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Show HN: bbcli – A TUI and CLI to browse BBC News like a hacker

83 points by wesleyhill 1y ago

hey hn! I (re)built this TUI tool for browsing BBC News in the terminal, it uses an RSS feed for getting headlines and previews and you can read articles too. Try it out and let me know what you think! :)

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
devrundown 1y ago
I always like seeing new TUI tools, nice work!
- SwiftyBug 1y ago
  Me too! I found a few nice ones in the App Showcase page in the Ratatui website: https://ratatui.rs/showcase/apps/ https://ratatui.rs/showcase/apps/
esafak 1y ago
It might be before your time, but if you want some bonus points emulate Ceefax: https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/51354070.jpg https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/51354070.jpg [edited]
- folmar 1y ago
  The link is payload, maybe you could link to a concrete image or some free search engine?
  - k1t 1y ago
    https://nmsceefax.co.uk/ https://nmsceefax.co.uk/ for a live browser-based example.
- LeoPanthera 1y ago
  Done. https://nmsceefax.co.uk https://nmsceefax.co.uk
alberth 1y ago
Very cool. Would be interesting to hear why this over a general purpose text-based browser like Lynx. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser)
- GaryBluto 1y ago
  You don't want to get put on trial for computer misuse, do you? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2005/oct/07/manfinedover https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2005/oct/07/manf...
  - fragmede 1y ago
    https://boingboing.net/2005/10/06/guy-who-was-busted-f.html/amp https://boingboing.net/2005/10/06/guy-who-was-busted-f.html/... was the best link I could find for that story
    - RestartKernel 1y ago
      My own government luckily even offers to reach out in your stead if a company doesn't respond to your disclosure, so pen testing random websites seems implicitly allowed, but such a vertict is still scary to read for such an innocuous probe.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- NoboruWataya 1y ago
  If you actually try access bbc.co.uk using Lynx, you'll see it's just not a great experience. Most modern websites are not made with text-based browsers in mind at all, and the HTML (and other stuff) they are made of does not lend itself to easy or intuitive display in the terminal. This seems more akin to an RSS reader than a general web browser.
wef 1y ago
I have an almost identical RSS experience using emacs+elfeed+firefox but with the added bonus of being able to filter out articles (eg sport) that I'm not interested in. Plus I can read many other feeds beyond BBC.
teunlao 1y ago
This is the kind of tool that actually gets used daily, well done!
jbverschoor 1y ago
Three reasons for TUIs: Speed of rendering Consistency / limited styles Keyboard controls It is possible to achieve this other ways. But what’s interesting that for example Visual Basic or Borland C use a windowing concept
z3ratul163071 1y ago
a real hacker would never consume that propaganda slop

83 points by wesleyhill 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

devrundown 1y ago

I always like seeing new TUI tools, nice work!

SwiftyBug 1y ago
Me too! I found a few nice ones in the App Showcase page in the Ratatui website: https://ratatui.rs/showcase/apps/ https://ratatui.rs/showcase/apps/

esafak 1y ago

It might be before your time, but if you want some bonus points emulate Ceefax: https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/51354070.jpg https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/51354070.jpg [edited]

folmar 1y ago
The link is payload, maybe you could link to a concrete image or some free search engine?
- k1t 1y ago
  https://nmsceefax.co.uk/ https://nmsceefax.co.uk/ for a live browser-based example.
LeoPanthera 1y ago
Done. https://nmsceefax.co.uk https://nmsceefax.co.uk

alberth 1y ago

Very cool. Would be interesting to hear why this over a general purpose text-based browser like Lynx. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser)

GaryBluto 1y ago
You don't want to get put on trial for computer misuse, do you? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2005/oct/07/manfinedover https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2005/oct/07/manf...
- fragmede 1y ago
  https://boingboing.net/2005/10/06/guy-who-was-busted-f.html/amp https://boingboing.net/2005/10/06/guy-who-was-busted-f.html/... was the best link I could find for that story
  - RestartKernel 1y ago
    My own government luckily even offers to reach out in your stead if a company doesn't respond to your disclosure, so pen testing random websites seems implicitly allowed, but such a vertict is still scary to read for such an innocuous probe.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
NoboruWataya 1y ago
If you actually try access bbc.co.uk using Lynx, you'll see it's just not a great experience. Most modern websites are not made with text-based browsers in mind at all, and the HTML (and other stuff) they are made of does not lend itself to easy or intuitive display in the terminal. This seems more akin to an RSS reader than a general web browser.

wef 1y ago

I have an almost identical RSS experience using emacs+elfeed+firefox but with the added bonus of being able to filter out articles (eg sport) that I'm not interested in. Plus I can read many other feeds beyond BBC.

teunlao 1y ago

This is the kind of tool that actually gets used daily, well done!

jbverschoor 1y ago

Three reasons for TUIs: Speed of rendering Consistency / limited styles Keyboard controls It is possible to achieve this other ways. But what’s interesting that for example Visual Basic or Borland C use a windowing concept

z3ratul163071 1y ago

a real hacker would never consume that propaganda slop