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Introduction

The way that OldNews works can be configured using a configuration file. This section will describe what can be configured and how.

Note

At the moment some configuration can be done via OldNews' UI; other things require that you edit the configuration file using your preferred text editor. This section documents those things that can only be configured via editing the configuration file.

The location of the configuration file will depend on how your operating system and its settings; but by default it is looked for in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME, in an oldnews subdirectory. Mostly this will translate to the file being called ~/.config/oldnews/configuration.json.

Keyboard bindings

OldNews allows for a degree of configuration of its keyboard bindings; providing a method for setting up replacement bindings for the commands that appear in the command palette.

Bindable commands

The following commands can have their keyboard bindings set:

  • AddSubscription - Add a subscription feed
    • Default: plus
  • ChangeTheme - Change the application's theme
    • Default: f9
  • Copy - Copy a URL to the clipboard depending on the context
    • Default: ctrl+c
  • CopyArticleToClipboard - Copy the URL for the current article to the clipboard
    • Default: super+f3
  • CopyFeedToClipboard - Copy the URL of the current subscription's feed to the clipboard
    • Default: shift+f3
  • CopyHomePageToClipboard - Copy the URL of the current subscription's home page to the clipboard
    • Default: f3
  • Escape - Back out through the panes, or exit the app if the navigation pane has focus
    • Default: escape, q
  • Help - Show help for and information about the application
    • Default: f1, ?
  • Information - Show low-level information about the selected item
    • Default: i
  • MarkAllRead - Mark all unread articles in the current category as read
    • Default: R
  • MarkRead - Mark the current article as read
    • Default: r
  • MarkUnread - Mark the current article as unread
    • Default: u
  • MoveSubscription - Move the current subscription to folder
    • Default: m
  • Next - Navigate to the next article regardless of read status
    • Default: N, ctrl+down
  • NextUnread - Navigate to the next unread article in the currently-selected category
    • Default: n
  • OpenArticle - Open the current article in the web browser
    • Default: o
  • OpenHomePage - Open the home page for the current subscription in the web browser
    • Default: O
  • Previous - Navigate to the next article regardless of read status
    • Default: P, ctrl+up
  • PreviousUnread - Navigate to the previous unread article in the currently-selected category
    • Default: p
  • Quit - Quit the application
    • Default: f10, ctrl+q
  • RefreshFromTheOldReader - Connect to TheOldReader and refresh the local articles
    • Default: ctrl+r
  • Remove - Remove the current folder or subscription
    • Default: delete
  • Rename - Rename the current folder or subscription
    • Default: apostrophe
  • SetSubscriptionContentFilter - Set the content grab filter for the current subscription
    • Default: f
  • ToggleCompact - Toggle a more compact user interface
    • Default: f5
  • ToggleShowAll - Toggle between showing all and showing only unread
    • Default: f2
  • UserInformation - Show the information known about the logged-in account
    • Default: f4

Changing a binding

If you wish to change the binding for a command, edit the configuration file and add the binding to the bindings value. For example, if you wanted to change the binding used to mark an article as read, changing it from r to F6, and you also wanted to use Shift+F6 to mark all articles as read, you would set bindings to this:

"bindings": {
    "MarkRead": "f6",
    "MarkAllRead": "shift+f6"
}

The designations used for keys is based on the internal system used by Textual; as such its caveats about what works where apply. The main modifier keys to know are shift, ctrl, alt, meta, super and hyper; letter keys are their own letters; shifted letter keys are their upper-case versions; function keys are simply f1, f2, etc; symbol keys (the likes of #, @, *, etc...) generally use a name (number_sign, at, asterisk, etc...).

Tip

If you want to test and discover all of the key names and combinations that will work, you may want to install textual-dev and use the textual keys command.

If you need help with keyboard bindings please feel free to ask.

Local history size

OldNews keeps read articles for a period of file. By default this is 28 days. This can be changed in the configuration file.

"local_history": 28,

Startup refresh hold off period

OldNews will refresh with TheOldReader when you run it up. However, rather than perform a refresh every time you run it up, it will skip the refresh if you start it again within a certain period. By default this is 10 minutes. This can be changed in the configuration file.

"startup_refresh_holdoff_period": 600