
Ask HN: Why is there a black bar added on top? - t3ra
Why has the black bar been added on top of the title bar ? 
http:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;O8FU6km.png
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krzrak
To all people saying "We should add some link to the news because I don't know
who Andy Grove was". C'mon, this is the community of people who don't need to
have everything delivered on the silver plate - either you know, or you spend
a while and find out by yourself. That's something we do every day.

~~~
Someone1234
Except it COULD have been a black bar for Brussels.

In fact I've just arbitrarily decided that it is, because there is no official
word either way. If I go off and do research into what happened today Brussels
makes just as much or as little sense as Andy Grove. Both are on the front
page.

Anyone who disagrees needs to show me why it is an Andy Grove bar instead of a
Brussels bar? And, yes, I am intentionally being obstinate to make a point.

~~~
patrickread
I noticed it on here last night (ET) between news of Grove's death and the
Brussels bombing. Not trying to be pedantic, but it definitely seems to be in
honor of Andy Grove.

~~~
st3v3r
I didn't. I got to work this morning and saw it. It easily could have been
either.

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ronjouch
@hn, since it's not the first time this question pops up, for increased
"discoverability", what about making the black bar a <a> that links to the
associated news? This, or pushing it even forwards, adding text?

~~~
raldi
I think that would take away a lot more than it adds. There's something
poignant about a simple, unadorned 5px #000000 line. The lack of text or a
link sends the message, "This person was significant enough that HN readers
already know who it was, and why their life was so important."

It's like flying a flag at half-mast; you don't attach a sign with the
person's name.

~~~
dubcanada
I visit HN every day and I am either dumb or missed something but I had no
idea why the black bar was at the top. I assumed it was an error.

Unless you know what it is, it's really not obvious at all. A flag at half-
mast is a commonly known thing, someone important died. A 5 pixel black bar at
the top of a site is not used anywhere but here.

~~~
raldi
C'mon, "no idea"? There are three mentions of Andy Grove on the front page
right now, and there's been at least one the entire time that the bar's been
up.

~~~
dubcanada
I can assume lots of things raldi. I could also assume it's because of
Brussels, but I would be wrong. I could assume it's because of a mudslid,
still wrong.

Regardless of what you say it's not obvious... If it was there wouldn't be
this thread.

~~~
fosco
I initially assumed the bar was for Brussels as well until reading further and
then felt a bit silly.

I am aware of what the black bar represents however it is not always
consistently used. for example, Ian Murdock who I consider to have a great
impact on GNU/Linux in general was not given one after his passing.

~~~
FreeFull
I definitely believe Ian Murdock was deserving of a black bar as well. Debian
is one of the most widely used Linux distributions.

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jpgvm
It's displayed as a sign of respect following the passing of important tech
luminaries.

In this case Andy Grove - one of the fathers of Silicon Valley.

May he rest in peace.

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stratfordfellow
Is it possible that in the future, the element alt text could contain some
short explanation or information? For example, "Andy Grove, Semiconductor
Industry pioneer passes away at 79."

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fiatpandas
I wasn't sure if it was for Brussels or Andy Grove.

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an4rchy
I had the same question yesterday (saw it previously and thought it was a
styling issue or maintenance mode etc). It would be nice to have a tooltip on
hover to tell people what it's about. Good way to pay tribute.

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DanBC
It's a bit surprising that so many people just don't search when they see
something they don't understand.

EDIT: just putting [black bar] into the search box tells you why the black bar
is there. Sorting by date tells you who died.

~~~
hodwik
I think most of us just assumed it was a bad design change. I don't normally
search every time a website makes a bad design decision, just in case it has
secret and very obscure meaning.

~~~
DanBC
I perhaps should have said "it surprises me when people make a post before
searching".

~~~
jsprogrammer
You must be new? (To the Internet, humanity, etc)

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sdiq
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11333402](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11333402)

~~~
t3ra
Oh ....

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mbrutsch
When someone dies that they believe worthy, they do the black bar thing.

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soapdog
I thought this was about the brussels attack...

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hodwik
It's especially meaningless for those of us who use Hacker Vision.

[http://i.imgur.com/c81G9a6.png](http://i.imgur.com/c81G9a6.png)

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drivingmenuts
I didn't even notice the black bar until I read this post. Maybe something a
little more distinctive would be useful, maybe.

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orbitur
Probably related to the same change that brought the black bar, but the Chrome
extension I use to add collapsible comment threads is now broken.

Can we __please __get native collapsible threads here?

edit: Also I just attempted to use an emoji for the first time here, and it
was stripped. ????

edit2: I thought it was a simple design update, had no idea it was a tribute.
RIP Andy Grove.

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vegancap
I was equally as confused recently, until someone (quite bluntly...) pointed
it out to me on Twitter.

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raverbashing
Well, it would be simple to read the page looking at entries containing
'passed away', 'died', 'killed', etc

(It's usually one of the first as well)

~~~
allworknoplay
Even so, the connection isn't in any way made clear. Your assumption that if
people saw that Andy Grove died they would immediately identify the black bar
as a sign of mourning is kind of, I dunno, culturally normative?

~~~
raverbashing
The site is in English, is based in the US and contains mostly news from
certain regions of the world, of course it's going to be culturally biased

I agree an association would be helpful (is it for Andy Grove or for Belgium,
for example)

But it is not hard to find the association

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geofft
Whatever happened to "We exist without skin color, without nationality" and
"Cyberspace does not lie within your borders"?

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raverbashing
The site is accessible everywhere, but to expect it not to cater to a specific
audience is disingenuous

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_RPM
This gets asked every time the black bar happens.

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willthefirst
.mourning { border-top: 5px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); }

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tsguo3
Princeton's colors are black and orange.

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chrisstu
The black bar is nice and geeky but totally inappropriate to mark the passing
of a human being.

~~~
algorithmsRcool
I'm curious why you think it is inappropriate. I find it very tasteful.

~~~
chrisstu
To me it just feels rather curt. I suppose it saves the effort of trying to
write something meaningful.

