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Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

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Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#31
I don't have a strong opinion on whether you should build it or not (I have a Mac but won't use it, which has almost nothing to do with whether it's a good idea or not), but here's some other admittedly unsolicited advice (and of course I recognize that you may know all of this already):

Remember that most people who think it's a bad idea won't respond, and people who do respond are doing so because they're interested, or think they are. So there's some bias to account for. And secondly people who say they want something can't really be trusted; it costs nothing to upvote you and people are really quick to say "yes, I'd buy/use that" and though they certainly mean it at the time, it's very often turns out to be untrue when it's actually time to download and install it.

Of course, it might work anyway; I'm just saying that I doubt that asking HN whether you should code it is a good predictor.

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#32
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use HackerNode, a brilliant app.

Nice one. What do you like about that one? Seems like there's a lot of people who've downloaded it.

@holgersindbaek: I love the quick browsing and general feel of it. I have to admit though, I rarely exit the front page listing & links or use it for anything else than checking up on what's going on in the world.

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#33
post #12

Looks nice but I don't think I would ever use something like this. 70% of the time I'm on a browser so I prefer to just come to the website. A good app for iPad would be good since tapping the tiny HN links on there is terrible.

If there was just an un-upvote button, browsing HN on mobile wouldn't be so risky :P

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#34

I don't have a strong opinion on whether you should build it or not (I have a Mac but won't use it, which has almost nothing to do with whether it's a good idea or not), but here's some other admittedly unsolicited advice (and of course I recognize that you may know all of this already): Remember that most people who think it's a bad idea won't respond, and people who do respond are doing so because they're intereste…

Thanks for the advice. I follow what you are saying.

Reason I'm doing this is, that I come up with a lot of projects and it's hard to know which of them people will actually like.

I'm putting out a feeler here, to see wether people are even interested. It seems so :-).

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#35

Sure, go on. The hardest part, designing it, is already done! Take a look at HNKit an news:yc https://github.com/Xuzz/newsyc for a head start.

Thanks. I'll take a look at it.

I've already taken a look at some other HN examples (there's a lot of open source ones out there), but not sure if I will go with any of those. Might start from scratch.

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#36
I briefly experimented with HN in a discreet RSS reader (Feeds App), and I won't let it on my computer outside the browser again as it was too distracting. I also don't keep any of the iPhone apps for HN I've tried around for that reason. Your designs look nice, though.

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#37
post #25
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a decent iPhone/iPad app called news:yc in the App Store already.

News:yc is a "decent" Hn app but it is not the perfect package, it lacks a lot in design fundamentals to create a great user experience.

Do you mind laying out your specific concerns? I'm not the developer of news:yc but I use it every day and like it a lot, and I think the user experience is fine and have never felt hampered or awkward using it.

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#38

I briefly experimented with HN in a discreet RSS reader (Feeds App), and I won't let it on my computer outside the browser again as it was too distracting. I also don't keep any of the iPhone apps for HN I've tried around for that reason. Your designs look nice, though.

Thanks for the compliments.

What made you think it was too distracting? Could you see the updates all the time?

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#39
Holger, your design has the same issue as every other HN app - it trades condensed view for spacing and typography. The brilliance of HN's native design is an ability to see 20-30 stories per screenful. This is a must have. Otherwise it turns into Designer News [1] :)

Secondly, an app that is merely an alternative view of HN webpage is not terribly interesting. It should really offer something else. For example, an ability to track/follow other users, ability to pick up stories from /new page that might of an interest to me, track my account stats, track replies to my comments and submissions, etc.

If you are going to sink your time in this project, make damn sure there'll be (paid) downloads at the end of the road.

[1] https://news.layervault.com

Re: Show HN: I Designed this HN Mac App – Should I develop it?

#40
I love the look of the interface (web and comment view). That said, being a reader of HN, I like to use the "open web" as opposed to apps. I know a good percentage of the population here share my views. And while this may not necessarily describe you're app, it shows the sentiment: http://xkcd.com/1174/

But I'm confused when you call this a Mac app. Does that mean it would be for say, my macbook air, which I really have no need for it. or perhaps my iPad/iPhone, which, even though I have the HN page bookmarked as an app, I'm more readily willing to try out the "app", simply because the interface needs enhancing.

edit: All that said, definitely still build it. If only even for yourself, your portfolio, and the learning experience.

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