

Show HN: Feedial v0.1, a next-generation news reader. Any thoughts? - emma_b
https://feedial.com/build/build-01

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striking
Mobile-optimized pretty well but it's a pain to try to read a column all the
way to the left of my screen on my computer. Auto-scale doesn't fix it.

I like how you can turn off the "dial" but the setting was somewhat hidden,
perhaps the setting for it should be accessible from the feed switcher itself.
(Also, I get that the name is Fee _dial_ , but the dial is really not a useful
UI piece. I know you like it, but I don't. Sorry.)

"Mobile" shouldn't be an option, use CSS Media queries instead. Also, when not
in mobile mode, the feed switcher isn't accessible anywhere except for at the
top of the page. Why does it disappear?

It would make a set of your users happier if you offered email-based
authentication. I know, I know, sending the emails is annoying, but at least
_I 'd_ be a little happier.

Tooltips that describe which buttons do what would be really nice.

I like the images on the left. I don't know, it just feels right. Also, I
thoroughly enjoy the fact that you don't try to just pull stories from
webpages and host them on your site, you just link to them. Like a good RSS
reader.

 _After a few more minutes with the site:_

I really like this. However, I think some of the news outlets that don't have
as many posts are being completely drowned out by ones who post often. Instead
of being all BBC News and ABC News, you should make sure that you give equal
share to all websites. Otherwise all you get are "X killed Y" articles while
articles about world economies and imprisonment and airlines all get crowded
out.

If this offered recommendations as to what news I could get and delivered
personalized sets of news stories to my inbox, I'd totally use it. Adding
arbitrary RSS feeds would be even cooler. Otherwise, I'll stick with switching
manually between HN, Ars Technica, Boing Boing, and Slashdot.

(Also, I've noticed multiple stories covering the same thing showing up
separately. Maybe invest some time into algorithmically grouping them?)

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emma_b
Thanks for the feedback. Email-based login is definitely high on the list.

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detaro
For me, the grey bar with the hamburger menu is nearly in the middle of the
screen, and to the right is a large white space that isn't used for anything
(I expected a preview to go there, but clicking news items opens them in a new
window)

Front page: "secure HTTPS connections" would maybe be better than "secure HTTP
connections", because HTTPS is the word one is scanning for in that context

EDIT: Chrome 40.0.2214.111 m on Windows 7, 1366x786 screen

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emma_b
Hi. Thanks for the comment. There's an option to 'auto scale', which might be
worth a look

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joshuaheard
Looks good. I would try some changes: People read from left to right, so I
would put the text on the left and the image on the right. Also, you have lots
of white space; I would condense things a little so I can scan quicker. Look
at the news app Circa. I really like their format.

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emma_b
Thank you.

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scrumper
New title suggestion: add Show HN

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dang
We added Show HN to the title since this is a good match for it.

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emma_b
Thanks. We weren't sure it was appropriate going by the Show HN guidelines

