Re: Newsgrouper - a web interface to Usenet (text only)

Colin Macleod <user7@cmacleod.me.uk.invalid> Wrote in message:

I have now reimplemented Newsgrouper in "fairly bare-bones HTML",
partly because I couldn't get the noVNC-based version to be properly
usable on mobile devices.  There are still many desirable features
that I have not implemented yet, but hope to get to eventually.
One aspect that may be of interest is that it supports the full set of
newsgroups available on eternal-september.org, not just a pre-selected
subset as rslight does. It can be found at https://cmacleod.me.uk/ng
 

I works well here in Firefox on an Android tablet. I was surprised
 to see it used tables! But I could restyle that to fit a small
 display - eg to get time/date on a single line on the thread
 list. 

My main problem with it is that it's difficult to see where you
 are in a long thread. I think it needs a 'thread view' page
 similar to the one in this newsreader

https://www.cjoint.com/data/NDtglDXVqTA_Screenshot-20240419-070858-NewsGroup.jpg>

That's an app not a webpage but it could be a webpage, from which
 you could open individual posts or (as in this app) a subthread
 of unread posts.

Another way would be to open the thread with the read posts
 'rolled up'. ISTR GG did that. Are you avoiding javascript?
 

One problem with showing the subthreads as vertical lines, as you
 have, is that when there are many levels it takes up too much
 space on a small screen. You could cram them together more and
 colour them to make them easier to follow when scrolling, or have
 alternate thick/thin/dotted lines or something.

When I built my own Android  newsreader I tried vertical lines
 first but abandoned that in favour of numbering the levels so
 that each indent was only one character and each subject was
 preceded by a level number. To find a reply to a post which is
 off the bottom of the screen I scrolled down until to find the
 same level number, rather than trying to follow the vertical
 lines. I thought it worked well: email me (see sig) if you want a
 screenshot and I'll find one.
--
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