

Ask HN: Do you think HN needs a new look? - Jamie452

Don&#x27;t get me wrong, I love hacker news, and think it is perfectly functional as it is.<p>That being said, I think it could benefit from being redesigned slightly - to keep up with the newer design trends we&#x27;re seeing across the web.<p>I&#x27;ve seen very few changes over the past few years, and am curious what other peoples opinion are?<p>Yes - A redesign would be nice - not too different though of course!<p>No - It&#x27;s perfect just the way it is!
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aaronbrethorst
> newer design trends

I assume this is intentional. I'd love to see a functional responsive design
implemented, but otherwise I'm perfectly happy with the design as it is.
There's already a large enough group of people reading the site as it is. I'd
prefer it if there wasn't an event that would cause another TechCrunch post to
link here.

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specialk
Sometimes I forget that I've skinned HN until I see posts like this or get
asked what am I reading. I've used this Chrome extension
([http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/hn-
special/](http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/hn-special/)) for a long time, if
you're looking for the white-space that HN truly needs then something like
this will sort you out. There are tons of extensions out there, even some that
even make HN look like a feedreader like feedly.

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OWaz
Thanks for sharing that extension I'm using it right now on my Chromebook. I
do wish HN was responsive so I could view it easily on my iPhone.

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mcintyre1994
I think it probably just needs to be more responsive. Making my browser window
really thin exposes a few annoying issues. The menu should switch to be touch-
friendly on small screens bootstrap-style, your post content shouldn't need a
scrollbar (must have a min-width?) and my comment box shouldn't need a
scrollbar. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with it to be honest. Oh, and the
code stuff should wraparound - it's annoying getting a scrollbar on every
page.

Out of interest, which design trends do you refer to? I mentioned the
bootstrap menu, and responsive as a whole, but other than that I'm not too
sure what useful design trend HN is behind on really. I guess there's probably
a nicer font they could use, they're pretty flat! :) Other than that, I'm not
sure what's missing that would be nice.

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NameNickHN
No, but it's not perfect the way it is. There are some small things that could
be improved like the dark grey font of the self posts and the fact that you
can't collapse comments.

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clarry
I don't see the point in trying to keep up with design trends. Either it's
good or it's not, and trends do not change that. I think it's pretty decent
right now.

But an API would be nice, preferrably with a live stream for stories and
comments.

I'd love to build a custom terminal client that filters away stories I don't
want to see, and hilights things (both comments and stories) I'd likely find
interesting.

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mschuster91
HN is in desperate need of an API, or at the very least "id"/"class"
attributes on the HTML it emits to ease parsing.

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gruseom
I've yet to see a proposed redesign of HN that doesn't spoil the two best
things about it: its focus on content and its information density. To me that
suggests that its current design may be a sort of local optimum.

That the site looks old and minimal seems to me an advantage.

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Jamie452
Also I came across this mockup someone made, I think I agree that it's more
readable..

[http://designbycoffee.com/hacker-news-redesign-more-
consumab...](http://designbycoffee.com/hacker-news-redesign-more-consumable/)

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schrodingersCat
Yes. There are quite a few apps / browser additions that enhance the usability
and or readability of HN. Aesthetically, I actually like the minimalism of HN,
but would love for some of these usability features to be added in by default

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danellis
"Perfectly functional"? How can you properly engage when it doesn't even
notify you of replies to your comments?

~~~
Jamie452
I personally have only just realised this issue as i've only just started to
submit and use my account for discussion. But yes I completely agree, it would
be nice to be notified of replies, up votes etc - something similar to
stackoverflow's system would be nice!

