Elytra Blog

Elytra for web is now in public beta and in this post I'll document some features and quirks of the webapp. You can start using it right away.

When I set out to build the Web App, I wanted to bring as much functionality of the iOS App as possible, and this proved to the tricky. Since version 1 of the app, the Article Reader never used HTML to render the contents. Everything was drawn native to bring native accessiblity functions and remove privacy-sucking scripts from the entire reading experience.

To do the same on the web with the same data was a tad bit challenging, but not impossible.

Some features are notably missing at the moment like:</p>

• Viewing and reading your bookmarks
• Searching Feeds
• Synced settings

to name a few. I'll be adding these over the next couple of days and I hope to align the final release of the Web App along with v1.8 of the iOS App.

Just like the iOS App, you can also view your Youtube feeds in the Web App. This has become the de-facto way of me and some hard critics of Elytra to consume the latest content from their favourite Youtube Creators.</p>

Microblog Feeds also get first-class treatment on the Web App just like the iOS App. I am a supporter of what Micro.blog stands for and try to actively use it as time permits. My main website is basically a hosted Micro.blog.</p>

I am really exicted to talk about this feature. I've always wanted to listen to podcats in Elytra on iOS but I believe it deserves its own separate app so it does not come in the way of reading content. But things are different on the web. Browsers can host multiple tabs for the same domain. So now on the web, you can open any article in it's own tab and continue reading another article in the main window. I personally use this to play a podcast in the background while I work or read other articles. I'd love to hear from you how you use this feature.</p>

As some of you may have noticed, I have used the New York font in one of the screenshots. If you have the font installed on your macOS systems, you will be able to use in the App as well. The app does not host the font itself because of its License, but can use it if you have it installed.

We now also have a Slack Group for discussions around the iOS and iOS app and soon the macOS App as well. I'd love to see you there and join in on the discussion.

It's been a tremendous journey for Elytra since its inception back in 2016 and it's public launch in 2018. As an Indie Developer, I'd really appreciate it if you shared this post with your friends who may be looking for an RSS Feed Reader on the web. As this is a public beta, everybody is welcome. And as always, you can send support queries to support@elytra.app or DM me on Twitter. Happy Reading.