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Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

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Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#41

Post by onyva »

zeras wrote: post #37
onyva wrote: post #32

Is the solution to “content diversity” problem (right wingers current fake issue) flooding readers with more trash and low quality content? Isn’t this what Facebook’s for?

My intention behind content diversity is not based on political interests, but rather a desire to offer a greater level of exposure for lesser known content and blog sites. By "diversity" I mean that a developer who writes good articles on python whose blog only gets a few users a day will be treated the same as content from high traffic sites. Unlike other news services that either have political leanings or are beh…

The sun, daily mail, Fox News are “lesser known”? Not to mention tons of other stuff I’m too afraid to even checkout. Low quality and fake news is not diversity.

Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#42

Post by zeras »

onyva wrote: post #41
zeras wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My intention behind content diversity is not based on political interests, but rather a desire to offer a greater level of exposure for lesser known content and blog sites. By "diversity" I mean that a developer who writes good articles on python whose blog only gets a few users a day will be treated the same as content from high traffic sites. Unlike other news services that either have political leanings or are beh…

The sun, daily mail, Fox News are “lesser known”? Not to mention tons of other stuff I’m too afraid to even checkout. Low quality and fake news is not diversity.

No, of course not, but if I only included lesser known content in the reader and search engine then few people would use it since they would have to look elsewhere to find content from the major news sources.

Major news sources will always get more overall exposure simply through quantity because they publish so many articles every single day. However, low traffic sites and blogs will get their content promoted at or near the top of the search results when it is indexed in the same manner that the high traffic sites do.

I understand there are sites you dislike which is why I added an Upgrade global filter feature where you can block sites, topics, keywords, etc. that you do not want to see. Other Upgraded users can do the same when they do not want to see content they dislike as well.

Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#45

Post by gostsamo »

zeras wrote: post #27
gostsamo wrote: post #24

Hi, I have some accessibility related requests regarding the design. Are you opened to suggestions?

Absolutely! I know the main color themes have contrast issues with accessibility. My plan is to create a high contrast theme to help with that. That said, any other suggestions would definitely be appreciated.

I'm blind, so can't comment on the color scheme. However, screen readers depend on semantic elements like headings, list items, and so on to navigate the page. Currently the search results are not organized as any such entity, but are a few links that are related visually. The graphics are not marked as such, lack alt text, and an example how one of them reads is:

"9c064f09d669c4a7ec0da2bb54c16a…"

Setting aria-hidden might be the easiest way to deal with this particular issue.

"Popular" and "newest" are not marked as control elements like buttons, combo box, or a radio button so they look just like plain text to my screen reader. It is experience that suggests that hitting enter on them will produce any result.

The search button is not labeled and it reads just as "button". What you call a quick bar (a guess) is a line of buttons represented as links but with no text inside them and no apparent function.

PS: Great idea for the site btw. I'm bitching so much only because it seems as something that I might use and wish to have as comfortable as possible.

Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#46

Post by zeras »

gostsamo wrote: post #45
zeras wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely! I know the main color themes have contrast issues with accessibility. My plan is to create a high contrast theme to help with that. That said, any other suggestions would definitely be appreciated.

I'm blind, so can't comment on the color scheme. However, screen readers depend on semantic elements like headings, list items, and so on to navigate the page. Currently the search results are not organized as any such entity, but are a few links that are related visually. The graphics are not marked as such, lack alt text, and an example how one of them reads is: "9c064f09d669c4a7ec0da2bb54c16a…" Setting aria-hidden…

I really do appreciate the suggestions.

I have worked really hard to provide as many options as possible for people, but it is hard to anticipate everything people will want or need from it until they use it and tell you so feedback like yours helps.

I have added everything you wrote to my notes from this thread so I will see what I can do to improve them for you.

Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#47

Post by onyva »

zeras wrote: post #42
onyva wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sun, daily mail, Fox News are “lesser known”? Not to mention tons of other stuff I’m too afraid to even checkout. Low quality and fake news is not diversity.

No, of course not, but if I only included lesser known content in the reader and search engine then few people would use it since they would have to look elsewhere to find content from the major news sources. Major news sources will always get more overall exposure simply through quantity because they publish so many articles every single day. However, low traffic sites and blogs will get their content promoted at or…

Promoting low traffic sites that actually publish content that’s worth while finding out about is admirable. But if your front page is an “open sewage” of the worst of USA and UK tabloids, I don’t think anyone who’s interested in quality content would bother to register or upgrade.

Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#48

Post by zeras »

webwanderings wrote: post #44

I don't like the idea of spending time on a site where I'm reading rumors but this is very nicely done indeed. Looks good on the mobile as well, though images take up more space than they should.

Thank you! I will admit that I really wanted to go with a shorter brandable name, and I am still considering it, but for now I think the name fits.

I am planning to tweak the mobile/responsive styles on some layouts to make them a little easier to read.

Some of the search layouts will show differently on mobile screens so maybe toggle between them to see if you like one of those better.

Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#49

Post by zeras »

webwanderings wrote: post #43

This is good looking. But, is this just a River of News scrolling, or do you keep track of "read" items to get them out of the way?

That is an area that I need to improve. With a high focus on privacy, it makes it hard to track what users read without creating a user tracking system and that is something I really want to avoid doing.

The thread links use the CSS :visited selector to show the links in a different color to help identify the links you have previously clicked without the site knowing that information itself.

There is a history function for logged in members, but for user privacy it can be limited or disabled by the user via the Settings page and is also auto-purged periodically.

At the very least the site needs to show content that has been added since your last visit and that is something I plan to implement soon.

Re: Show HN: An alternative RSS reader and search engine for news and content

#50

Post by zeras »

onyva wrote: post #47
zeras wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, of course not, but if I only included lesser known content in the reader and search engine then few people would use it since they would have to look elsewhere to find content from the major news sources. Major news sources will always get more overall exposure simply through quantity because they publish so many articles every single day. However, low traffic sites and blogs will get their content promoted at or…

Promoting low traffic sites that actually publish content that’s worth while finding out about is admirable. But if your front page is an “open sewage” of the worst of USA and UK tabloids, I don’t think anyone who’s interested in quality content would bother to register or upgrade.

I posted it in the beta notes on the site, but forgot to add it to my comments here.

The Popular search results are currently supplemented by a variety of hand-picked source feeds because the site is new and there is not yet enough traffic history to generate an accurate list of popular content, but that will change once more people start using the site.

Of course people will not be happy with some of the sites selected if the target site has a political bias that they disagree with, but it is only temporary until traffic starts to grow more on the site.

I already have it built into the engine to ignore the supplemental sources once the activity level hits a certain level.

That said, it will still come down to the users. If a lot of users are viewing specific content, it will likely find its way to the home page.

On a side note, you can change your default home page via the Settings page to avoid the popular search results.

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