HN Offline

HN Offline is a lightweight web app for reading Hacker News with a focus on the comment experience. It stores visited stories and comment threads locally so you can keep reading even when you’re disconnected.

• Live site: hnoffline.dev
• Source: byronwall/hn-offline

Interface

How it works

HN Offline is built as a SolidJS/Remix app with an “offline-first” approach:

• Data sources:
  • Uses the official Hacker News Firebase API to load story and comment details.
  • Uses Algolia’s Hacker News search to fetch the top “day” and “week” story lists.
• Offline storage:
  • A service worker + local storage are used to keep previously loaded stories and comment threads available offline.
  • Visited stories are stored locally so the UI can grey them out (and optionally hide already-read items).
• Background refresh:
  • The server periodically refreshes lists (front page more frequently) and only reloads a story’s comments when enough time has passed, avoiding unnecessary re-fetching.
• Comment-focused UX:
  • Threads are collapsible; collapse state is persisted locally so you can leave and come back without losing your place.
  • HN links inside comments are detected and loaded in-app so you can keep navigating comment threads.
  • Authors get consistent colors, with logic to reduce collisions within a thread.

Highlights

• Mobile-friendly comment reading (including nicer rendering for code blocks)
• “Subway-style” connectors to clarify reply structure
• No login, posting, or analytics—just reading