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Show HN: Minimalist HN reader with material design

5 points by kpgx ↗ HN
Hello everyone!, this is a app I have being working on recently. I know there are number of HN readers on android. But couldn't find a one suitable for daily use. So I started developing this app. News articles, comments open in default browser of the device. Click on title of the item to open the article and anywhere else to open comments. Pull down to refresh. Swipe left and right to change the tabs. This is only the first phase of application. Lot of functions yet to be implement (you can read more in Google play listing). Before developing further I would love to have some feedback. BTW I'm a CS undergraduate.Thank you.

Image :http://www.kasungamlath.com/assets/hnyc_framed.png Application :https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kasungamlath.hackernews

Any feedback is appreciated, thanks!

5 comments

[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 23.3 ms ] thread
burntcookie90
Haha, saw this while working on my own android client!

Some pointers:

* Your story list is incredibly crowded and the text/background colors are too similar.

* Your store screenshots: don't need the Pull to refresh image (which, by the way seems like the wrong color). Also, don't know what the image with the empty list items is.

* The story number seems unnecessary, and has too much priority on the list item

Looks like a good start though, let me know if you've got any questions!

kpgx
Thanks for the feedback.

* I was trying to imitate the web interface. That's why it seems crowded. I agree it should change.

* I was trying to get the screenshots of functionality since I only have one screen yet. (color changes after each cycle)

* Story numbers won't make the next release.

Thanks for the pointers. Do you mind sharing your client? Btw any pointers on how to get more feedback?

burntcookie90
Ha! The web interface is probably not the best interface to emulate, especially not for mobile. If you're attempting to utilize Material Design, you should take a look at the metrics guidelines for creating a pleasing UI on the device.

I found that I got some good feedback via /r/androiddev and /r/android (once I got the client to a presentable state). My client: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.dwak.holoha...

and source: https://github.com/dinosaurwithakatana/hacker-news-android

kpgx
Cool. I tried your app and went through the reddit posts too. I guess I'll post in reddit after fixing the current issues in few weeks(Have exams in next 2 weeks). Few more questions though.

* The login function isn't still available in official API?

* How did you promote your testing community(g+ page)?

* How are the donations coming?

burntcookie90
* Login isn't through the official API, I just scrape what the website does

* There is an AlertDialog on the first run of the application that lets the user know about the G+ community

* Donations haven't been publicized yet (I only added the links a couple of weeks ago). I may publicize them soon, as the Heroku instance I'm running the server on may need to be moved into a pay tier.