
Show HN: HNCute, a pretty pink Hacker News theme - caroherm
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hncute/efcgbnccnagdhbdhnghlldlolfppcfia
======
danso
I upvoted this like I try to do for most good effort/well-intentioned Show
HN's, but I wasn't planning on installing it since I had customized my HN
settings to make my HN usage as discrete as possible, with `topcolor` set to
#f6f6ef (wish bodycolor was also a setting so I could just make the header and
the HN body #eeeeee!).

But after reading some of the other comments I decided to add the plugin and
am feeling that I won't regret it :) Not only do I love the use of pink in
general, I love this theme's particular choices, such as the blue accent for
the headline links and the muted pink for visited links for even better
minimalist readability. The minimized header is a also nice touch (though
maybe `new`, `threads`, and `submit` deserve emphasis -- at least based on my
habits). And I guess if I want my web browser not to scream "HACKER NEWS
READER" to anyone looking over my shoulder, a theme that hides the "Hacker
News" header in addition to adding a pink explosion will do the trick. Thanks!

~~~
caroherm
Thanks so much! I'm glad you decided to install it, feel free to let me know
if you see anything that could be improved. I was inspired by the color scheme
from Bubblesort's "Git it Gurl" shirts
([https://shop.bubblesort.io/products/git-it-gurl-
shirt?varian...](https://shop.bubblesort.io/products/git-it-gurl-
shirt?variant=37201321537)), with the nice splash of blue-purple on the pink
background.

~~~
danso
So my biggest immediate complaint is that the up/down hearts are misleading. I
was a little excited that the uphearts/downhearts appeared to be slightly
offset, which would deal with one of HN's most annoying design flaws --
accidentally hitting the wrong vote button. As it is, your hearts have the
same horizontal hitbox even though they appear visually skewed. Having the
hitbox match the appearance of the hearts would be welcome!

The other fix I would make is in the font-color of a few elements that are now
more emphasized than they need to be. e.g. The "unvote" label seems to be in
the darkest shade of font color.

As someone who doesn't mind that it is a Chrome plugin, since Chrome is the
browser I use for HN and because I don't mind that the plugin has access to
that page -- I say keep it as a plugin rather than make it a CSS sheet. With a
plugin, you could provide a polished config panel experience that makes it
easy for a user to disable/enable features. For example, I could see myself
liking the "Hacker News" masthed back in the header and in a hot pink shade --
but other users may want it gone like it is now.

Of course as a plugin it could add all sorts of features to the HN page, at
risk of breaking the minimalist experience. All I think I would want in extra
features is maybe he ability to switch between a few different variants of
pink styling.

~~~
caroherm
Interesting feedback, I will definitely take all of this under consideration
for if and when I release a second version. It would be great to include more
customizability, especially since it being a chrome plugin opens the door for
all sorts of possibilities. Thanks so much!

------
taspeotis
Personally I find HackerNew [1] to be quite a sensible addition to the HN
theme.

[1]
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hackernew/lgoghlnd...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hackernew/lgoghlndihpmbbgmbpjohilcphbfhddd?hl=en)

~~~
1k2ka
Anyone know of a similar extension for Firefox?

~~~
dufferzafar
If you're running FF 57, you could try [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-foxified/) to install chrome extensions on FF.
Some work. Some don't.

------
faitswulff
I unironically find this much easier to read HN with. Especially with dead or
downvoted comments. The hearts are just a bonus.

~~~
caroherm
Glad to hear it!

------
BugsJustFindMe
Why is it a Chrome extension instead of just a bit of CSS in one of the many
custom CSS extensions that already abound?

~~~
caroherm
Mostly because I'm familiar with developing Chrome extensions, and appreciate
the freedom and ease of distribution. I also used a bit of Javascript to
rework some of the text areas, like the bar at the top. And injecting the
favicon is done in JS as well.

I'll look into custom CSS extensions though! I'm not familiar with them. The
repo is at
[https://github.com/carolinehermans/HNcute](https://github.com/carolinehermans/HNcute)
– it could definitely be organized better, I didn't expect to be sharing!

~~~
maddyboo
I reaaalllyy like this theme! As others have said, it would be great to have
it in the UserStyles library.

~~~
caroherm
I'll look into it, thanks for the info!

------
jancsika
Instant upvote to anyone who forks it to append cat and giggle emojis to any
post that references the chrome extension.

"Why is HNCutePlus on Hacker news?" _giggles_ _kittens_

~~~
caroherm
This is the best comment

------
chrisparton1991
Nice work, and thanks for sharing! I think your repo serves as a great example
of how simple a Chrome extension can be, so it has value as reference
material.

~~~
caroherm
Thanks so much! I'm planning to clean up the repo later tonight so it's better
organized.

------
advertech
Just an idea, but maybe at a high karma threshold, logged in users can
reference a cross-origin style sheet, via linked URL?

User profile page would need to be a safe page, so users don't lock themselves
out with wonky styles.

Also, stern warnings about privacy surrounding referrer headers and basic ad
tech concepts like tracking pixels. Although browser extensions are just as
deadly or worse.

------
numbers
I like it, there are some colors that are still present like the comments view
still has the orange and red colors here and there. I will keep it installed
and look for updates :)

One request would be to make the font sizes a bit bigger, maybe different font
families as well!

~~~
caroherm
I'll look for remaining orange/red areas and push an update later tonight.
Good call on the font sizes! I used Open Sans because I wanted things to stay
simple and easy to read, but it might be nice to look into something else in
the future.

------
krapp
I've updated my Greasemonkey plugin that makes some minor changes to HN's text
layout. It unfades faded comments, highlights inline quotes (prefaced with
'>') and improves readability.

It's very small and uses calls to HN's own javascript. Too small to be worth
its own post but .. this seemed like a good thread to post it as a comment.

[https://openuserjs.org/scripts/kennethrapp/Hacker_News_Text_...](https://openuserjs.org/scripts/kennethrapp/Hacker_News_Text_Tweaks)

------
hycaria
I like the color theme but dislike how everything seems more spaced out.

Also as a female, maybe not very professionnal after all. Rather have people
recognize HN on my browser than wonder what girly stuff I might do.

------
darkkindness
Ah, this is something I didn't know I needed. Nice work!

------
andkon
THIS IS SO GOOD. And readable! But mostly adorable.

~~~
caroherm
Thank you! :D

------
nyxtom
At first I thought I wasn't going to like this but I was pleasantly surprised
:D The hearts are a nice touch :D Nice work :D

~~~
caroherm
Thank you! :D

------
jchw
It'd probably be simpler to do this as a userstyle, since there are many
extensions supporting userstyles. Still, if you prefer the WebExtension format
that Chrome provides, it's worth noting you could trivially release the same
extension for Firefox and Edge, since I'm sure all of the APIs this uses are
compatible.

~~~
caroherm
Sweet, will definitely look into this.

------
ninjakeyboard
I have my hn bar set as pink with the Karma-unlocked feature. This is tempting
though...

~~~
caroherm
I originally was going to just do this but didn't realize you needed a certain
amount of Karma

------
dvt
Great job, looks cute! HN should make this the default style for Valentine's
day :)

~~~
caroherm
Thanks!

------
TheArcane
Is there a dark HN theme anyone recommends? On Stylish or outside?

~~~
l_h
I read HN using [http://hn.premii.com](http://hn.premii.com). You can set a
darker theme in the menu.

------
anandkulkarni
Enjoying this theme. Thanks for sharing. Makes HN more fun!

~~~
caroherm
Glad to hear it!

------
_RPM
Neat. I’ll show this to my wife. She will love the colors.

~~~
caroherm
Awesome!

------
nomadiccoder
how on firefox?

~~~
King-Aaron
install chrome

/s

~~~
nomadiccoder
too shiny :/

------
probinso
love it

~~~
probinso
also I appreciate the favicon to match

------
labster
How long will I have to wait for the Firefox port? This extension is yet
another way that free software is being shut out of the browser market. And
worse, women are being targeted to be locked into proprietary software.

Cmon y'all, this is super important. Let's get started on GNU/HNCute!

~~~
throwanem
I know you're joking, but Chrome extensions are Firefox extensions now too:
[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-
store-...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-store-
foxified/)

~~~
reificator
Thanks for the heads up, I didn't know that.

------
shapiro92
why is this even on the top? no offense but it is a css stylesheet.

~~~
pvg
You should install it and then try reading your own grumpy comment again. See?

~~~
maddyboo
It takes the grumps out of HN and replaces them with cuties!

[https://i.imgur.com/GNpBKlj.png](https://i.imgur.com/GNpBKlj.png)

~~~
caroherm
this is my favorite observation :)

------
ninkendo
> make HN cute again

Can we stop using “make X Y again”? The phrase it references is a racist
dogwhistle. Let’s not normalize it.

~~~
caroherm
I thought about this and wound up changing the wording, the changes should be
live with the next update within the next hour

~~~
danso
Thanks, implying that HN had lost its cuteness was also extremely rude

