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I had the exact same problem! Which features did you find annoying specifically? I want this to be "the original article page, but more readable and customisab

by phgn 4y ago

I had the exact same problem! Which features did you find annoying specifically? I want this to be "the original article page, but more readable and customisable", not a separate reader mode. I'm curious where that failed for you.

amadeuspagel 4y ago
There's no specific feature I find annoying, but rather having a new background, where the original page is only one of the elements on that background. I made an epub reader[1], where I also grappled with the problem of not distracting from the text, while also showing a few useful UI elements - table of contents, notes, much like your extension. The way I did this was to have one sidebar with a few icons, and only if you hover over the icon it shows the respective UI element. And it's all on the same background. [1] https://1paragraph.app https://1paragraph.app
- phgn 4y ago
  I see! Maybe one problem when hiding UI elements by default is discoverability (I suspect most users wouldn't enable the page outline in Unclutter if it were optional). Do you see people still using all the features of your reader app?
  - amadeuspagel 4y ago
    If you want the outline to be always visible, I think that using a separate background for the outline, to distinguish it from the main content, would be a better solution then having a new background on which both the outline and the main content are elements. I recently saw a website on HN which I felt had a well designed outline like this - visible but not distracting[1]. My reader app has few users, and I don't track how they use it. I guess even with that model one could make it discoverable with some kind of tutorial, but I always find tutorials kind of annoying. The first time you use an app, when the tutorial is usually shown, you don't want to do a tutorial, you don't care for any advanced features. Maybe the VS Code model - one sidebar that is always visible with different vertical tabs to choose what to show (notes, table of content ...) might work better. Edit: Just implemented that in 1paragraph[2]. (You'll have add a book to see it, since the default "book" doesn't have an index.) [1]: https://writequit.org/eos/eos.html https://writequit.org/eos/eos.html [2]: https://1paragraph.app/ https://1paragraph.app/

by phgn 4y ago

amadeuspagel 4y ago

There's no specific feature I find annoying, but rather having a new background, where the original page is only one of the elements on that background. I made an epub reader[1], where I also grappled with the problem of not distracting from the text, while also showing a few useful UI elements - table of contents, notes, much like your extension. The way I did this was to have one sidebar with a few icons, and only if you hover over the icon it shows the respective UI element. And it's all on the same background. [1] https://1paragraph.app https://1paragraph.app

phgn 4y ago
I see! Maybe one problem when hiding UI elements by default is discoverability (I suspect most users wouldn't enable the page outline in Unclutter if it were optional). Do you see people still using all the features of your reader app?
- amadeuspagel 4y ago
  If you want the outline to be always visible, I think that using a separate background for the outline, to distinguish it from the main content, would be a better solution then having a new background on which both the outline and the main content are elements. I recently saw a website on HN which I felt had a well designed outline like this - visible but not distracting[1]. My reader app has few users, and I don't track how they use it. I guess even with that model one could make it discoverable with some kind of tutorial, but I always find tutorials kind of annoying. The first time you use an app, when the tutorial is usually shown, you don't want to do a tutorial, you don't care for any advanced features. Maybe the VS Code model - one sidebar that is always visible with different vertical tabs to choose what to show (notes, table of content ...) might work better. Edit: Just implemented that in 1paragraph[2]. (You'll have add a book to see it, since the default "book" doesn't have an index.) [1]: https://writequit.org/eos/eos.html https://writequit.org/eos/eos.html [2]: https://1paragraph.app/ https://1paragraph.app/