Try making the comments fully collapsable, pulling into the DOM dynamically without firing up a whole new page, like reddit does.
Also, my gut feeling is that the default should be no inline comments at all, i.e. you have to select something to pull in any new comments, via the above scheme.
This would preserve what is after all one of the best features of the HN interface -- the ability to compare a great many of incoming topics side-by-side -- while still allow for a slicker way to drill down into the comments section, without having to do a full page reset.
That's a great idea. My preference is to have the comments always expanded so I can skim them quickly, but an expand / collapse feature would increase the app's appeal to people who like the regular HN front page and want quicker access to comments.
Normally collapsed comments with individual expand buttons and an "expand all" button would handle both of our use cases pretty well.
The comments on HN are often at least as good (if not better!) than the links. I built this app to have a way to quickly read through all the top comments on front page stories. I hope some of you find it useful too.
Also, my gut feeling is that the default should be no inline comments at all, i.e. you have to select something to pull in any new comments, via the above scheme.
This would preserve what is after all one of the best features of the HN interface -- the ability to compare a great many of incoming topics side-by-side -- while still allow for a slicker way to drill down into the comments section, without having to do a full page reset.