4 ms·

HNews, an android HN client that tries to not suck

22 points by ga2arch 15y ago

ga2arch 15y ago
ok, understood, gonna set it free, and upload it on github. hope the community would get interested in it and give me some advice :D
- ga2arch 15y ago
  ok, it's now free
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- ga2arch 15y ago
  this is actually my first app for android so i don't know very much about marketing stuff. which app are you actually using ? =)
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ecaron 15y ago
I love the HNDroid app - https://github.com/amir/HNdroid https://github.com/amir/HNdroid - which is open source and community-driven. For $1.15, I'll download this and compare the two. But I'm certainly biased in favor of improving existing services and apps vs. recreating the wheel since its easier than collaborating (plus improving existing is certainly the road less traveled.)
ga2arch 15y ago
maybe i should just set it free and make it opensource ? i don't see anyone buying this :S let me know, it's my first app and i don't have any experience at all, ( i'm an 18 years old )
- yogeshn 15y ago
  If you want people to suggest improvements and still learning coding apps, I recommend you set it free and open source it. let people explore! :-) I just wish something like this existed for iOS. Looks good btw.
  - ga2arch 15y ago
    i got inspiration for this one looking at http://newsyc.me http://newsyc.me it is also opensource :D
- SkyMarshal 15y ago
  There are several competitors already, have you tried them all and found shortcomings? Is that what you're alluding to with the comment about not sucking? (I have, just wondering if you had the same experience) Suggestion: Make use of android's press-and-hold feature, where if you hold a button or link for a second or two, it can pop up a menu. Put your upvote link there. Check out the opensource 'Reddit is fun' Android app, it's really good and might give you some more ideas as well.
  - ga2arch 15y ago
    yes, i have tried them all ( i think ) and i haven't found any of them good enough ( at least for me ). but the "tries to not suck" also stands for "i hope my first app will get positive comments :D"
Niten 15y ago
Great app, I really like the way it deals with nested comments. Just a couple suggestions: * Maybe you could visually distinguish the "headline" item in any given view from the items under it? E.g. when you're looking at a story and its comments, they're all displayed like visually identical items in a single list. Maybe the story (or the top comment, if you're reading a thread) could be made to stand out somehow? * An icon to jump directly to stories from the home page? * You could register the app with an intent filter for urls under http://news.ycombinator.com/ http://news.ycombinator.com/ (like e.g. Reddit Is Fun does for their app – see the app manifest in their GitHub repo for details)
- ga2arch 15y ago
  1) and 3) are in the TODO :D i don't understand the 2), in what way the "home" button is different ? EDIT: now i understand the 2) -.-' yeah, i was thinking about implementing a gesturehandler to handle a swipe and open the link :D
ga2arch 15y ago
https://github.com/ga2arch/HNews https://github.com/ga2arch/HNews :D that's the source code, it's ugly i know, but it's the best i can do for now :S

22 points by ga2arch 15y ago

ok, understood, gonna set it free, and upload it on github. hope the community would get interested in it and give me some advice :D

ga2arch 15y ago
ok, it's now free

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

ga2arch 15y ago
this is actually my first app for android so i don't know very much about marketing stuff. which app are you actually using ? =)

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

ecaron 15y ago

I love the HNDroid app - https://github.com/amir/HNdroid https://github.com/amir/HNdroid - which is open source and community-driven. For $1.15, I'll download this and compare the two. But I'm certainly biased in favor of improving existing services and apps vs. recreating the wheel since its easier than collaborating (plus improving existing is certainly the road less traveled.)

ga2arch 15y ago

maybe i should just set it free and make it opensource ? i don't see anyone buying this :S let me know, it's my first app and i don't have any experience at all, ( i'm an 18 years old )

yogeshn 15y ago
If you want people to suggest improvements and still learning coding apps, I recommend you set it free and open source it. let people explore! :-) I just wish something like this existed for iOS. Looks good btw.
- ga2arch 15y ago
  i got inspiration for this one looking at http://newsyc.me http://newsyc.me it is also opensource :D
SkyMarshal 15y ago
There are several competitors already, have you tried them all and found shortcomings? Is that what you're alluding to with the comment about not sucking? (I have, just wondering if you had the same experience) Suggestion: Make use of android's press-and-hold feature, where if you hold a button or link for a second or two, it can pop up a menu. Put your upvote link there. Check out the opensource 'Reddit is fun' Android app, it's really good and might give you some more ideas as well.
- ga2arch 15y ago
  yes, i have tried them all ( i think ) and i haven't found any of them good enough ( at least for me ). but the "tries to not suck" also stands for "i hope my first app will get positive comments :D"

Niten 15y ago

Great app, I really like the way it deals with nested comments. Just a couple suggestions: * Maybe you could visually distinguish the "headline" item in any given view from the items under it? E.g. when you're looking at a story and its comments, they're all displayed like visually identical items in a single list. Maybe the story (or the top comment, if you're reading a thread) could be made to stand out somehow? * An icon to jump directly to stories from the home page? * You could register the app with an intent filter for urls under http://news.ycombinator.com/ http://news.ycombinator.com/ (like e.g. Reddit Is Fun does for their app – see the app manifest in their GitHub repo for details)

ga2arch 15y ago
1) and 3) are in the TODO :D i don't understand the 2), in what way the "home" button is different ? EDIT: now i understand the 2) -.-' yeah, i was thinking about implementing a gesturehandler to handle a swipe and open the link :D

ga2arch 15y ago

https://github.com/ga2arch/HNews https://github.com/ga2arch/HNews :D that's the source code, it's ugly i know, but it's the best i can do for now :S