Show HN: Hackernews for Mac | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Hackernews for Mac

whimsyapps.com

35 pointsi38649 comments

I wrote Hackernews for Mac. Feel free to ask me questions :)

EDIT: Quick shout out to Grant Paul who built the fantastic newsyc app for iOS (http://newsyc.me) which this is partly based on and inspired from.

It seems to require 10.8 and above! Haven't gotten around to updating my OS. Regardless, just looking at the screen shot I really like the color scheme and design. If you don't mind, here is a shameless link to a simple Chrome Extension for Hacker News I made: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/programming-news/g...

It uses NSSharingService to provide sharing via Twitter/Facebook/iMessage/etc which is a 10.8 API. I could provide you a binary without those bits for you to try - ping me at james.w.dumay@gmail.com

I like the app a lot. I wrote down a bunch of my basic questions I had after using the app in a top-level comment.

Suffice to say, I'm keeping it. I'll keep the praise to this comment and the questions to the other ;). I like how simple it is and true to the theme.

Why does it not support anything lower than Mountain Lion?

Uses the Sharing Service APIs that were introduced in ML. Ill work on some way to roll out a different version for =< 10.7 users.

You don’t need a separate version, you can check for available features at runtime:

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/devel...

http://www.cocoawithlove.com/2009/09/building-for-earlier-os...

Ill check that out :)

fyi, ReadItLater is now called [Pocket](http://getpocket.com/blog/2012/04/introducing-the-all-new-re...).

Also, any chance of an alternate ui like [Skim HN](http://www.skimhn.com)

I didn't realise they had renamed so thanks for pointing it out. Could you tell me a few things you like about Skim HN?

I like the categories that created via filters. Try clicking edit on Skim HN. It drills down into HN than just the front page. Also, the lessmeme.com is a filter for excluding links that are also were on Techmeme.

It'll be cool to have some filtering capabilities in a native HN application. As much as I like the HTML & web, I also like using native OS X apps.

I really like the app so far. A few feature ideas - adding a preference to load the story or comments first. That might fit in a bit better with some people's workflows of looking at the comments first.

Also - I found myself wanting some "read/unread" feature of the story column. I'd love to know if I've already seen a story or not.

Keep up the good work. I assume you plan to sell this on the App Store?

Thank you :)

Seeing the comments first is a popular request so Ill try todo that one soon.

Grant Paul (of the newsyc iOS app) and I were discussing making all the read/unread state work via iCloud so the iOS and Mac apps sync up nicely but we haven't agreed on it just yet.

Yes, I am planning to sell this on the AppStore when its in a state I'm happy with. I'm thinking of making it free and make Readability/Instapaper/etc functionality an In App Purchace.

I think you're on to something there. I've always thought apps that are enhancement experiences of websites that are free struggle to stand on their own. I think a free app supported by in app purchases of features the website can't match is spot on. Keep up the good work!

EDIT: just pushed a update that allows you to view comments first. Check for updates via the Application menu or by restarting the app.

Very nice work. Clean, simple UI and I love how you managed the article vs comments views.

Thank you :)

Hey, just thought I'd take a sec to thank you for making this free. We're faced with so many free apps nowadays that we forget all the work that goes into it to selflessly help the community.

My first impression based on theme - good job. Now I'm going to download it.

EDIT: Just downloaded. Looking.

When will you add login sessions?

Will you incorporate no-procast?

Is there any way you can incorporate a notification system to show up in the upper right hand corner, or even in the side panel on Mountain Lion? I know some of the mobile apps have thread notifications.

EDIT 2: It would be great if you added poll functionality for the 300+ people. And buttons for New and Leaderboards, etc. I'm saying all of this because I'd use this if you made it a full featured app.

I'd probably pay between $0.99 - $2.99 for an app with everything I just said above. Especially if you could put in different widgets that have been developed by other people (best time to submit, notifications, stats, etc.)

Thanks for the feedback! Working on threaded comments, voting, flagging and sessions now. Not sure when I'll be done by please check back weekly for updates :)

Never heard of no-procast. Ill check it out. Not sure what todo for the auto-polling just yet. I can imagine that would be annoying as hell for a lot of people so I'd make it an optional preference.

Yeah, I was thinking about pricing it around that point. Another thought I've had here is to offer it for free and have an in app purchase for extras like instapaper etc.

None of the pages on your site appear to be scrollable on the desktop? It looks like you have an overflow:hidden attached to body, which will prevent anyone from being able to scroll down if their browser is not tall enough.

That doesn't sound right. What browser are you on? I've tested here on Chrome, Safari and Firefox (but not IE). I think it looks a bit wonky on iOS but I'm working on that.

EDIT: Found it. Thanks for the report - should be working better now.

Perhaps not your target market I guess, because it doesn't work for me either.

This is fantastic, I like it. Though, I'd love the option to configure the stories selected in the left pane to open to comments first rather than the story. I usually browse HN in this way. It allows me to get peoples' opinion of the piece before hopping in and investing a bunch of time reading what might end up as blogspam, etc.

That sounds easy enough to implement. I wanted to enforce Stories first because a lot of people on HN don't read the full story before they comment.

Did you try the CMD+1/CMD+2 shortcuts for switching between the Story and Comments?

Some small usability suggestions for your roadmap:

- When resizing the window, make the left pane width fixed.

- Limit the resizing of the split panel so neither panel ends up with zero width.

- Use the share symbol that mountain lion uses instead of the word share.

- Restore the window dimensions and position after reopening the app.

- Highlight the current story selection in the list.

To extend the suggestion to use the share symbol, I would also suggest using icons for the flagging and voting buttons.

Thanks for the feedback, I just haven't had time to cook up icons yet :)

All of those are great suggestions. Ill add them to my TODO list.

Do you know if there is a standard share icon or do I have to create one myself? EDIT: looks like using NSShareTemplate does the trick.

Looks great! I will definitely use it in the future, and would pay for it. One thing I noticed though is that when you close the window by hitting the red circle in the top left, the app stays in the icon try but clicking the still active icon does not reopen the window.

Thank you! Working on making the window come back when the dock icon is clicked now :)

Awesome :)

What's wrong with the browser version?

Is there a way for me to make it default to view the "Comments" tab of the story first (instead of trying to load the story from the source)?

I sometimes judge a story by its comments first.

Someone else suggested this earlier. Its on the roadmap :)

EDIT: just pushed this. Check for updates via the Application menu or by restarting the app.

Bug report: when you close the window of the app and then click the dock icon, the window never re-appears (you have to quit / re-open).

Thanks mate. Working on getting a update out that fixes that :)

EDIT: Just rolled out a fix. You can check for Updates in the Application menu.

It's a simple "fix", but this is actually the (silly) default behaviour for Mac apps. After closing the window you can bring it back from the Window menu item > Main Window.

Ah, thanks!

Love it. Obviously lots of work to be done, but I really like the idea of Hacker News as an app instead of a URL I can open on a whim.

Great! I'd like to have a better interface to read —much like ReadKit or Reeder.

Looks great! I have no other suggestion -- that was not already posted here already -- other than handling unread comments.

I use hckrnews.com and its Google Chrome extension to keep track of comments, and it's insanely great.

Readability style page cleanup would be a good feature.

Agreed. I've added that to the TODO list :)

Commenting from the app. Great so far!

Thanks :)

Works great for me...Thanks

This is awesome! Great job.

Dude add Buffer's sharing. Awesome app so far. Loving it.

Hmm. Mackersnews...

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