3 ms·

Ask HN: Why Hacker News is not responsive?

6 points by mitul_45 12y ago

I want to know the thinking behind it, as it won't be much an effort to build one for this page. I guess.

edoceo 12y ago
There is a Github you can use to open issues, specifically #96 https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/96 https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/96 There are also these mobile-web alternatives: http://hnmob.org/ http://hnmob.org/ http://ihackernews.com/ http://ihackernews.com/ You can also look at the source for HN, http://arclanguage.com/ http://arclanguage.com/ And some other places on github likely; it's not easy to get that code running. Also, I'm not sure it's easy to make the updates. Plus, Nick is very busy.
- kipple 12y ago
  Another mobile alternative with a slick design (I use the wrapped-up iOS version available in the app store) http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/
  - MrBra 12y ago
    Completely misses a user profile interface and posting facility. Why go there if for commenting you still need to go at ycmobinator?
    - kipple 12y ago
      You're right. In my case, I only use HN on mobile as a time-killer, cruising through interesting articles and emailing myself the ones that catch my interest. I don't get down and dirty until I'm on a desktop.
- MrBra 12y ago
  Each of those alternatives is missing something important. hnmob.org only formats front page while the comments pages (which can be the hardest to read) still link to HN. ihackernews.com does not have a search function and login seems to be not working, also check author's own explanation at http://ihackernews.com/login http://ihackernews.com/login In my opinion there simply doesn't exist a web or native app which works 100% and never needs you to flip back and forth from news.combinator.com As @kowdermeister said, it won't require much, just a couple of media queries. I'm not a fan too of over complicated things and I like HN raw, essential style. That sort of raw, minimal rule could also be used for a request from a smaller width device.
  - edoceo 12y ago
    I've fixed the stuff on http://hnmob.com/ http://hnmob.com/ so now you have more pages which are translated into a more mobile aware format. Also added Atom feeds for every page I could. Still a little sloppy, I'm only hacking this code when watching TNG re-runs (so every day ;p )
    - MrBra 12y ago
      Thanks! Btw, now domain name expired! :)
munimkazia 12y ago
This really is a very simple site which tries to get the the job done (simple link aggregation and self posts with basic discussions). The code and functionality isn't state of the art, because they never really had the proper resources to look into it. I believe that has changed recently and they are slowly trying to bring in changes.
- kowdermeister 12y ago
  This is a lame excuse. If I have to zoom and scroll horizontally on a mobile screen with 1mm font size, then the user experience sucks. What resources? Implement 2 media queries and change page width and font size? Please.
antman 12y ago
I use firefox and the HN mobile addon
- MrBra 12y ago
  Nice find thank you... but it is a bit sad that we need an extension for this... and that it only works in Firefox.
krapp 12y ago
That the current devs are considering it after pg's retirement from the site suggests the reason has been 'because pg considered it a waste of time.'

6 points by mitul_45 12y ago

I want to know the thinking behind it, as it won't be much an effort to build one for this page. I guess.

There is a Github you can use to open issues, specifically #96 https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/96 https://github.com/HackerNews/HN/issues/96 There are also these mobile-web alternatives: http://hnmob.org/ http://hnmob.org/ http://ihackernews.com/ http://ihackernews.com/ You can also look at the source for HN, http://arclanguage.com/ http://arclanguage.com/ And some other places on github likely; it's not easy to get that code running. Also, I'm not sure it's easy to make the updates. Plus, Nick is very busy.

kipple 12y ago
Another mobile alternative with a slick design (I use the wrapped-up iOS version available in the app store) http://hn.premii.com/ http://hn.premii.com/
- MrBra 12y ago
  Completely misses a user profile interface and posting facility. Why go there if for commenting you still need to go at ycmobinator?
  - kipple 12y ago
    You're right. In my case, I only use HN on mobile as a time-killer, cruising through interesting articles and emailing myself the ones that catch my interest. I don't get down and dirty until I'm on a desktop.
MrBra 12y ago
Each of those alternatives is missing something important. hnmob.org only formats front page while the comments pages (which can be the hardest to read) still link to HN. ihackernews.com does not have a search function and login seems to be not working, also check author's own explanation at http://ihackernews.com/login http://ihackernews.com/login In my opinion there simply doesn't exist a web or native app which works 100% and never needs you to flip back and forth from news.combinator.com As @kowdermeister said, it won't require much, just a couple of media queries. I'm not a fan too of over complicated things and I like HN raw, essential style. That sort of raw, minimal rule could also be used for a request from a smaller width device.
- edoceo 12y ago
  I've fixed the stuff on http://hnmob.com/ http://hnmob.com/ so now you have more pages which are translated into a more mobile aware format. Also added Atom feeds for every page I could. Still a little sloppy, I'm only hacking this code when watching TNG re-runs (so every day ;p )
  - MrBra 12y ago
    Thanks! Btw, now domain name expired! :)

munimkazia 12y ago

This really is a very simple site which tries to get the the job done (simple link aggregation and self posts with basic discussions). The code and functionality isn't state of the art, because they never really had the proper resources to look into it. I believe that has changed recently and they are slowly trying to bring in changes.

kowdermeister 12y ago
This is a lame excuse. If I have to zoom and scroll horizontally on a mobile screen with 1mm font size, then the user experience sucks. What resources? Implement 2 media queries and change page width and font size? Please.

antman 12y ago

I use firefox and the HN mobile addon

MrBra 12y ago
Nice find thank you... but it is a bit sad that we need an extension for this... and that it only works in Firefox.

krapp 12y ago

That the current devs are considering it after pg's retirement from the site suggests the reason has been 'because pg considered it a waste of time.'