

Read your Hacker News in Tile Style - queryly
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/hackernews-reader/ae66a0ea-c66d-42cc-a58b-44799e2eb2fa

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rckrd
Just from a UX perspective, I wonder what seems like a more natural ordering:

    
    
      [ 1 2 ]
      [ 3 4 ] 

Is more natural to read than:

    
    
      [ 1 3 ]
      [ 2 4 ]
    

I would think that since we read from left to right and then down, that the
standard matrix ordering row, then column, might be more preferable.

Yet, horizontal scroll plays a larger role in metro, so this might not be a
bad idea. I'd love to hear from someone who knows anything about UX in regards
to this sort of thing.

~~~
dkarl
As a user, scanning a 2D array of tiles feels like work. I think this might be
part of the reason: if I don't remember how a particular app or page is laid
out, I have to scan both ways and decide which way makes more sense.

Maybe a single convention could emerge per mobile platform, but across the
entire web, I doubt it, and honestly, my biggest problem with 2D grids is that
scanning every item systematically feel very unnatural, and I doubt I will
ever break that habit. Decades of reading has led me to see me to see Roman
text as coherent, directed strings, and lists also naturally elicit in-order
scanning behavior for me, but 2D grids of squares or rectangles are used for
things that require different scanning behavior. When I look at maps, board
games, and color or fabric samples, for example, I tend to hop around looking
for patterns among groups of tiles, combined with occasional breadth-first
scanning outward from points. My first reaction to a 2D grid is never to
systematically scan all individual items but to start jumping around
impressionistically, and then to switch to a systematic scan if the
impressionistic method fails. Naturally, switching provokes irritation, both
at myself and at the situation.

I wonder if the experience is different for people who grew up reading
Chinese.

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thingsilearned
Tile style seems to really de-emphasize the titles of the articles in favor of
their score.

Emphasizing the score, especially with the ranking algorithm being so time
based is fairly confusing. It seems like the number should be in order, but
they of course aren't.

A fix may be as simple as changing the two greys, having the darker grey
behind the article title, and the lighter one behind the number. Also,
increasing the contrast in the title text would be great.

~~~
roc
> _"A fix may be as simple as changing the two greys"_

You're drawn to 1. the contrast between the colors and 2. the visually-
emphasized smaller box pulled 'on top' of the larger box of text.

Wwapping the greys would do nothing for the net contrast. If anything it'd
exacerbate the effect by making the block of text darker and less noticeable.
Lessening the difference between the two greys would cause them to blend more
and take out some of the 'pop'.

But I think 2. is the bigger problem. You'd want to put the 'score' inside the
larger box to de-emphasize that element.

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kefs
Why does the 'App Website' link take me to a prelaunch/landing page for
something completely different?

~~~
revisionzero
Our company is 'Quixby', so the app website link is to that site as it's our
main project currently. We don't have any dedicated app website is all, or we
would link to that.

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dhruvmittal
I feel like the Tile Layout isn't the most useful thing for a site like Hacker
News- perhaps if we had more images, I'd see it, but the Tile Layout turns our
column of text into a wall of text.

Does anybody know if it handles opening links or comments?

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chappi42
US $ 1.49 to access Hacker News content through an app?!

This should be open source and free.

~~~
jeremyarussell
Why exactly should it be free and open source? Because last time I checked
hacker news isn't specifically free or open source, it's news for hackers, and
it's parent company (ycombinator) tailors itself to startups and investors.
Both of which want to make money, so I'm not really getting how you came to
your conclusion. I for one don't mind paying $1.49 for an app, I just spent 5
dollars on coffee...

~~~
chappi42
I can't give a real argument. It would be more out of respect to the content
which originates from other people and quite often deals in topic which are
open/free. But 1.49 is not much and if it helps the dev...

~~~
gknoy
I agree somewhat with you, though. If the app were free, I'd install it in a
heartbeat. I'd wish there were a way to select it now for installation on my
home machine before I get home, if that were possible.

With a price on it, I suddenly have to go through the hassle of attaching a
payment method to my Windows Store account (something which I've been
EXTREMELY hesitant to do). It's enough of a barrier to entry that I am likely
to fob it off as something to do Later (as I can read HN quite well in my
browser), rather than go through that added hurdle.

If I already had payment info entered for my Store account, that barrier to me
buying it would be much lower: rather than having to consider both the time
and money investment, I'd only have to say "Eh, it's a buck fifty", and would
be much more likely to buy it. As it is, my interest has waned from "I must
install this yesterday" to "I'll have to think about it".

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negrit
i'd love to app a Chrome app like this one.

~~~
revisionzero
That's not a bad idea, will definitely look into that soon!

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rednukleus
Looks great from the screenshot, I'll have to try this out later. The
description doesn't state whether you can comment, post or vote from the app -
I take it that's not possible?

~~~
revisionzero
Currently you cannot comment, post or vote from the app. It's possible, albeit
more complicated. The problem is one of security, so we are taking a bit more
time to ensure we do the commenting, posting and voting correctly.

This is something we will have in soon though!

~~~
jeremyarussell
I second biot's idea. I'll buy it right now though since I want to see it go
further and you need money for that. Might I suggest for the time being adding
in a right click and "open in browser" that leads to the comment page for the
article? That ways it's at least a quick one step to get where you need to be
in order to comment and upvote.

~~~
revisionzero
Great idea! We are rolling out an update today, but will be sure to wrap in
all of these suggestions in a follow-up update soon!

------
rikacomet
I hope it is not buggy, but nice one!

~~~
revisionzero
Dev Here: It should be bug free! Always looking for ways to improve though.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

~~~
LaserChicken
I really like the app so far! Great work! I did find a couple bugs though:

1) You probably shouldn't use the same bar to split the article and comments
that Windows uses to resize pinned applications. This makes it look resizable
when it's not.

2) Sometimes my mouse's scroll wheel stops scrolling. I think this has
something to do with the ad reloading. I don't know if you have any control
over that, but I found it annoying. I think the ad is stealing focus.

3) The ad on the main page stays on top of the Settings flyout (Win+I ->
Settings)

4) Right-clicking on the article side (the web control) causes the appbar to
fly in and then immediately disappear. The article also flickers. This does
not repro when right-clicking on the comment side.

Most of these are ad related, so maybe that's my cue to buy it... Otherwise,
great app! I like it.

~~~
revisionzero
Thanks for the feedback LaserChicken!

We have a few of these resolved in an update we are wrapping up today.
However, #1 is a good catch, will be sure to fix that.

#2 is resolved in the next update, and #3 we will look into.

While I have not personally experienced #4, I will test this right now
following your notes and add it to the list!

Really appreciate the detailed reports of the bugs.

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sageikosa
Will it work with Windows 9?

~~~
revisionzero
Well we tested it on Windows ME, so Windows 9 should be a cakewalk.

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SilasX
I thought paid advertisements on this site didn't allow a comment section?

Besides, I thought the whole point of the crappy site design was so that it
would scare of people who either need eye can't or can't configure a browser
to make it look different.

~~~
johnmurch
Not specifically <http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html> but do agree -
don't think it needs a upvote.

~~~
negrit
This is someone who likes hackernews who made an app, to bring it on windows 8
with a nice UX and he is asking for $1.49 which is not much at all...

What's wrong with that ?

Come on, give the guy a break and enjoy his good work.

EDIT: I don't know why I was thinking about windows mobile, my bad.

~~~
jacalata
I agree with your point, but it's for windows 8 desktop/RT, not windows phone.

