Hacker News Reader

Comment by SAI_Peregrinus | Hacker News Reader

I hate multi-column layouts. The only reason they exist is to provide a narrow text width (easy to read) on a wide page without wasting tons of paper. Scrollbars exist, there is no good reason to have a multi-column layout for an electronic document.

There also doesn't seem to be any way to customize which RSS feeds are shown. That means I'd still need a second reader for anything not included (and have feeds I'm not interested in). That makes it even more useless.

This feels like the author's personal project. The feed categories are quite specific (London & Brighton) and fixed. I'm sure it's just what they want, but it's not exactly a general purpose news aggregator.

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I disagree about muli-column layouts, as I tend to like them. I think it just comes down to preference. The best solution would be to offer multiple views based on user preference.

The rest is spot on though. A little too specific and un-changeable for my personal use.

Multi-columns work if you don't have to scroll to read the info as well. If you can get to the bottom of the column without scrolling (like on a printed page) it's fine. If you have to scroll they're horrid. You wouldn't print a book with a multi-column layout where each column continues through to the end of the chapter, and then you have to turn back to the start to read the next column. Yet people do it with digital documents all the damn time.

I think multi-columns are a good way to present information, it is a shame about being unable to change the column but surely that can be fixed? I'd use this if that was the case, it's a great way of pulling together newsworthy content.

Multi-column layouts for data-dense displays really like this really need some way of differentiating the different sections. Something as simple as:

.link-section { background: #212327; padding-top: 1rem; } .links-list li:hover { background: #1a1c20; }

Would make a huge difference in readability while still maintaining the overall aesthetic. Which, I might add, is pretty good looking.

Correct, it's my personal news feed (I moved from London to Brighon). Amazed it's submitted to HN.

It is single column on tablet and down ;)

Scrolling sucks. Any page that gives me a bunch of information without me having to do anything with my hands is doing it's job.

Yes, but multi-column leads to scrolling down to finish one column, then having to scroll back up to keep reading. It just adds more scrolling. Note the scrollbar on the side of this page.

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