Since announcing zelo.news, I’ve been deep in implementation mode, wiring up all the core nostr functionality that makes the platform actually work.
So far, the basics are in place:
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Reactions and likes
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Zaps
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Long-form content support
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Markdown rendering
On top of that, I’ve added some quality-of-life features that make reading and exploring smoother:
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Time-to-read estimates for every article
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An article progress slider so you always know how far you’ve read
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A following feed to keep up with your favorite writers
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Bookmarks for saving articles to revisit later
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A search bar that lets you find users, articles, npubs, naddrs, #tags, NIP-05 identifiers, and more
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Trending tags and a “latest in …” component to surface new content around topics you care about
The Challenges
As with any early-stage project, a few challenges have already popped up:
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OpenGraph for better SEO and shareability:
Since zelo.news is built as a client-side app, getting proper OpenGraph metadata to render cleanly across social platforms is tricky.
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Markdown Editor:
The Markdown Editor needs some attention. Currently, editing is not working and writing (or pasting) in the current Editor is not ideal.
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Rendering HTML and Markdown together:
This is a missing piece at the moment. Some nostr notes and articles mix both formats, so supporting them gracefully is on my list.
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Highlights in the Markdown component:
I’d love to add article highlights to zelo.news. But right now, the Markdown rendering component makes this difficult. It’ll take a bit more experimentation to find the right approach.
Every day, zelo.news feels a little more real, not just as a reader-friendly Nostr app, but as a space for open, shareable long-form writing that actually feels good to use.
More updates coming soon. 🚀