Show HN: Slack Night Mode (opens in new tab)

(blog.lacour.me)

72 pointslaCour10y ago38 comments

38 comments

The domain 'blog.lacour.me' doesn't resolve for me:

Your name servers seem to be ns[1-5].he.net, and ns1.he.net doesn't know what blog.lacour.me is:

  > blog.lacour.me  
  Server:  ns1.he.net  
  Address:  216.218.130.2

  *** No address (A) records available for blog.lacour.me

jtokoph10y ago

Some of comcast's DNS resolvers must be confused. I get different results each time I make a query:

    $ dig @75.75.75.75  blog.lacour.me
    QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
    {{ no answer }}


    $ dig @75.75.75.75  blog.lacour.me
    QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
    blog.lacour.me.		75275	IN	CNAME	silvrback.herokuapp.com.
    silvrback.herokuapp.com. 156	IN	CNAME	us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com.
    us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com. 30 IN	A	23.23.208.103

tombrossman10y ago

It's not using an A record, it's using a CNAME:

  host blog.lacour.me
  blog.lacour.me is an alias for silvrback.herokuapp.com.
  silvrback.herokuapp.com is an alias for us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com.
  us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com has address 54.83.3.141

VeilEm10y ago

The CNAME doesn't resolve for me either. I can't see whatever this is.

wallacoloo10y ago

What ever happened to consistent, cross-application look-and-feel? I don't want each application defining its own style which clashes with every other application. We already have things like Qt and GTK themes for the desktop, but the web is just a mess in that regard. I really hope to see some eventual solution.

Mozilla's "Reader View" is a fantastic step towards establishing a consistent (and user-configurable) look-and-feel across the web. But its domain is still very narrow and wouldn't apply to Slack, unfortunately. Yet it's the only product I know of that's even working towards this kind of goal.

droelf10y ago

Check this afternoon project: https://github.com/wolfv/GtkOnline

That could be a future GTK browser :) dynamically downloads a glade ui file and python + CSS scripts to bring the web to GTK.

Nickoladze10y ago

That's why I use Slack's IRC gateway. Just use your favorite IRC client.

seanwilson10y ago

It's just too impractical get every developer who also support multiple platforms to all agree to use exactly the same look and feel. There's similarities to getting everyone to use the same programming language.

noir_lord10y ago

Nor would I want it anyway, I think the cognitive overhead of dealing with multiple different interfaces is offset against the fact that people can create new interfaces and solutions, imo that is better than a "one size fits none" approach.

madeofpalk10y ago

Mozilla's 'Reader View' isn't consistent with the OS X look-and-feel on my Mac, but that's OK.

wallacoloo10y ago

Yeah, it's not consistent with the system's look-and-feel, unfortunately. But it is at least consistent across websites, which is a start. And technically, it shouldn't be hard to add support for system themes - Firefox can already derive default background/foreground/text/link colors from GTK & apply those to webpages; it's just currently a useless feature since most all websites override the defaults completely, or worse, only partially.

nodesocket10y ago

Really nice hack. Unrelated, by I checked out your startup https://hund.io. My question is... Why not just use https://StatusPage.io? They are launched, funded, refined, and the de-facto standard. What is your value prop?

rickycook10y ago

status page pricing is kind of ridiculous for starters. they do very little and expect $99/mo for a basic plan

tyre10y ago

This!

Their business pricing, which includes SSL, starts at $399 per month.

Or you can self-host with something like http://staytus.co/

Yes you have to set up multi-AZ deployment, but that's super simple on AWS. Add in their new free SSL certs and voila!

Even as a small startup, that's easily worth the time to save nearly $5k per year.

2 more replies

nodesocket10y ago

Pricing is not a value prop. $99 is actually a smart and fair price, their target market is businesses, not individual developers, and hobbyist.

1 more reply

downtide10y ago

I'm on Linux with Xfce. I have tried and failed to get a dark theme working. It's difficult to match across toolkits.

I've had web browsers that default to white screen flashing on new tabs, and most don't respect your native theme.

My current workaround]in Firefox is to disable background images, set default foreground/background and link colours. Set a default font, and ensure font sizes don't fall below a certain size.

Some text inputs have a dark background and a dark font. Which makes things very difficult. I'm typing blind.

Another issue is that many designs use background images where you would expect foreground placement. For example Instagram doesn't work for me. Slack is usable, but some image previews are lost. Other sites that rely upon imagery for navigation can pose a problem. The compose window in Gmail, I have to use mystery meat navigation to work out each button's function. Which is quite poor.

I've tried setting my own stylesheets in browsers where you can, but it's easy to break layouts.

Obviously accessibility is still overlooked by many site designers.

I also don't like being stuck in one browser, so a better cross application solution is preferable, rather than site specific fixes.

wz100010y ago

> Some text inputs have a dark background and a dark font. Which makes things very difficult. I'm typing blind.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/firefox#Unreadable_inpu...

You can customise the colors according to your preference.

I also like the FT Deep Dark theme for firefox.

tommoor10y ago

OP: Did you try this on Mac? I'm pretty sure Electron is only being used on Windows and Linux unless they recently made the switch..

laCourOP10y ago

You're totally right, just checked. Never even crossed my mind that they wouldn't be. Updated the post.

coloradude10y ago

AFAIK Electron has always been cross platform. But yes it is very much on available on Mac.

farnsworth10y ago

I think he means whether the Slack app is using Electron on OS X. At one point they used MacGap.

derFunk10y ago

So when can we expect the first Slack exploits abusing the slack protocol handler and the js evaluation function? :)

MatthewWilkes10y ago

Yeah, this feels more like an (unintentional) irresponsible vulnerability disclosure, despite how fun it was reading.

yeldarb10y ago

My first thought too. The platform seems ripe for its first worm.

perishabledave10y ago

Slightly aside, but is there any evidence that the warmth of the light effects sleep? The cited paper compares a light emitting device to a book, which would not be the same as f.lux and this.

Not trying to dismiss this. I'd genuinely like to know as I'm often on my computer late at night.

xresonance10y ago

Yes, and plenty to read on the subject. Look around for blue light and sleep / circadian rhythm / melatonin production.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831986/

farnsworth10y ago

Cool hack, but an even better solution would be for Electron to support userstyles (and scripts). I won't be surprised if we gradually standardize on Electron or something like it for cross-platform desktop apps, and it would be great for them to be as hackable as the web.

tjmehta10y ago

It is a Stylish theme for Slack in the browser.

Here is a link to the Github project: https://github.com/laCour/slack-night-mode

I wish the Slack App had a night theme..

patates10y ago

In the article there is a solution for the desktop app too, only not for the Mac.

Gravityloss10y ago

I often use reverse colors on OSX. ctrl-alt-cmd-8. Since most pages have white backgrounds, this results in black backgrounds.

It's also very nice that Flux is applied after this so I don't get a dark blue screen.

r0s10y ago

I use a mix of stylish themes to achieve something similar, and hide Slack's grating UI and default colors.

rco878610y ago

Reading...reading...

Oh my god they're `eval`ing url components

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

38 comments

will_hughes10y ago

The domain 'blog.lacour.me' doesn't resolve for me:

Your name servers seem to be ns[1-5].he.net, and ns1.he.net doesn't know what blog.lacour.me is:

  > blog.lacour.me  
  Server:  ns1.he.net  
  Address:  216.218.130.2

  *** No address (A) records available for blog.lacour.me

jtokoph10y ago

Some of comcast's DNS resolvers must be confused. I get different results each time I make a query:

    $ dig @75.75.75.75  blog.lacour.me
    QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
    {{ no answer }}


    $ dig @75.75.75.75  blog.lacour.me
    QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
    blog.lacour.me.		75275	IN	CNAME	silvrback.herokuapp.com.
    silvrback.herokuapp.com. 156	IN	CNAME	us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com.
    us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com. 30 IN	A	23.23.208.103

tombrossman10y ago

It's not using an A record, it's using a CNAME:

  host blog.lacour.me
  blog.lacour.me is an alias for silvrback.herokuapp.com.
  silvrback.herokuapp.com is an alias for us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com.
  us-east-1-a.route.herokuapp.com has address 54.83.3.141

VeilEm10y ago

The CNAME doesn't resolve for me either. I can't see whatever this is.

wallacoloo10y ago

droelf10y ago

Check this afternoon project: https://github.com/wolfv/GtkOnline

That could be a future GTK browser :) dynamically downloads a glade ui file and python + CSS scripts to bring the web to GTK.

Nickoladze10y ago

That's why I use Slack's IRC gateway. Just use your favorite IRC client.

seanwilson10y ago

noir_lord10y ago

madeofpalk10y ago

Mozilla's 'Reader View' isn't consistent with the OS X look-and-feel on my Mac, but that's OK.

wallacoloo10y ago

nodesocket10y ago

rickycook10y ago

status page pricing is kind of ridiculous for starters. they do very little and expect $99/mo for a basic plan

tyre10y ago

This!

Their business pricing, which includes SSL, starts at $399 per month.

Or you can self-host with something like http://staytus.co/

Yes you have to set up multi-AZ deployment, but that's super simple on AWS. Add in their new free SSL certs and voila!

Even as a small startup, that's easily worth the time to save nearly $5k per year.

2 more replies

nodesocket10y ago

Pricing is not a value prop. $99 is actually a smart and fair price, their target market is businesses, not individual developers, and hobbyist.

1 more reply

downtide10y ago

I'm on Linux with Xfce. I have tried and failed to get a dark theme working. It's difficult to match across toolkits.

I've had web browsers that default to white screen flashing on new tabs, and most don't respect your native theme.

My current workaround]in Firefox is to disable background images, set default foreground/background and link colours. Set a default font, and ensure font sizes don't fall below a certain size.

Some text inputs have a dark background and a dark font. Which makes things very difficult. I'm typing blind.

I've tried setting my own stylesheets in browsers where you can, but it's easy to break layouts.

Obviously accessibility is still overlooked by many site designers.

I also don't like being stuck in one browser, so a better cross application solution is preferable, rather than site specific fixes.

wz100010y ago

> Some text inputs have a dark background and a dark font. Which makes things very difficult. I'm typing blind.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/firefox#Unreadable_inpu...

You can customise the colors according to your preference.

I also like the FT Deep Dark theme for firefox.

tommoor10y ago

OP: Did you try this on Mac? I'm pretty sure Electron is only being used on Windows and Linux unless they recently made the switch..

laCourOP10y ago

You're totally right, just checked. Never even crossed my mind that they wouldn't be. Updated the post.

coloradude10y ago

AFAIK Electron has always been cross platform. But yes it is very much on available on Mac.

farnsworth10y ago

I think he means whether the Slack app is using Electron on OS X. At one point they used MacGap.

derFunk10y ago

So when can we expect the first Slack exploits abusing the slack protocol handler and the js evaluation function? :)

MatthewWilkes10y ago

Yeah, this feels more like an (unintentional) irresponsible vulnerability disclosure, despite how fun it was reading.

yeldarb10y ago

My first thought too. The platform seems ripe for its first worm.

perishabledave10y ago

Slightly aside, but is there any evidence that the warmth of the light effects sleep? The cited paper compares a light emitting device to a book, which would not be the same as f.lux and this.

Not trying to dismiss this. I'd genuinely like to know as I'm often on my computer late at night.

xresonance10y ago

Yes, and plenty to read on the subject. Look around for blue light and sleep / circadian rhythm / melatonin production.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831986/

farnsworth10y ago

tjmehta10y ago

It is a Stylish theme for Slack in the browser.

Here is a link to the Github project: https://github.com/laCour/slack-night-mode

I wish the Slack App had a night theme..

patates10y ago

In the article there is a solution for the desktop app too, only not for the Mac.

Gravityloss10y ago

I often use reverse colors on OSX. ctrl-alt-cmd-8. Since most pages have white backgrounds, this results in black backgrounds.

It's also very nice that Flux is applied after this so I don't get a dark blue screen.

r0s10y ago

I use a mix of stylish themes to achieve something similar, and hide Slack's grating UI and default colors.

rco878610y ago

Reading...reading...

Oh my god they're `eval`ing url components

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse