
Show HN: Hacker News desktop app made with Electron and Node - jingweno
https://github.com/jingweno/hacker-menu
======
danso
I don't care how massive the app is compared to just web browsing...it's
always great when people show off not just the product, but the open source
code. Thanks!

~~~
jingweno
Glad you like we open source it :)

------
qyv
Not particularly directed at OP, I haven't tried or even downloaded the app.
But am I the only one that when I see 'Node' and 'Desktop' in a headline
immediately think 'this may be really nice but it is just gonna be to big for
what it does'? And, as a followup, what is the appeal of using Node for
desktop dev?

~~~
sarc
The advantages would include shared tooling, a cross-platform GUI, and the
ability for end-users to modify the code.

Regarding size, it appears to be around 100 MB, so you could have 20971
separate installations of it before filling up a 2 TB drive.

Memory usage could be an issue, but whether that matters will depend on your
audience the app. In this case, the aim is toward HN, so it doesn't seem like
an issue.

~~~
e12e
While I hope flash drives will come down in price, who has a 2TB flash drive
right now? My entire desktop OS, with at least three web browsers, multiple
sdks/compilers etc take up a grand total of 15GB. Granted, that'd still leave
room for 150 "apps" in the same space (note that I actually only have 3GB
free, though). Still, 100 MB for what is essentially high-level code? It's
absurd.

[ed: Not directed at op, as such, just how silly the general node ecosystem is
currently]

------
giancarlostoro
I really like it, runs well under openSUSE (you have to download the repo and
follow the instructions under "Development" in the readme). Hope to see it's
functionality expand further.

Edit:

One thing I would change is maybe make the overall border a more noticeable
darker color, I keep getting confused as to where the borders are for when
resizing it, and maybe a way of dragging and dropping the window (that is more
obvious if it is there, I haven't figured out how to move the window without
using what I assume to be KDE specific features).

~~~
lokywin
Thanks giancarlostoro. That is great feedback. Let's gather more responses
from others, and we will make the change. We want this to be super easy to you
to use.

------
Osiris
This tool reminds me of a feature in the Vivaldi browser called Web Panels:

[https://vivaldi.net/en-
US/blogs/teamblog/item/50-snapshot-1-...](https://vivaldi.net/en-
US/blogs/teamblog/item/50-snapshot-1-0-264-3-private-mode-and-improved-web-
panels)

You can have a sidebar in your browser with it's own webpage displayed, so you
can have Hacker News open no matter what tab you're viewing.

~~~
shwetank
And the sidebar extension for Opera for Hacker News (using Dharmesh Patel's
app) [https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/hackernews-
si...](https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/hackernews-
sidebar/?display=en)

------
achairapart
Looks cool. But... 100+Mb for a notification app?

~~~
dattl
How is it 100 MB? RAM or disk space?

~~~
achairapart
After checking RAM usage, I'd say both.

------
mobiuscog
> Download the latest build for your platform from releases.

Cool !!

Oh.. Mac only right now.

~~~
jingweno
We're working on the Windows and Linux builds. Or if you can't wait, just
clone the repo and run `npm start`: [https://github.com/jingweno/hacker-
menu#development](https://github.com/jingweno/hacker-menu#development)

~~~
sarc
(Be sure to run npm install first.)

~~~
mobiuscog
And install node... which I don't use...

------
adamzerner
That's a pretty cool idea... but do people really want _more_ HN? My
impression is that most people want to read it once or twice a day, but are
driven to it more often than that as attempts at procrastination. So this
seems like it'd be a net loss for most users.

~~~
jingweno
That's exactly the idea of Hacker Menu. You could check the news anytime by
just clicking it, but it's not distracting

~~~
adamzerner
But it's _tempting_. My hypothesis is that it's too tempting.

~~~
lokywin
You should watch for the menu icon to change to dark color then :). Thanks for
sharing your thoughts. btw

~~~
adamzerner
Sure thing :)

------
e12e
From: [https://hackermenu.io/](https://hackermenu.io/) "Do you have the habit
of jumping to comments before reading an article? We got you covered. Comment
is just one click away. So is vote."

I did a quick browse and search of the source on github for "comment", "vote"
and "login". How do you handle logging in/submitting comments/votes? Just
present the regular hn login inside the app, and use the hn site?

I thought there was some TOS/gentlman's agreement that APIs only had read
access to stories, and one needed/should use the hn page for comments/votes?
Perhaps I'm mistaken?

I suppose there's no rule against making a custom browser though -- while a
bit heavy handed, I suppose there's really no difference between wrapping
node+electron and enhancing the UI/UX with greasmonkey -- I suppose the main
issue is to behave closely enough to a regular web visitor, so as not to put
undue strain on the service, not demand that every visitor _actually_ uses a
general purpose browser...?

------
ksmithbaylor
Just downloaded! I love it. The only thing I was going to say was I wish it
had the ability to resize the window and save the size for each time it
opened...then I realized you were one step ahead of me and had done exactly
that! Very impressive, and a fantastic example of React and Electron. I'm
definitely bookmarking this to come back and learn from the codebase later.

------
tommyd
Looks great - in all honesty I probably won't use it day to day as I waste
enough time checking HN, although perhaps it would be a less distracting way
to check it. Source code looks nice and clean, look forward to digging into
it!

------
wsterling
Because I need to get less work done? It does look great.

~~~
lokywin
Haha. I find myself keep watching the menu bar for updates, then click on the
news item. Glad you think it looks good. Feedbacks are welcomed.

------
sarc
In case it's helpful,

    
    
      hacker-menu$ node install
      module.js:338
          throw err;
                ^
      Error: Cannot find module 'hacker-menu/install'
          at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:336:15)
          at Function.Module._load (module.js:278:25)
          at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:501:10)
          at startup (node.js:129:16)
          at node.js:814:3

~~~
danneu

        > node install
    

It's `npm install`

~~~
sarc
Ah, the bug was between the ears. Thanks.

The app seems pretty nice. I wonder why people are saying harsh things?

------
binaryanomaly
Great app. Would be cool if it could be installed via homebrew and use an
existing node installation.

Anyway, keep up the good work ;)

------
SeanAnderson
Can the non-Mac users have some screenshots? I dug around the GitHub repo and
the website, but didn't see any.

~~~
dombili
Here you go:

1- [http://i.imgur.com/5WjIJ5M.png](http://i.imgur.com/5WjIJ5M.png)

2- [http://i.imgur.com/A1VHspL.png](http://i.imgur.com/A1VHspL.png)

This is about it. When you click on any link, it takes you to the website
itself.

------
mrmondo
Well done on making this, but I have to say that I'm sure I'm not the only
person that's not interested in installing node on their desktop.

------
denzil_correa
I have installed this and I agree with other users here - I like it. I can
check it whenever I want to and it's non obtrusive.

------
jedireza
Thanks! I'd like to dismiss and/or mark as read for stories I'm not interested
in.

~~~
lokywin
Thanks for sharing your thought. We talked about this and are going to
implement it.

------
tedmiston
This is really great. I like that it remembers read stories, even across
sessions.

------
RvdMeer
Can you add the 'save to pocket' as well, that would great.

------
juhq
Ugh provide high quality screenshots, both on project readme in github and on
the website as well.

Currently the website has skewed image of the thing and then cropped round
images of the thing.

~~~
cpursley
Ugh, quit complaining and put in a pull request. It's open source and a side-
project, after all.

------
rtz12
I would bet that my newsreader uses booth less RAM and less disk space. This
is what feeds were invented for. Why should I install that much bloat just for
reading HN?

~~~
OJFord
Why should you? Okay, don't.

If OP gave you free beer would you spit it out over him and say it's too
bitter?

~~~
rtz12
That's a pretty bad metaphor. I am refusing OP's free beer, because I don't
drink beer. I also question the need of giving away free alcohol. Instead, I
take the free glass of water from the next guy.

~~~
Killswitch
You should hit me up sometime. I'd love to party with you. /s

~~~
mrmondo
Come on guys, this isn't Reddit so lets keep the commentary constructive. I
feel rtz12 has some valid points - although his/her language style contains
emotion you can't presume to know why that is without being that person.

~~~
danneu
Is it really a good, constructive point, though? Boo hoo, too big? Having to
make concessions drools?

The cutting edge of building xplat desktop apps with browser tech involves
independently bundling Node and Chromium, so it's gonna weigh 100+mb like a
single Chrome browser tab. That's life.

Yes, we all have different appetites for different sets of trade-offs.

------
rhys91
This looks interesting but the first thing I noticed was that the 'H' in your
logo isn't centred and it hurts my brain.

~~~
jingweno
Good call! We fixed it at [https://github.com/jingweno/hacker-
menu/pull/15](https://github.com/jingweno/hacker-menu/pull/15).

------
jolivero
nice.

