Hacker News Reader

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

You're very welcome.

No; Readable doesn't use anything like the Knuth and Plass algorithm.

But I did thoroughly check out the JS implementation you mentioned; and Readable will probably use a part of the Knuth algorithm in the future -- as I am planning to support hanging quotation marks, hyphenation, as well as better (typographic) justification.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Thank you, too.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Would've been nice if you mentioned that your company has nothing to do with Readable, as there is a chance someone reading might get that impression -- especially for the short time that your reply is the first reply.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Well, just customize Readable (http://readable.tastefulwords.com/?setup) to your heart's content. Then, get in touch, and send me the custom options you used.

If the theme is awesome, I'll add it to Readable's selection of themes (http://readable.tastefulwords.com/?setup#explain-style-theme...). Did you try those out, by the way?

If you know CSS, you can also heavily customize Readable via the "More CSS" option.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

As for the license the code is under, I say "Yes and no" and detail them both. The "no" part address the fact that Readable's code isn't (and probably won't be) in any public code repositories.

If you're interested in the code, though, you can find the bulk of it here: http://readable-static.tastefulwords.com/_r/bulk.js

And, yes, it is open source; currently under a variation of the Creative Commons License; but, as detailed further up in this thread, that'll probably change by tomorrow -- as, apparently, Creative Commons isn't recommended for source code.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

As soon as I get a few free minutes, I promise I'll look over licenses more carefully and re-release the code.

In case anyone is interested in using the source code right this second, just come back to the site tomorrow and you'll find the new license explicitly stated.

If you have any cool ideas for what to do with the code, let me know -- I like hearing cool ideas.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

This is a bug; thanks for catching it. It will be corrected.

As for the intentionality of that CSS rule: it was intentional -- but some time ago; when quotes were redefined in another part of the CSS.

Blockquotes are included because some browsers quote the content of that element too; don't ask which browsers though, as I honestly don't remember -- but older versions of one browser or another definitely did this.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

"Readable text" does not mean the same thing for everyone.

I look at it as the long tail of text formatting preferences; and I think it's everyone's right to have text look exactly the way they want -- no compromises. That's why Readable is so incredibly customizable.

So don't worry: justification is optional; and hyphenation will be too.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Thank you.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Readable doesn't really want to be "better" than Readability. In all, they're actually very different beasts.

And I honestly don't consider Readability to be my competition. Readable first started because of my own desire to have text formatted a certain way, no matter what website that text happened to be on.

Unfortunately, Readability beat me to the launch by 2 weeks -- otherwise you would all now be talking about Readability as a version of Readable :)

The only reason I didn't kill Readable after that, was that it was different enough from Readability to diverse it's own shot -- plus, I love working on Readable's text-parsing algorithm; it's a very cool problem to solve.

P.S. The extension you pointed to is based on the first Readability bookmarklet -- and it's made by a guy who also made an extension based on the first version of Readable.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

I will also be adding an option that will disable even this anonymous tracking, for those who really want/need it.

However, you'll just have to take my word for it that I won't be reading the server logs -- which contain the same, if not more, data.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

This is a planned feature for Readable, too.

Count on seeing it in a future release.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

You are correct, sir. But I haven't really gotten in to the open-source game just yet -- maybe I should; I don't know.

I am using version control; just not public version control.

If you want to help, get in touch (http://readable.tastefulwords.com/about-and-contact/). I'm happy to hear any ideas; and, if you want to do some actual work, that would be quite awesome too.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Noted. Count on finding both of those in a future release.

The first one I was actually doing before Readability -- the old version of Readable did it (and Readability wasn't), but I haven't yet reimplemented the feature in the new version.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Hyphenation is a planned feature. As are hanging (typographic) quotation marks.

So hang tight: more cool stuff is coming -- I just have to find more hours in the day.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

I'm Readable's author.

If anyone has any suggestions for improvements, or even feature requests, I'm all ears.

I'm not promising I'll implement them; but I'll definitely listen and consider them carefully.

P.S. jbm, thanks a lot for posting this -- I've tried posting Readable to HC myself (twice), but it didn't stick.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Yup; all text processing is done in the browser.

URLs are tracked, though -- they would be tracked in my server logs, even if I didn't do anything specific to track them.

But they are intentionally tracked -- and a percentage of them are run through an automated Readable test, every day, so that I can see, on average, how often Readable gets things wrong.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

If you have any suggestions, I'm very open to them. As a matter of fact, if you're up to it, you can design your very own theme -- I'll let you name it, and give you full credit. Or, if you just have a couple of quick suggestions, feel free to list them here, or get in touch (http://readable.tastefulwords.com/about-and-contact/).

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Glad I made an impression; and thanks for the compliment. I'm actually about the same in real life, too.

Don't worry: Readable won't ever have advertising -- the most I'm looking for is something like a very small "Sponsored By XXX" banner, at the bottom -- if any cool company will ever be interested that is.

The new site will be redesigned -- and it will be a lot better when JavaScript is turned off. But I really don't recommend you use the old site any more, as that still runs the old version of the application -- which is way worse, in terms of performance.

I hope you're still using Readable, and that it's still helping you read the web more comfortably.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

Honestly, I browsed around for less then ten minutes, before deciding on Creative Commons for the code -- and I did so only because I previously saw source-code under various Creative Commons licenses. I did not know that it wasn't recommended; thanks for letting me know. I'll be sure to study the issue more thoroughly and re-license the code.

tastefulwordson Readable: A more readable version of "readability"

The source code isn't in any repository because I don't work with repositories. And, if I were to list a specific version of the code, it would become slightly obsolete in less than a week -- as I am continually tweaking Readable's text-parsing algorithm. You can find an always up-do-date version of the code here: http://readable-static.tastefulwords.com/_r/bulk.js

tastefulwordson Help/Advice needed with starting a startup

What I would do -- what I actually do do, as a matter of fact -- is dive right in and learn on the go.

Necessity is the mother of invention -- or, in our case, the mother of resourcefulness. I.e. nothing will make you learn something faster, and better, than having your website crash/not-work if that particular something isn't done right.

That being said, don't go overboard; or be overconfident. Do practice the basics, before diving head first into your new website/app. And by "the basics" I mean getting a website up and running.

Then, you take that and you run with it -- as fast and for as long as you can. There; that's the secret to startups, right there :)

tastefulwordson Help/Advice needed with starting a startup

I would advise you get started coding as soon as possible. And there's two reasons I'm giving you this advice:

(1) no "learning experience" in the world compares to actually having to do something to your app's code -- I've been doing development for 10 years, and this is basically how I "learned" everything; by actually having to do it.

(2) your idea will probably change once you start working on it; they always do.

And don't worry: it's very unlikely that someone will just decide, out of the blue, to execute the exact same idea as you. And even if they do, the thing to remember is that it's the execution that matters, not the idea itself.

tastefulwordson Ask HN: Books that change your way of thinking?

Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

Flatland, by Edwin Abbott

Gang Leader for a Day, by Sudhir Venkatesh

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan

tastefulwordson [dead]

Start over. Passion is everything -- especially for a single founder.