<story><title>Show HN: Brutalist Hacker News – A HN reader inspired by brutalist web design</title><url>https://brutalisthackernews.com</url><text>I&amp;#x27;ve developed a Hacker News reader that draws inspiration from Brutalist Web Design, the open web, Cyberpunk Aesthetics, and glitch art.&lt;p&gt;The entire project is crafted in Vanilla JavaScript, contained within a single index.html file, eschewing any external libraries. It features support for theming, including the use of third-party themes. Additionally, users have the capability to create and apply their own themes directly within the site.&lt;p&gt;Moreover, the application is designed as a Progressive Web App (PWA), enabling it to be downloaded and used as an app on most devices.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m eager to receive feedback on both the implementation and design aspects, particularly from the Hacker News community. Mobile device testing remains a priority for further refinement, so insights in this area would be particularly valuable.&lt;p&gt;For more detailed information and to explore further:&lt;p&gt;- Project details are available at &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;- To add or experiment with themes, please visit &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&amp;#x2F;blob&amp;#x2F;main&amp;#x2F;themes.md&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&amp;#x2F;blob&amp;#x2F;main&amp;#x2F;th...&lt;/a&gt;</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>wkyleg</author><text>Thanks for the feedback!&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m planning a few changes pending feedback right now:&lt;p&gt;- Removing the glitch navigation on the top nav bar. People seem to think it&amp;#x27;s too annoying, and I will concede it&amp;#x27;s not technically Brutalist although it only takes a few lines of CSS&lt;p&gt;- Changing the default theme to one of the greyscale themes, which are easier to read and arguably more functionally brutalist, and more aligned with the aesthetics of concrete Brutalist architecture
- Better handling of back button on Android devices
- A color theme inspired by Windows 3.1&lt;p&gt;To address concerns about whether this design is truly brutalist I recommend first revisiting the principles of Brutalist Web Design, as well as more contemporary usages of the term.&lt;p&gt;The most notable description was set forth by David Bryant Copeland (see &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalist-web.design&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalist-web.design&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;p&gt;- Content is readable on all reasonable screens and devices.&lt;p&gt;- Only hyperlinks and buttons respond to clicks.&lt;p&gt;- Hyperlinks are underlined and buttons look like buttons.&lt;p&gt;- The back button works as expected.&lt;p&gt;- View content by scrolling.&lt;p&gt;- Decoration when needed and no unrelated content.&lt;p&gt;- Performance is a feature.&lt;p&gt;Another common interpretation of brutalism is aesthetic, reacting to overly complicated user interfaces by creating simpler, more direct ones. Tailwind CSS (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tailwindcss.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tailwindcss.com&lt;/a&gt;), one of today&amp;#x27;s most popular CSS libraries, promotes this approach in its component examples. There&amp;#x27;s also a neat library I&amp;#x27;ve seen recently called &amp;quot;Neobrutalism Components&amp;quot; for React that I like (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;neobrutalism-components.vercel.app&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;neobrutalism-components.vercel.app&lt;/a&gt;), providing components with a similar look and feel to Gumroad. This might more accurately be called &amp;#x27;Neo-Brutalism,&amp;#x27; as noted in the comments.&lt;p&gt;A more engineering-centric interpretation of Brutalism focuses on form, structure, and efficiency, drawing significantly from brutalist architecture principles. Apart from the user interface itself, most mobile, desktop, and web applications are extremely bloated and often perform worse than sites from 10 years ago did. While one HTML file might be &amp;quot;less brutalist&amp;quot; than the original HN site, it is substantially more brutalist than any HN mobile app in existence, and offers nearly identical functionality.&lt;p&gt;A broader interpretation of brutalism, which could be termed &amp;#x27;Meta-Brutalism,&amp;#x27; is embodied in the overall experience on this site through UX flows. Yes, in the strictest sense, the original HN site is more Brutalist in many ways, but it only shows 30 articles at a time and does not function as a PWA. For this site, the experience of reading 10 stories is arguably less brutalist, but for quickly browsing through several pages and skimming articles (which is how I read HN) it is a lot faster, and in my opinion, more Brutalist.&lt;p&gt;My primary inspiration was addressing software and tool bloat in UIs rather than strictly adhering to every principle set forth by David Bryant Copeland. I don&amp;#x27;t find it convincing that this site &amp;quot;isn&amp;#x27;t brutalist&amp;quot; compared to really any other experience apart from the Main HN site, and I would argue the overall experience is more brutalist in its performance and scrolling behavior.&lt;p&gt;As a side note: I generally don&amp;#x27;t like Brutalist architecture that much although I believe it is unfairly maligned. I visited the Salk Institute once and enjoyed it though (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.archdaily.com&amp;#x2F;61288&amp;#x2F;ad-classics-salk-institute-louis-kahn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.archdaily.com&amp;#x2F;61288&amp;#x2F;ad-classics-salk-institute-l...&lt;/a&gt;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wlll</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s still not brutalist. Though I agree with the ideas expressed on &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalist-web.design&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalist-web.design&lt;/a&gt;, I don&amp;#x27;t believe it&amp;#x27;s brutalist either.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; My primary inspiration was addressing software and tool bloat in UIs rather than strictly adhering to every principle set forth by David Bryant Copeland.&lt;p&gt;You could have made it faster and less bloated in just plain HTML, an entirely unecesary level of bloat for a page like this. Your page makes 71(!) requests (compared to HNs 7) and is about ~158kB of data, not far of 3x more data than HN.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;ve made something, but not something brutalist, performant or bloat free.</text></comment>
<story><title>Show HN: Brutalist Hacker News – A HN reader inspired by brutalist web design</title><url>https://brutalisthackernews.com</url><text>I&amp;#x27;ve developed a Hacker News reader that draws inspiration from Brutalist Web Design, the open web, Cyberpunk Aesthetics, and glitch art.&lt;p&gt;The entire project is crafted in Vanilla JavaScript, contained within a single index.html file, eschewing any external libraries. It features support for theming, including the use of third-party themes. Additionally, users have the capability to create and apply their own themes directly within the site.&lt;p&gt;Moreover, the application is designed as a Progressive Web App (PWA), enabling it to be downloaded and used as an app on most devices.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m eager to receive feedback on both the implementation and design aspects, particularly from the Hacker News community. Mobile device testing remains a priority for further refinement, so insights in this area would be particularly valuable.&lt;p&gt;For more detailed information and to explore further:&lt;p&gt;- Project details are available at &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;- To add or experiment with themes, please visit &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&amp;#x2F;blob&amp;#x2F;main&amp;#x2F;themes.md&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;wkyleg&amp;#x2F;brutalist-hacker-news&amp;#x2F;blob&amp;#x2F;main&amp;#x2F;th...&lt;/a&gt;</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>wkyleg</author><text>Thanks for the feedback!&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m planning a few changes pending feedback right now:&lt;p&gt;- Removing the glitch navigation on the top nav bar. People seem to think it&amp;#x27;s too annoying, and I will concede it&amp;#x27;s not technically Brutalist although it only takes a few lines of CSS&lt;p&gt;- Changing the default theme to one of the greyscale themes, which are easier to read and arguably more functionally brutalist, and more aligned with the aesthetics of concrete Brutalist architecture
- Better handling of back button on Android devices
- A color theme inspired by Windows 3.1&lt;p&gt;To address concerns about whether this design is truly brutalist I recommend first revisiting the principles of Brutalist Web Design, as well as more contemporary usages of the term.&lt;p&gt;The most notable description was set forth by David Bryant Copeland (see &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalist-web.design&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalist-web.design&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;p&gt;- Content is readable on all reasonable screens and devices.&lt;p&gt;- Only hyperlinks and buttons respond to clicks.&lt;p&gt;- Hyperlinks are underlined and buttons look like buttons.&lt;p&gt;- The back button works as expected.&lt;p&gt;- View content by scrolling.&lt;p&gt;- Decoration when needed and no unrelated content.&lt;p&gt;- Performance is a feature.&lt;p&gt;Another common interpretation of brutalism is aesthetic, reacting to overly complicated user interfaces by creating simpler, more direct ones. Tailwind CSS (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tailwindcss.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tailwindcss.com&lt;/a&gt;), one of today&amp;#x27;s most popular CSS libraries, promotes this approach in its component examples. There&amp;#x27;s also a neat library I&amp;#x27;ve seen recently called &amp;quot;Neobrutalism Components&amp;quot; for React that I like (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;neobrutalism-components.vercel.app&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;neobrutalism-components.vercel.app&lt;/a&gt;), providing components with a similar look and feel to Gumroad. This might more accurately be called &amp;#x27;Neo-Brutalism,&amp;#x27; as noted in the comments.&lt;p&gt;A more engineering-centric interpretation of Brutalism focuses on form, structure, and efficiency, drawing significantly from brutalist architecture principles. Apart from the user interface itself, most mobile, desktop, and web applications are extremely bloated and often perform worse than sites from 10 years ago did. While one HTML file might be &amp;quot;less brutalist&amp;quot; than the original HN site, it is substantially more brutalist than any HN mobile app in existence, and offers nearly identical functionality.&lt;p&gt;A broader interpretation of brutalism, which could be termed &amp;#x27;Meta-Brutalism,&amp;#x27; is embodied in the overall experience on this site through UX flows. Yes, in the strictest sense, the original HN site is more Brutalist in many ways, but it only shows 30 articles at a time and does not function as a PWA. For this site, the experience of reading 10 stories is arguably less brutalist, but for quickly browsing through several pages and skimming articles (which is how I read HN) it is a lot faster, and in my opinion, more Brutalist.&lt;p&gt;My primary inspiration was addressing software and tool bloat in UIs rather than strictly adhering to every principle set forth by David Bryant Copeland. I don&amp;#x27;t find it convincing that this site &amp;quot;isn&amp;#x27;t brutalist&amp;quot; compared to really any other experience apart from the Main HN site, and I would argue the overall experience is more brutalist in its performance and scrolling behavior.&lt;p&gt;As a side note: I generally don&amp;#x27;t like Brutalist architecture that much although I believe it is unfairly maligned. I visited the Salk Institute once and enjoyed it though (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.archdaily.com&amp;#x2F;61288&amp;#x2F;ad-classics-salk-institute-louis-kahn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.archdaily.com&amp;#x2F;61288&amp;#x2F;ad-classics-salk-institute-l...&lt;/a&gt;).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pokoblond</author><text>&amp;gt; Performance is a feature&lt;p&gt;contradicts with brutalism IMO. like someone already said, brutalism is when form follows function and without much frivolity, and one of the functions of a website is being usable by loading smooth and fast (the wingdings are not it).&lt;p&gt;this is not necessarily a dunk on you, this is more of a dunk on David Bryant Copeland; I&amp;#x27;m really sick of developers and programmers who co-opt design movements or other design-adjacent terms, make up a definition or principles that seem like they could fit but then fail when inspected closely. Someone here already mentioned Gumroad as an example of (neo) brutalist web design; Figma is another great example. The sites here &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalistwebsites.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;brutalistwebsites.com&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; are great typography-driven examples. This could even count as brutalist &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;solar.lowtechmagazine.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;solar.lowtechmagazine.com&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; especially because their goal, as a site running on solar power, is to be as well performing (and low bloat) as possible while still satisfying expectations of functionality.&lt;p&gt;I think my advice to you would be, look outside of the developer&amp;#x2F;programmer sphere when building out design. Brutalism is not only &amp;quot;the least lines of code&amp;quot;, it&amp;#x27;s also a lot about intention when it comes to function, and then, form.</text></comment>