example.com/path/to/article
000 points · username · 0 hours ago
example.com180 points · 82 comments · 1 year ago · postalcoder
I've built an alternative Hacker News front page. It is inspired by and meant to be a replacement for hckrnews.com.
I built this because HN is woefully underfeatured, but most sites that try to improve it seem to assume that the visual design is the problem. hcker.news tries to maintain HN's familiarity while adding useful enhancements.
There are three primary views:
- Timeline View: Browse top stories by votes or comments grouped by day, week, or month (e.g., top 20 per day, top 100 per week).
- Aggregate View: See top stories by votes or comments over custom time ranges.
- Front Page View: The original HN front page, untouched.
- Kagi Small Web: View only stories from websites that are a part of Kagi's Small Web, which is a curated list of non-commercial blogs
- Custom Keyword Filters: Include/exclude keywords (e.g., include "Rust," exclude "DOGE") or set a minimum score threshold.
- No HN Algorithm: Timeline and Aggregate Views show stories usually downranked by the HN algo (e.g., flagged posts or those with too many comments).
- Unread Flags: Quickly spot new stories or ones you haven't seen.
- Two Layouts: Classic HN style or a compact story view inspired by hckrnews.com.
- Multi-column & High-density Modes: Fit more content on screen.
- Themes: Light, Dark, and Manila.
jasonthorsness
koito17
I understand browsing without JavaScript isn't considered a valid use-case nowadays, but it would be nice if the site performed some sort of server-side data fetching. That way users don't experience flickering. As a bonus, while waiting for JavaScript to load, users can at least see headlines (but maybe not stories; that's totally fine).
coolwulf
And I saw this post from it :)
ls-a
wvl
btw, to those who want a dark mode for hcrknews, try: https://hckrnews.com/beta/
nico
One thing that I miss, that I use a lot on HN, is the hide feature. It helps me clear the clutter of stuff that I either already read or am not going to read
adrianwaj
One of the best things about it (as mentioned in article) is the ability to see the top comment on any item very quickly.
Try it here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180804173424/http://hackerbra....
Press "top" on any item. Also try the number on each.
Note how the comments can toggle open/shut and the colors.
I would definitely use that feature. :)
Also note the byline indents, curved boxes, spacing and popups on each single comment link.
Brajeshwar
Perhaps, you should send a pull request to add this.
aryan14
[deleted]
insane_dreamer
arvinsim
It's just jarring though to switch the actual Hacker News comment section from the site.
emmanueloga_
* Clarify relationship with https://hckrnews.com/
* Don't put the settings in localStorage, use URL params. That has a lot of usability improvements including being able to share the state, bookmark it, and heads up the current state. Use Rison [1] for the URL params to make it nice to read.
* The settings overview is too terse. What does something like "Timeline, Top 20, Day, Comments"? Maybe you could turn that into a concise natural language sentence.
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[deleted]
conroydave
pravosleva
atomic128
feep
Any plans for rss?
I currently use https://hnrss.github.io/ (another great project), but the additional filters (once they are available as params) would be nice for rss.
As long as I am here, thanks to whoever is responsible for https://hckrnews.com, too.
dan_voronov
bosky101
_august
insane_dreamer
How about view by #comments (besides time / #points)?
What does the colored vertical bar to the left of some posts represent?
gloosx
>static.cloudflareinsights.com/beacon.min.js/vcd15cbe7772f49c399c6a5babf22c1241717689176015
Why?
stevenwliao
auraham
adrianwaj
Does one exist already?
gaws
pglevy
_hcuq
Well done! I will be using it.
looking4job
Other than that I like it and will use it instead of hckrnews
freediver
dbacar
ganisgan
[deleted]
AtroxDev
thewinnie
tonymet
The fact that they do this yet also expose the data and access to enable a proliferation of cool alternatives views like this one is extremely user-friendly. Unfortunately, the rest of the internet seems to be going in a different direction and locking things down.