tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post6938428289638839389..comments2009-07-14T12:19:11.863-07:00Giles Bowkettnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-74120172105239394032009-04-20T09:17:00.000-07:002009-04-20T09:17:00.000-07:00I fucking love it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-56941493815540701412009-04-15T22:57:00.000-07:002009-04-15T22:57:00.000-07:00@Dale my project even has its own built-in girl FridayGiles Bowketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462574543661010181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-26130636567999658302009-04-15T22:56:00.000-07:002009-04-15T22:56:00.000-07:00@OMouse yes, HN needs an API but no, access to data is not the real problem. access to data is an irrelevant threadjack. if you want a tree structure of all the news items, or you want them sorted by their rank, or you want to display them in a 3D Rolodex or whatever, you can get off your ass and do it, just like I did. I wish the code was already on GitHub so I could show you, this project was easy as a motherfucker. It's like ten lines of Ruby, plus a bunch of free shit other people had already written. "What we really need is an easier way of extracting the underlying data" is ridiculous. This project couldn't have been any easier if a robot had done it for me.Giles Bowketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462574543661010181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-45054276253169395432009-04-15T12:51:00.000-07:002009-04-15T12:51:00.000-07:00What we really need is an easier way of extracting the underlying data of the website and an easier way of making whatever interface we want for it.<br /><br />This is why browsers don't download "compiled" HTML/CSS/JS. They download the source code, the raw stuff but that isn't enough if we can't modify it easily.<br /><br />Your HackerNewspaper may be fine for you and others, but what if I want a tree structure of all the news items, or I want them all sorted by their rank, then how many comments there are, or what if I want them displayed in a 3d rolodex or whatever? Can't do it without all that hacking that you had to do.<br /><br />The real problem is access to data, not the interfaces. If we had better access to data we could design our own interfaces as you've shown.OMousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11493260046342691726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-88653346202549319642009-04-15T05:20:00.000-07:002009-04-15T05:20:00.000-07:00Oh nicely done. Actually makes me prepared to go back and look at HN on a daily basis again.mikewoodhousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01434936820855294649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-21387946602362719642009-04-14T22:49:00.000-07:002009-04-14T22:49:00.000-07:00@Anon - the inaccessibility of comments is a <A HREF="http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2009/04/we-didnt-start-flame-war.html" REL="nofollow">feature</A>.Giles Bowketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462574543661010181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-47469322778548290602009-04-14T18:13:00.000-07:002009-04-14T18:13:00.000-07:00Looks nice and readable. Would it be worth it to archive older snapshots and allow stepping through them, the way newspaper sites have links to yesterday's paper? Also, while there's a link to the main news.yc page, I searched in vain for a link to each article's discussion page. Sometimes the comments are more valuable than the original article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-32496172657316358452009-04-14T15:34:00.000-07:002009-04-14T15:34:00.000-07:00So Giles, does your ruby app swill cheap whiskey and chain smoke ... got to take the bad with the good!Dale Henrichshttp://gemstonesoup.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-62399918861312703102009-04-14T13:53:00.000-07:002009-04-14T13:53:00.000-07:00@64B - sizing and spacing come from the order links appear on Hacker News. I actually grab all the content from the linked article, and the code could also grab images etc., but I didn't take it that far. I just wanted enough to add dimension to skimming, so I could avoid clicking links that turned out to be boring.Giles Bowketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462574543661010181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-82612061222643306642009-04-14T13:05:00.000-07:002009-04-14T13:05:00.000-07:00Giles,<br /><br />Thanks for showing us what is missing from the online world. Amazing that typography changes information consumption.<br /><br />I like that you are grabbing some of the content from the linked site. Would there be anything to be gained by providing more content from the linked article? <br /><br />The sizing and spacing seem random, what decisions cause the layout of the page?Sixty4Bithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17956853950720562062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-23258289795068723272009-04-14T12:12:00.000-07:002009-04-14T12:12:00.000-07:00Somebody anonymously posted a link to a discussion of this post on Hacker News. Thanks (or something) but I deleted it. I just spent five minutes writing a bunch of swears to some ignorant dipshit who wasted my time with his arrogance while knowing nothing about typography or user interface. People, PLEASE, no links to discussions on Hacker News. The whole point of this system is to reach a higher level of information hygiene by keeping that ridiculous time-wasting garbage out of my perception.Giles Bowketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462574543661010181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-44312141338230431672009-04-14T10:11:00.000-07:002009-04-14T10:11:00.000-07:00Twenty years ago, ACM printed a study of the use of typography to make C programs more readable:<br />http://www.amazon.com/Human-Factors-Typography-Readable-Programs/dp/0201107457<br /><br />I'm the only C programmer I know who's even heard of this book.<br /><br />Even though I don't agree with all of it, and even though it's technically non-trivial to integrate typographic knowledge smoothly into normal programming, I think it's a crying shame that we're still using such incredibly impoverished presentations for our ideas.fcwhttp://blog.frankwales.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-40198742613159985282009-04-14T08:31:00.000-07:002009-04-14T08:31:00.000-07:00Cool app! Could you explain a bit how your Ruby script pulls out the "meat" of the linked pages for the content after the headline? It's something I've always wondered how to do appropriately.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01671403887861085586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-18599091977033926952009-04-14T06:13:00.000-07:002009-04-14T06:13:00.000-07:00great execution! a much better experience than hacker newsJonathan Mendezhttp://www.optimizeandprophesize.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-47217947836419354042009-04-14T04:07:00.000-07:002009-04-14T04:07:00.000-07:00Can you please explain what typogridphy does ? Couldn't make out much from the page.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-72085088999933680742009-04-14T01:36:00.000-07:002009-04-14T01:36:00.000-07:00Well yeah. Blogs actually have the same relationship to newspapers that Hacker Newspaper has to Hacker News. HN(paper) wouldn't be useful at all if HN wasn't supplying the feed. It's just a reformatting feed consumer. Blogs feed off of the traditional news media in the same way, although there's also a lot of original material.<br /><br />That's why people are still going to journalism school. It's not about the thin sheets of tree or the classified ads in the back. However I think "no digital entity" borders on hyperbole. I'm sure a few counter-examples exist.Giles Bowketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462574543661010181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-27649906017763252882009-04-14T01:21:00.000-07:002009-04-14T01:21:00.000-07:00The other thing that newspapers do that's endangered besides the logical organizing of information is, you know, actually collecting new information that is non-obvious or that someone want to keep secret. There is pretty much no digital-only entity that's ever done this (with a few notable exceptions like Talking Points Memo). Before people on the web start dancing on the grave of newspapers, they should try from them some of how to actually do new reporting about events in the world.Greg Borensteinhttp://urbanhonking.com/ideasfordozensnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-76528420903872364832009-04-14T00:54:00.000-07:002009-04-14T00:54:00.000-07:00Yeah, Times was one of the inspirations for it. I didn't dig the app but I liked the idea. Also tag clouds. Tag clouds do the same thing with size and position that newspaper headlines do, but they don't go all the way.Giles Bowketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462574543661010181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7602886877359920483.post-59191455534967183502009-04-14T00:41:00.000-07:002009-04-14T00:41:00.000-07:00Make me think of Times: http://www.acrylicapps.com/times/Francois Stephanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122646082338460855noreply@blogger.com