      - Casperin 6y ago
        Oh that's cool. I stand corrected :)
- Vorh 6y ago
  Perhaps start everyone off with a guest/sample account? I use Node w/ Express for my servers and in the ones that use logins I usually do something like this: app.use((req, res, next) => { req.user = req.user || usersBySession[req.cookies.session] || { logged_in: false, username: 'Guest' } } app.get('/api/getfeeds', (req, res) => { if (!req.user || !req.user.logged_in) { res.status(403).send(false); return; } }
  - Casperin 6y ago
    Yeah, we should totally do something like this if there is any real interest in this. This post is to gauge that interest and it's our mini launch. (We are two beers into the celebration :)
    - ZoomStop 6y ago
      A demo account would be very much appreciated. I love RSS and use FreshRSS heavily, but registering for this is above my effort threshold for something like this.
      - Casperin 6y ago
        It is literally as easy as login in. Just type an email address and a password twice and you are in. You can change your email address later if you need. When you register, there is a suggested feed (xkcd) that you can add.
- ssivark 6y ago
  Too much effort to sign up and authenticate for a quick peek. Could you set up a “guest” account with one-click login for exploration? Not to put down your effort, but this will really help the audience (and I say this as someone very interested in RSS aggregators/readers)
  - Casperin 6y ago
    Just put asdf@example.com (or something like that) and click register and you are in! We only use the email for retrieving forgotten passwords.
    - ssivark 6y ago
      Great, thanks for clarifying!
      - Casperin 6y ago
        Yeah no prob. You can also change the email later if you need to. We aren't really that strict about it.
- nyolfen 6y ago
  i really love this. i wish the entire internet was like it.
  - Casperin 6y ago
    This is my preferred type of interface. Simple, fast, solid, to the point, and with shortcuts for (almost) everything. ... and I say that as someone whose day job for the past 7 or so years, has been building SPAs. Not all of us thinks tons of JS is the way to go.
john-shaffer 6y ago
It's strange to see an Atom feed given as a sample "RSS" feed. It's a nice demo though.
- Casperin 6y ago
  We love Atom feeds equally.
dabeeeenster 6y ago
Can you talk about why you prefer server side page rendering etc? It's VERY close to miniflux, both in terms of UI and styling!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- axegon_ 6y ago
  IDK about OP, but there are a ton of benefits to server side rendering: 1. Extremely good for cli power users and people who use console-based browsers occasionally (guilty of being both). 2. Less likely to stumble upon a really weird behavior in some browser, even the common ones. 3. Faster for anyone who doesn't have a server-grade workstation. 4. Server-side caching - play it smart and you can cache large chunks of the rendered pages, making it an extremely cheap operation to serve. 5. No 80mb javascript files you get on every "modern" website. 6. Easier to maintain. Just a few off the top of my head.
  - Casperin 6y ago
    Actually, to expand a bit on 3rd point. Whenever the internet sucks at work (I used to work in a bank where the VPN would sometimes crap out) I just go on weloverss and check my feeds. Those tiny payloads get through everything in no time.
- Casperin 6y ago
  Yeah sure. Here's a quick brain dump * Faster page loads is the number one reason. It is super fast to navigate, once you get the shortcuts down. (For now it might actually be a bit slower if you're not in EU) * Simpler architecture * You get a lot for free by the browser (loading state, back button actually works, etc) * Accessible * Works on every browser (even your mother's potato phone :P) * Works without JS Yeah, Miniflux is definitely coming from the same mentality as we are. Also, it's great. :)
artembugara 6y ago
I hope RSS will not die. Recently, Reuters killed their RSS feed without any notice. I wrote a quick guide how to fix this using a hack with Google News RSS (https://codarium.substack.com/p/returning-the-killed-rss-of-reuters https://codarium.substack.com/p/returning-the-killed-rss-of-...) Also, while working on the execution plan to parse news articles for a News API service (https://newscatcherapi.com/ https://newscatcherapi.com/) we benchmarked a few options such as parsing sitemap, custom generic parser and parsing RSS feeds. It is so much easier to get structured content out of RSS... everything is well structured, normalized, lightweight webpage, etc
- Casperin 6y ago
  Yeah, I couldn't agree more. RSS is flawed in many ways (really difficult to work with sometimes hand-written XML), but I love how decentralized it is. Awesome with your work! Keep fighting the good fight :)
- ghostpepper 6y ago
  Thanks, your tip for restoring access to Reuters worked for me. I'm very appreciative. I wish there was some way to convince Reuters to restore it. I'd even be willing to pay a couple bucks to avoid keeping google informed of my news habits and still have access to one of the few relatively unbiased news sources left.
- throwaway45349 6y ago
  Nice API! Out of curiosity, how much traction did you gain with it?
  - artembugara 6y ago
    about 400 develpers are using our API. OR, you meant with this comment?
    - throwaway45349 6y ago
      No - the API :) Admittedly I've tinkered with building out a similar idea so it's always nice to see people being successful with RSS tech.
butz 6y ago
Please add at least screenshots or a demo instance with few feeds to test before registration.
- dane-pgp 6y ago
  Better yet, add a "guest mode", like https://flowreader.com/ https://flowreader.com/ to make having an account optional. (If necessary, limit the number of guests per IP address/range, and the number of feeds per guest).
  - Casperin 6y ago
    We could also make a simple "create test account for me", that will give you a few feeds, a dummy email and and dummy password. You can then just change everything later, if you feel like keeping the account. :)
- Casperin 6y ago
  Yeah, this seems to be the biggest complaint in all of this thread. We will do something to make it easier to get an impression of the reader for sure. I don't like screenshots, because, at least for me, the value is in the speed of navigating and the lack of surprises that a single page app will often give you (back button not working properly is the classic).
syoc 6y ago
I use RSS a lot myself and welcome all new RSS readers. For posters wanting a trail account, this service does not require email verification. You can use mine: uname: a@b.c pw: asd I'll use the opportunity to recommend TT-RSS for those wanting a fast RSS reader that can be self hosted but with more options than this one.
- mcescalante 6y ago
  I love RSS. I started using it again late last year and it's a joy once you find the RSS app that fits your needs. Currently very happy with Miniflux, but also gave TT-RSS a try and found that both would work great for me but preferred the resource usage of Miniflux.
dsschnau 6y ago
Hey, I tried exporting my .OPML from feedly and importing and got a 500 :/
- Casperin 6y ago
  Thanks for letting us know :) I think we found it in the logs, so we'll look into the error right away.
Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
Ok, it took me FAR longer than it should have to get back to feed after reading the post. After failing to find a link back to the feed (ruling out finding the feed again using /feeds, I figured out that it was keyboard driven. And hurray, maybe the 7th key I checked worked! Honestly, this is rather counterintuitive. Consider adding some tips about shortcuts or better make a direct link back to feed.
- Casperin 6y ago
  I'm not sure what exactly your flow was here. Did you come from a specific feed? In that case the back button (ALT+Left) should work(?) We will probably make the title of the feed within the post a link to the feed though. We can't have people getting lost like that. :)
  - Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
    I added the feed, clicked on a post, got stuck. From what I get, falling into it from the main combined feed has the same behavior. Pressing back button in browser is, of course, the last resort.
    - Casperin 6y ago
      You are right, it has the same behavior. It's the same exact page (displaying the content of a post), and it has no logic in it around where you came from. Personally the back button is the first resort, unless I opened it in a new tab, in which case ctrl-w brings me back. I always assumed others felt the same, but good to learn that not everyone feels that way.
umaar 6y ago
I've been running a mailing list for 5 years now, and one of the most requested features is an RSS feed https://github.com/umaar/dev-tips-tracker/issues/9 https://github.com/umaar/dev-tips-tracker/issues/9 I always assumed RSS was dying out, but it's clear there's still a large audience for it, so I will be implementing it. I've been wondering if there'll be a noticeable drop in mailing list subscribers, which in turn leads to less email sponsorships. Open rates + mailing list size are all that companies seem to care about when deciding to sponsor you. But anyway I'd rather support users in consuming my content however they prefer, and figure out monetization options when it comes to that.
vlod 6y ago
guest/test account: u: foo@example.com p: foo
stopachka 6y ago
Great job team! Simple, fast. If you’re on your third celebratory beer, sending you a cheers from NYC!
- Casperin 6y ago
  Cheers from Copenhagen :-)
huy-nguyen 6y ago
This seems very similar to https://miniflux.app/ https://miniflux.app/.
mawise 6y ago
Bonus points for supporting feed URLs with embedded http basic auth credentials. This is the core protocol that I think could lead to a decentralized web where people host their own private sites. It's also a huge motivator in my side project for running your own private blog with built-in private RSS: https://simpleblogs.org https://simpleblogs.org edit: I've been experimenting with my own private blog's RSS feed which includes images, I would suggest you add `max-width: 100%;` for images to the CSS.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Casperin 6y ago
  Images are tricky. In the first few iterations, everything was left aligned and so images could just flow out and take all the space they needed. That was perfect for images, but less perfect for the reading experience. I'm torn. Sometimes I really dislike when other places cram big beautiful images down to their reading width; yet most of the time I'll agree with you--they should just flow with the text width. I'll keep a mental note that someone actually took the time to suggest one thing over the other. Maybe it's the right solution. Maybe `max-width: 100%` with a click handler on the image that removes that, so you can toggle it up big if you want/need.
  - mawise 6y ago
    It's definitely tricky--on my site I display images capped to the reading pane, but they are also links to a full-res version of the image that it too big to justify forcing the browser to load.
gmfawcett 6y ago
BazQux is a nice Web-hosted reader, and it's very fast. It got a bit of press back when Ur/Web was at the top of the TechEmpower benchmarks. https://bazqux.com/ https://bazqux.com/
emptyparadise 6y ago
This is really cool and simple. I'd love to see it open sourced!
- Casperin 6y ago
  We might do that in the end. Nothing is really decided yet. So far we just built it for us, and we love it (both of us use it a lot every single day), so we thought we'd share.
consultanturnot 6y ago
I like the look and feel. Nice job. I used the example feed, and four post titles were retrieved, but I was not able to open the post by clicking on the title. Chrome on Android.
- Casperin 6y ago
  Really? We're both Android users ourselves, and use a mix of Chrome and FF. Did you perhaps not really add the feed? Like, it shows you a preview where you only see the titles first, and then you have to click "Add feed" at the top. It's just a step for you to be sure that you got what you want; but I guess it isn't 100% clear.

50 points by Casperin 6y ago

I built this with a friend. We wanted a reader that is simple and fast and can be navigated using shortcuts, but isn't a single page application. Sorry about not really showing anything before you sign up. It's very mvp right now. You can just use a throw-away email if you like :)

tleb_ 6y ago
I haven't tested it, but it really reminds me of Miniflux. Would you mind comparing your product to Miniflux? Also, what is the business model?
- Casperin 6y ago
  I can try. We haven't used Miniflux at all. We only tried it out a bit before we started working on our own. * Miniflux is great. It's the closest to what we'd like. * It is self-hosted and Open Source. Ours is not. * It uses more JS than we do. And JS is required, I think (it's not in weloverss). * Miniflux currently has more features than we do. As for the business model. For now it's completely free because we just want to gauge interest. But the idea is to add a subscription fee in the future. We really don't like ads, so that seems to be our only good option.
  - helb 6y ago
    Miniflux works fine without JS, it's used just for few things like keyboard shortcuts or the "fetch original content" button.
    - Casperin 6y ago
      Oh that's cool. I stand corrected :)
Vorh 6y ago
Perhaps start everyone off with a guest/sample account? I use Node w/ Express for my servers and in the ones that use logins I usually do something like this: app.use((req, res, next) => { req.user = req.user || usersBySession[req.cookies.session] || { logged_in: false, username: 'Guest' } } app.get('/api/getfeeds', (req, res) => { if (!req.user || !req.user.logged_in) { res.status(403).send(false); return; } }
- Casperin 6y ago
  Yeah, we should totally do something like this if there is any real interest in this. This post is to gauge that interest and it's our mini launch. (We are two beers into the celebration :)
  - ZoomStop 6y ago
    A demo account would be very much appreciated. I love RSS and use FreshRSS heavily, but registering for this is above my effort threshold for something like this.
    - Casperin 6y ago
      It is literally as easy as login in. Just type an email address and a password twice and you are in. You can change your email address later if you need. When you register, there is a suggested feed (xkcd) that you can add.
ssivark 6y ago
Too much effort to sign up and authenticate for a quick peek. Could you set up a “guest” account with one-click login for exploration? Not to put down your effort, but this will really help the audience (and I say this as someone very interested in RSS aggregators/readers)
- Casperin 6y ago
  Just put asdf@example.com (or something like that) and click register and you are in! We only use the email for retrieving forgotten passwords.
  - ssivark 6y ago
    Great, thanks for clarifying!
    - Casperin 6y ago
      Yeah no prob. You can also change the email later if you need to. We aren't really that strict about it.
nyolfen 6y ago
i really love this. i wish the entire internet was like it.
- Casperin 6y ago
  This is my preferred type of interface. Simple, fast, solid, to the point, and with shortcuts for (almost) everything. ... and I say that as someone whose day job for the past 7 or so years, has been building SPAs. Not all of us thinks tons of JS is the way to go.

john-shaffer 6y ago

It's strange to see an Atom feed given as a sample "RSS" feed. It's a nice demo though.

Casperin 6y ago
We love Atom feeds equally.

dabeeeenster 6y ago

Can you talk about why you prefer server side page rendering etc? It's VERY close to miniflux, both in terms of UI and styling!

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
axegon_ 6y ago
IDK about OP, but there are a ton of benefits to server side rendering: 1. Extremely good for cli power users and people who use console-based browsers occasionally (guilty of being both). 2. Less likely to stumble upon a really weird behavior in some browser, even the common ones. 3. Faster for anyone who doesn't have a server-grade workstation. 4. Server-side caching - play it smart and you can cache large chunks of the rendered pages, making it an extremely cheap operation to serve. 5. No 80mb javascript files you get on every "modern" website. 6. Easier to maintain. Just a few off the top of my head.
- Casperin 6y ago
  Actually, to expand a bit on 3rd point. Whenever the internet sucks at work (I used to work in a bank where the VPN would sometimes crap out) I just go on weloverss and check my feeds. Those tiny payloads get through everything in no time.
Casperin 6y ago
Yeah sure. Here's a quick brain dump * Faster page loads is the number one reason. It is super fast to navigate, once you get the shortcuts down. (For now it might actually be a bit slower if you're not in EU) * Simpler architecture * You get a lot for free by the browser (loading state, back button actually works, etc) * Accessible * Works on every browser (even your mother's potato phone :P) * Works without JS Yeah, Miniflux is definitely coming from the same mentality as we are. Also, it's great. :)

artembugara 6y ago

I hope RSS will not die. Recently, Reuters killed their RSS feed without any notice. I wrote a quick guide how to fix this using a hack with Google News RSS (https://codarium.substack.com/p/returning-the-killed-rss-of-reuters https://codarium.substack.com/p/returning-the-killed-rss-of-...) Also, while working on the execution plan to parse news articles for a News API service (https://newscatcherapi.com/ https://newscatcherapi.com/) we benchmarked a few options such as parsing sitemap, custom generic parser and parsing RSS feeds. It is so much easier to get structured content out of RSS... everything is well structured, normalized, lightweight webpage, etc

Casperin 6y ago
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. RSS is flawed in many ways (really difficult to work with sometimes hand-written XML), but I love how decentralized it is. Awesome with your work! Keep fighting the good fight :)
ghostpepper 6y ago
Thanks, your tip for restoring access to Reuters worked for me. I'm very appreciative. I wish there was some way to convince Reuters to restore it. I'd even be willing to pay a couple bucks to avoid keeping google informed of my news habits and still have access to one of the few relatively unbiased news sources left.
throwaway45349 6y ago
Nice API! Out of curiosity, how much traction did you gain with it?
- artembugara 6y ago
  about 400 develpers are using our API. OR, you meant with this comment?
  - throwaway45349 6y ago
    No - the API :) Admittedly I've tinkered with building out a similar idea so it's always nice to see people being successful with RSS tech.

butz 6y ago

Please add at least screenshots or a demo instance with few feeds to test before registration.

dane-pgp 6y ago
Better yet, add a "guest mode", like https://flowreader.com/ https://flowreader.com/ to make having an account optional. (If necessary, limit the number of guests per IP address/range, and the number of feeds per guest).
- Casperin 6y ago
  We could also make a simple "create test account for me", that will give you a few feeds, a dummy email and and dummy password. You can then just change everything later, if you feel like keeping the account. :)
Casperin 6y ago
Yeah, this seems to be the biggest complaint in all of this thread. We will do something to make it easier to get an impression of the reader for sure. I don't like screenshots, because, at least for me, the value is in the speed of navigating and the lack of surprises that a single page app will often give you (back button not working properly is the classic).

syoc 6y ago

I use RSS a lot myself and welcome all new RSS readers. For posters wanting a trail account, this service does not require email verification. You can use mine: uname: a@b.c pw: asd I'll use the opportunity to recommend TT-RSS for those wanting a fast RSS reader that can be self hosted but with more options than this one.

mcescalante 6y ago
I love RSS. I started using it again late last year and it's a joy once you find the RSS app that fits your needs. Currently very happy with Miniflux, but also gave TT-RSS a try and found that both would work great for me but preferred the resource usage of Miniflux.

dsschnau 6y ago

Hey, I tried exporting my .OPML from feedly and importing and got a 500 :/

Casperin 6y ago
Thanks for letting us know :) I think we found it in the logs, so we'll look into the error right away.

Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago

Ok, it took me FAR longer than it should have to get back to feed after reading the post. After failing to find a link back to the feed (ruling out finding the feed again using /feeds, I figured out that it was keyboard driven. And hurray, maybe the 7th key I checked worked! Honestly, this is rather counterintuitive. Consider adding some tips about shortcuts or better make a direct link back to feed.

Casperin 6y ago
I'm not sure what exactly your flow was here. Did you come from a specific feed? In that case the back button (ALT+Left) should work(?) We will probably make the title of the feed within the post a link to the feed though. We can't have people getting lost like that. :)
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
  I added the feed, clicked on a post, got stuck. From what I get, falling into it from the main combined feed has the same behavior. Pressing back button in browser is, of course, the last resort.
  - Casperin 6y ago
    You are right, it has the same behavior. It's the same exact page (displaying the content of a post), and it has no logic in it around where you came from. Personally the back button is the first resort, unless I opened it in a new tab, in which case ctrl-w brings me back. I always assumed others felt the same, but good to learn that not everyone feels that way.

umaar 6y ago

I've been running a mailing list for 5 years now, and one of the most requested features is an RSS feed https://github.com/umaar/dev-tips-tracker/issues/9 https://github.com/umaar/dev-tips-tracker/issues/9 I always assumed RSS was dying out, but it's clear there's still a large audience for it, so I will be implementing it. I've been wondering if there'll be a noticeable drop in mailing list subscribers, which in turn leads to less email sponsorships. Open rates + mailing list size are all that companies seem to care about when deciding to sponsor you. But anyway I'd rather support users in consuming my content however they prefer, and figure out monetization options when it comes to that.

vlod 6y ago

guest/test account: u: foo@example.com p: foo

stopachka 6y ago

Great job team! Simple, fast. If you’re on your third celebratory beer, sending you a cheers from NYC!

Casperin 6y ago
Cheers from Copenhagen :-)

huy-nguyen 6y ago

This seems very similar to https://miniflux.app/ https://miniflux.app/.

mawise 6y ago

Bonus points for supporting feed URLs with embedded http basic auth credentials. This is the core protocol that I think could lead to a decentralized web where people host their own private sites. It's also a huge motivator in my side project for running your own private blog with built-in private RSS: https://simpleblogs.org https://simpleblogs.org edit: I've been experimenting with my own private blog's RSS feed which includes images, I would suggest you add `max-width: 100%;` for images to the CSS.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Casperin 6y ago
Images are tricky. In the first few iterations, everything was left aligned and so images could just flow out and take all the space they needed. That was perfect for images, but less perfect for the reading experience. I'm torn. Sometimes I really dislike when other places cram big beautiful images down to their reading width; yet most of the time I'll agree with you--they should just flow with the text width. I'll keep a mental note that someone actually took the time to suggest one thing over the other. Maybe it's the right solution. Maybe `max-width: 100%` with a click handler on the image that removes that, so you can toggle it up big if you want/need.
- mawise 6y ago
  It's definitely tricky--on my site I display images capped to the reading pane, but they are also links to a full-res version of the image that it too big to justify forcing the browser to load.

gmfawcett 6y ago

BazQux is a nice Web-hosted reader, and it's very fast. It got a bit of press back when Ur/Web was at the top of the TechEmpower benchmarks. https://bazqux.com/ https://bazqux.com/

emptyparadise 6y ago

This is really cool and simple. I'd love to see it open sourced!

Casperin 6y ago
We might do that in the end. Nothing is really decided yet. So far we just built it for us, and we love it (both of us use it a lot every single day), so we thought we'd share.

consultanturnot 6y ago

I like the look and feel. Nice job. I used the example feed, and four post titles were retrieved, but I was not able to open the post by clicking on the title. Chrome on Android.

Casperin 6y ago
Really? We're both Android users ourselves, and use a mix of Chrome and FF. Did you perhaps not really add the feed? Like, it shows you a preview where you only see the titles first, and then you have to click "Add feed" at the top. It's just a step for you to be sure that you got what you want; but I guess it isn't 100% clear.