Legible News
Productivity
news reader
SHOW HN2022
How HN took it
9 positive, 46 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 38 critical, out of 97 comments about the project. Thread score -0.28.
Idea: 5 for, 14 againstPerformance: 0 for, 8 againstDesign: 1 for, 6 againstDocs: 0 for, 5 againstPricing: 1 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Text-only and JavaScript-light news sites are a pleasure to use
From 2 comments
News websites with JavaScript disabled can be a pleasure: - https://www.theguardian.com/uk is fast and snappy - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news feels like a hyper fast mobile website…
buro9 on HNThe metrics focus on the website but ignore the browser/client. I use a text-only browser. It does not support Javascript. I also use TCP clients to make HTTP requests and fetch…
1vuio0pswjnm7 on HN
Objections
Headlines and content are copied from Wikipedia Current Events with little added value
From 2 comments
Nice idea on legiblenews.com, however it looks to me like it's just using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events and changing the format? All the articles are from…
samwillis on HNYes! The news content and links from them are from Wikipedia, which is why I donate a portion of revenue to them. The value I'm delivering is speed and focus, going further than…
bradgessler on HN
Subscription price is steep for an aggregator
From 1 comment
Nice work on the page and on shipping! What surprises me the most from this is how fast USA Today is given the amount of stuff going on on their page. I like how you've put the…
strongpigeon on HN
Speed matters less than content quality and trust
From 2 comments
Interesting. Honestly, I never notice load times from news sites because they're all an advertising cesspool and I run Brave + layered ad blockers on my computer and mobile…
ARandomerDude on HNPersonally, I do not find speed to be a significant exception or attraction. Actually getting news is the clear winner! Thought experiment, two sites: One is quick, easy to read,…
ddingus on HN
Requests
Add text-only lite versions of news sites such as lite.cnn.com and text.npr.org
From 4 comments
Odd to see CNN last when https://lite.cnn.com/en exists. Maybe that should be another entry?
gravypod on HNin addition to lite.cnn.com please add text.npr.org
twobitshifter on HNdo text.npr.org please :-)
dontbenebby on HNDo you consider lite editions of sites, such as https://text.npr.org or https://lite.cnn.com? I use these often and they come in handy during extreme weather conditions…
SamuelAdams on HN
Add CBC News and other major news sites to the rankings
From 1 comment
I'd be interested in seeing CBC.ca/news on the rankings, as I imagine they'd be near the bottom and they need a kick in the pants.
na85 on HN
Test BBC news page at bbc.com/news
From 1 comment
BBC should be tested against bbc.com/news, not bbc.com. They're very different pages/sites.
wackget on HN
Questions
Is the Wikipedia content licensed and attributed properly
From 2 comments
If true, and appears it is, if the source for the feed really is Wikipedia, shouldn’t it be credited on the site? Related Wikipedia page on reusing it’s content:…
O__________O on HNIt is, see the "License" link at the bottom of pages that display Wikipedia content. Front page currently points at https://legiblenews.com/june-27-2022/license. Note: there was…
bradgessler on HN
Why are some sites like NYT and Drudge slow in the rankings
From 2 comments
Very curious that NYT's is so slow given their fairly advanced tech team. They do a lot of neat stuff with that team. Though maybe it's another part of the company that manages…
hrdwdmrbl on HNMan what are you doing wrong Drudge to end up near the bottom, if there ever was a site that should be at the top of this list it's Drudge Report.
pupppet on HN
Alternatives named
Wikipedia Current Events portal
From 1 comment
Nice idea on legiblenews.com, however it looks to me like it's just using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events and changing the format? All the articles are from…
samwillis on HN
Text-only lite news sites such as lite.cnn.com and text.npr.org
From 2 comments
Odd to see CNN last when https://lite.cnn.com/en exists. Maybe that should be another entry?
gravypod on HNDo you consider lite editions of sites, such as https://text.npr.org or https://lite.cnn.com? I use these often and they come in handy during extreme weather conditions…
SamuelAdams on HN
Guardian and BBC news sites with JavaScript disabled
From 1 comment
News websites with JavaScript disabled can be a pleasure: - https://www.theguardian.com/uk is fast and snappy - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news feels like a hyper fast mobile website…
buro9 on HN