[HN Gopher] Show HN: Twine - Open source multiplatform RSS app
___________________________________________________________________
Show HN: Twine - Open source multiplatform RSS app
Author : its_sasikanth
Score : 81 points
Date : 2024-01-31 09:08 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| mytlogos wrote:
| The title is a bit misleading, I expected a desktop app or
| similar, but it is a mobile-only app (android+ios).
| riddley wrote:
| I was hoping for a self hosted copy of The Old Reader.
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| It's technically entirely possible to do this with Kotlin
| WASM support. I was thinking about it a couple days ago.
| Maybe a fun experiment to try out.
| BadHumans wrote:
| I wouldn't call it misleading because you made an assumption.
| It is multi-platform as advertised.
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| I do plan to support desktop environments eventually. But the
| current plan is to work on features and large screen layout
| support.
| samstave wrote:
| Just installed on iOS - also, dont forget that almost any
| subreddit is an RSS with /.rss
|
| SO http://old.reddit.com/r/hackernews/.rss works. And yes, it
| looks great.
|
| =
|
| I'd like the ability to turn off thumbnails, select smaller
| thumbnails, and select font size in settings.
|
| Would be great to have more control over the view, for some
| sites/feeds I want large thumbnails, for others I want zero
| thumbnails.
|
| When I click on the feed's : menu, for share, open website, mark
| all as read - a check box for display thumbnails would be nice -
| myabe allow for feed labels, so I can show all "tech" labeled
| feeds for example....
| thegeekpirate wrote:
| > also, dont forget that almost any subreddit is an RSS with
| /.rss
|
| You can just add .rss to the end, you don't need the slash ;)
| samstave wrote:
| Homage to /. OG :-)
| KoftaBob wrote:
| Twine is my new favorite RSS Feed app, only thing missing is feed
| folders!
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| I am working on labels, hopefully soon
| tamimio wrote:
| Netnewswire works great for me, folders included too
| nntwozz wrote:
| Yeah plus it syncs with iCloud (no third party RSS service
| required) and has a mac app.
|
| Twine looks nice but I feel it comes at the cost of information
| density compared to NNW.
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| Oh yeah, Net News Wire is amazing. It's one of the
| inspiration for me when working on Twine. A fully featured
| open source project.
|
| I just wanted to try out the new multiplatform technology and
| build a app I would want to use
|
| fwiw, I do have plans to support integrations/3rd party
| services this year.
| Hamuko wrote:
| I tried it out briefly on my Mac but I didn't like it as much
| as I like Reeder. Granted, Reeder costs $10 to NetNewsWire's
| $0, but I still consider it excellent value for the money.
| dewey wrote:
| And like with most multiplatform apps, it doesn't look native at
| all on iOS. I prefer my current combination of:
| https://netnewswire.com + https://miniflux.app
|
| Both open source too.
| darrmit wrote:
| Agreed. Miniflux is rock solid and I use Reeder on my iOS
| devices, which actually is gorgeous and looks native on iOS.
| Have used NetNewsWire as well.
| monocularvision wrote:
| For me, "beautiful" and "multi-platform" are opposites.
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| I was initially debating whether to use native UI or not. But
| Compose Multiplatform offered the flexibility to provide UI for
| multiple platforms, so decided to try that out instead.
| e_carra wrote:
| The UI has Tidal vibes, neat.
| zeraphy wrote:
| I would change to "Gorgeous"
| leshokunin wrote:
| Wish it would connect with feedbin. I don't wanna import opml and
| have feedbin filled with unreads
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| I do have plans to support integrations/3rd party services.
| leshokunin wrote:
| Hopefully feedbin soon! Anywhere I can get notified?
| rmdes wrote:
| Does it also import folders when importing from a OPML file?
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| Not at the moment. I am currently working on labels/folders
| support. So, hopefully I can finish it in next couple of weeks
| gnatolf wrote:
| Not having folders is a deal-breaker, all other things look
| great.
|
| I'm ready to give feedly the boot.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| I'm building a free RSS reader with iCloud sync for iOS and
| macOS, Manabi Reader: https://reader.manabi.io
|
| Currently it's targeted at Japanese learners and has some
| optional paid features on top for flashcards/Anki integration and
| tracking vocab/kanji. But I'm working on "zooming out" the
| product for general use (including more languages and general
| knowledge retention) because it has a solid RSS system,
| readability mode, offline support, web browser functionality etc.
|
| I built it in native SwiftUI.
| sureglymop wrote:
| Looks very cool but unfortunately iOS only.
| wahnfrieden wrote:
| Yes iOS and macOS
| smcleod wrote:
| Just tried it out and it doesn't feel quite right on iOS. Almost
| like the app is just a website loading in a browser. It's very
| flat and the UI feels too "thin" (I know that doesn't really make
| sense but it's the best description I of how it feels to me right
| now).
|
| I guess it just doesn't feel very native - more of a web wrapper?
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| I used Kotlin and Compose Multiplatform for iOS. So not
| entirely native app and uses Material components. Not a web
| wrapper though, well, except for the reader view which uses
| webview of the platform.
| seabass-labrax wrote:
| It's indeed not a fully native application except on Android.
| It uses JetBrain's 'Compose Multiplatform' framework for the
| Kotlin programming language. Without having written code in it
| myself, it's difficult for me to work out exactly what its
| architecture is, but it seems closer to Flutter's approach than
| a web wrapper. My educated guess is that it renders the
| application inside an OpenGL/Metal graphics context. On
| Android, however, it looks like it uses Google's Jetpack
| Compose components directly.
| CharlesW wrote:
| https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2023/05/compose-
| multiplatf...
|
| _" On iOS, Compose Multiplatform user interfaces are
| rendered via a canvas implementation based on the graphics
| library Skiko [Skia for Kotlin]."_
|
| So yes -- it foregoes native controls for a canvas
| implementation that leverages the same 2D graphics library
| used for Chrome and Flutter.
| brailsafe wrote:
| It looks pretty nice, but would seem a bit cringe to call your
| own app "Gorgeous" in a Show HN, like calling yourself a 10 on a
| dating profile, or introducing your kid as beautiful. I'd
| personally just leave it out and use something like "Open Source
| RSS app for Android/iOS"
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Indeed. Was curious, took a look, and it uses the same widgets
| as everything else.
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| Yeah, I wasn't sure if I should include that or not. But some
| users did highlight that before with the app. So went with it,
| but yeah fair point. Looks like the title is modified already.
| MayeulC wrote:
| I think I'll wait for an F-Droid release before trying this:
| https://github.com/msasikanth/twine/issues/38
|
| I currently use Nextcloud News, but it's a bit slow (especially
| with my 50k+ unread items), and doesn't support dynamically
| ranked feeds, only chronological ones. It's nice having read
| status synced across devices, though.
| Zufriedenheit wrote:
| Can Nextcloud News scrape the full article text if its not
| included in the feed?
| sureglymop wrote:
| That feels very good! I've messed with Kotlin multiplatform
| recently and it's interesting.
|
| I wonder why there is no desktop version.
| its_sasikanth wrote:
| It's entirely possible to create a desktop target with Kotlin
| and Compose Multiplatform. I do have plan to improve the large
| screen layout support and do the desktop version. My initial
| priority is to first work on features.
| esafak wrote:
| A Compose Multiplatform app. Neat!
| jeffrallen wrote:
| Look, I know beggars can't be choosers, but with the impending
| demise of Google podcasts, I'm looking for a new podcast player.
| I don't understand why RSS readers in 2024 don't turn podcast
| items into little embedded me player widgets.
| Hamuko wrote:
| I've been happy with Pocket Casts on both Android and iOS.
| There's also a web player, but I rarely use it these days.
| pivic wrote:
| I went from Pocket Casts to open-sourced AntennaPod, and I
| highly recommend it. It's available on F-Droid.
| MrDresden wrote:
| Could you describe what it was that made you switch?
| fuddle wrote:
| I think you should be more specific what multiplatform means in
| the project description. i.e iOS and Android
| mrec wrote:
| Yes, I had the exact same reaction. Strong "We got both kinds,
| we got country _and_ western! " energy here.
| Naac wrote:
| For a long time I've been a happy user of rss2email, originally
| written by Aaron Swartz. https://github.com/rss2email/rss2email
|
| It periodically fetches the rss feeds, and sends the content to a
| specified email address where you can use your email reader to
| sort them into folders.
|
| Assuming you have a "good" email client, this takes care of most
| of my RSS requirements: Free software, offline availability, and
| the ability to read anywhere.
|
| The only missing feature I think it could use is a nice GUI to
| manage feeds.
| ChicagoDave wrote:
| A little weird its named "twine" since that name has been in use
| for years by a JavaScript interactive fiction development
| platform.
|
| https://github.com/klembot/twinejs
|
| https://twinery.org
| ebb_earl_co wrote:
| Also the recommended Python tool to upload Python packages to
| PyPi: https://pypi.org/project/twine/
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-01-31 23:00 UTC)