Build a reading dashboard

The case for using butter as a reading dashboard isn't "more places to scroll" — it's the opposite. Two feeds, filtered to the parts you actually read, on a new-tab page that opens once in the morning and again at lunch. Instead of being a permanent open tab in the background, the news lives on the surface that already opens itself every time you start a new task.

The build

Two feeds, one set of quick links, and a clock for context. Pomodoro sits this one out:

Step by step

1. Start fresh. E to edit; X out anything in the way.
2. Clock at top-left. 4 wide, 2 tall. Keep it lightweight — short date, no seconds. The clock is here for context, not focal weight.
3. Quick Links across the top. 8 wide, 2 tall. Replace the starter links with your reading stops — newsletter archives, blogs you actually return to, that one Substack. Hide host subtitle if your titles are already clear.
4. Hacker News on the left. 6 wide, 5 tall. Settings: pick a source — Front page for the curated set, Show HN for a quieter, more focused read, or New with a Minimum points floor of e.g. 50 if you'd rather see momentum-checked rather than algorithm-curated.
5. Reddit on the right. 6 wide, 5 tall. Pick a subreddit you actually read all the way through — r/programming, r/woodworking, whatever yours is. Sort by Top with Past day for a once-a-day read. Thumbnails on or off depending on whether the sub is image-heavy.
6. Esc . Done.

Why this is better than a feed reader

• It opens when you open a new tab. You don't have to remember to check it; it shows up in the path of every new task. Then it gets out of your way the moment you type a URL.
• Filters are sharp, not infinite scroll. Both widgets cap at 30 items. Both let you set a points / upvote floor. Both sort with intention rather than algorithmic refresh-bait.
• Both refresh on a 5-minute cache. You can hammer the refresh icon all you want — fresh fetches only happen when the cache expires. So "refreshing" doesn't actually do anything new for ~5 minutes, which turns out to be a nice frequency forcing function.

Variants

• Two HN widgets, two flavours. Drop a second HN widget on the right instead of Reddit — one on Front page, one on Show HN. Same site, two reads.
• Three subreddits, three columns. Replace Hacker News and Reddit with three Reddit widgets at 4 wide each. Picks that work well: a programming sub, a hobby sub, and a slow-moving "weekly digest" sub. Anything more than three becomes a feed reader in disguise.
• Add Weather and skip Quick Links. If your reading hour is also your "should I take a walk" hour, the Weather widget with sunrise / sunset toggled on pulls double duty.

A small habit that pairs well

Open the reading dashboard once at the start of the day and once after lunch. Two reads, ten minutes each. Read what's interesting, close the tab, go do the work. The point isn't to keep up — it's to make checking in cheap enough that you stop reflexively scrolling elsewhere.