I want to preface this with the fact I've been on this site for over 15 years and I do not want to see a "redesign", just some tweaks.
1. The grey self post text is not accessible and hard to read. It needs to be darker. Same is true of user names, etc.
2. HN could improve the UI for mobile users by making clickable elements slightly larger and adding some extra spacing to prevent accidental miss-clicks.
3. Add an inline confirmation step screen when flagging a post – I accidentally flag posts all the time.
4. Change "favourite" to "book mark". Add it to the list view. Add a link to "book marks" in the top bar so they can easily accessed. Sometimes I see something that looks interesting but I don't have time to read. I don't want to click through to the comments just to "favourite" it, then I need to remember to go to my profile and click on "favourites" later. I just want to quickly book mark posts and be able to easily access them later.
At 7KB, the favicon often makes up over 10% of total page size. At 256x256px and having only two colours, I think there's plenty of room to slim it down.
I'm also curious why HTTP/1.1 is used as it's not 1999 any more.
Fairly satisfied with HN as is. The minimal medium makes for more signal, less noise. not no noise, that's impossible. (there is no spoon)
Can list lots of things that I think would be bad. Animated GIF user avatar images. inline images. Cryptocurrency schemes and "realtime chat" systems.
ooo. almost forgot: dedicated proprietary client. screw this "open web" stuff, lets add some encryption to nntp and charge $15/mo for a reskinned newsreader app to access it with! We can compile it to webasm and run it in electron on phones!
also instead of showing a list of all the stories on the front page, show one story at a time and build an algorithm that indicates which story gets shown next. /s
HN is nearly perfect as is IMO -- any changes would ruin a lot of what makes it special.
That said, the one change I would probably make is changing the click targets to be slightly larger on the upvote/downvote/collapse on comments. Would be a nice improvement for mobile users.
Add an option to show only top level comments/collapse threads by default.
Auto dupe detection with linking historical discussion (mild QoL). Aggregate dupes posted in a short timeframe (needs manual intervention I fear).
Add an at least rudimentary tagging and tag filter/browser system.
The search could use some work (but I guess you can do site:news.ycombinator.com searches with other engines).
Otherwise pretty neat as is. The ephemeral nature of threads on recurring topics - such as this one - I find somewhat tragic but such is the nature of aggregators.
Never add embedded media or "modern web" shenanigans!
Readit News
1. The grey self post text is not accessible and hard to read. It needs to be darker. Same is true of user names, etc.
2. HN could improve the UI for mobile users by making clickable elements slightly larger and adding some extra spacing to prevent accidental miss-clicks.
3. Add an inline confirmation step screen when flagging a post – I accidentally flag posts all the time.
4. Change "favourite" to "book mark". Add it to the list view. Add a link to "book marks" in the top bar so they can easily accessed. Sometimes I see something that looks interesting but I don't have time to read. I don't want to click through to the comments just to "favourite" it, then I need to remember to go to my profile and click on "favourites" later. I just want to quickly book mark posts and be able to easily access them later.
My custom HN app has the More button in full width. Similar to boingboing.
https://gabrielsroka.github.io/hn.html?small
I'm also curious why HTTP/1.1 is used as it's not 1999 any more.
SVG is allowed in favicons.
https://news.ycombinator.com/y18.svg appears to be in the orange bar for me.
Not sure why, but this really helps me use HN on my Wii.
Can list lots of things that I think would be bad. Animated GIF user avatar images. inline images. Cryptocurrency schemes and "realtime chat" systems.
ooo. almost forgot: dedicated proprietary client. screw this "open web" stuff, lets add some encryption to nntp and charge $15/mo for a reskinned newsreader app to access it with! We can compile it to webasm and run it in electron on phones!
- Bigger clickable elements on mobile.
- Support for bullet lists
- Slightly easier navigation
- Optional reply notifications
That said, the one change I would probably make is changing the click targets to be slightly larger on the upvote/downvote/collapse on comments. Would be a nice improvement for mobile users.
I also find it hard to click links accurately on a mobile screen
Auto dupe detection with linking historical discussion (mild QoL). Aggregate dupes posted in a short timeframe (needs manual intervention I fear).
Add an at least rudimentary tagging and tag filter/browser system.
The search could use some work (but I guess you can do site:news.ycombinator.com searches with other engines).
Otherwise pretty neat as is. The ephemeral nature of threads on recurring topics - such as this one - I find somewhat tragic but such is the nature of aggregators.
Never add embedded media or "modern web" shenanigans!