
Refined Hacker News - memexy
https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news#highlights
======
plibither8
Hi all, developer of Refined Hacker News here! Happy to see that it has been
posted about again. I had initially posted it last year as a Show HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20173974](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20173974)
and my philosphy behind the extension (as mentioned in the my comment) is:

> There are many extensions out there that add quite a few features to Hacker
> News, but they also always do one thing, which I have realised, is a
> slippery slope: changing the minimalistic design and style of Hacker News.

> I created this extension with one thing in mind: I am NOT going to mess
> around with the overall design or style of Hacker News. It's sacrosanct.

Thanks, I'm up for discussion! :D

~~~
warpspin
I really liked the idea, but the layout jumping during initial page load (used
the Firefox version) was really annoying me so much, I had to deactivate it
again.

~~~
plibither8
Hi, thanks for using the extension. The "jumping" of the layout is probably
due to the insertion of the options bar on the top. You can change this
setting to position it on the bottom instead in the extension's popup window
(it has a a lot more settings which you can tweak around to customise your
experience).

This issue is also addressed here: [https://github.com/plibither8/refined-
hacker-news/issues/25](https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-
news/issues/25)

~~~
warpspin
Wow, thanks. There's the level of support I wish to have from some commercial
software providers :D

------
weinzierl
If I had one wish for a feature of this extension to be made available on HN
then it would be:

 _" Easily favorite items and comments"_

I really like the favourites feature and use it a lot but the original UI
makes it really hard.

~~~
dang
What would make it better? Making the links work the same way as vote and
flag?

I'm a bit disappointed in that feature. The intention was for users to browse
others' favorites to find interesting things to read, but I've not seen any
indication that it worked out that way.

~~~
nkurz
I agree: it should be a great addition, but it hasn't really been used to
advantage. I think the main thing is that it needs some publicity: many people
have never even noticed it. I've tried to use it for comments, but it's hard
to be diligent if no use of it is ever made.

Another easy thing to do would be to add "Most Favorited" to the "Lists" page.
Maybe it would be possible to show the number of favorites that a post or
comment, with a reverse link to who has favorited it? Maybe add a notification
to the creator of a comment that is favorited?

Possibly instead of just having a link on people's profile page, you could
have a rolling list of the their most recent favorites? Or maybe for "person"
discovery, you could automatically show who else has else favorited something
after you do?

It seems like a good feature to start publicly experimenting with. Announce
something, try it out for a week, then post a thread asking people what they
think and how it can be improved.

~~~
memexy
I think adding "Most Favorited" would create a popularity contest and people
would start looking for ways to game the system. I don't think favorites
should have metrics associated with them because as soon as metrics are
introduced people will try to optimize them.

Now that I know comments can be favorited I plan to bookmark comments that
include useful reference information on topics I find interesting. Adding
counters for how many times the comment was favorited wouldn't really help me
with that use case because I doubt anyone else cares about collecting useful
references so my favorites would never make it to the "most favorited" list. I
personally don't care if I make it to the list or not but I'm certain some
people would care and they would go around and start playing a popularity
contest instead of looking for ways to favorite information that would be
useful to them.

~~~
captn3m0
The [op] tags are really helpful.

------
ScottFree
The gifs in the readme showing the functionality you want to highlight is a
nice touch. I wish more projects did that.

------
skulk
This looks really slick and I'd love to use it. Does it require any browser-
specific APIs? If not, I'd definitely try to compile it into a userscript so I
can use it with qutebrowser.

------
thinkloop
I've always wondered whether HN's "off-putting", "serious" interface (it is
when you first see it) is an important factor in it not devolving into reddit.

~~~
krapp
People have been accusing this place of devolving into Reddit so often for so
long the mods specifically call it out in the guidelines as a semi-noob
delusion and tell people to knock it off, which they never do.

The interface is merely simplistic, it's neither serious nor very off-putting.
No more than, say, Craigslist anyway. For that matter, 4chan's interface is
far more offputting, and its culture is far worse than Reddit.

Like, do people here _really_ believe HN would instantly descend into chaos
and madness if the layout used proper typography, modern HTML or (god forbid)
AJAX?

~~~
misterhtmlcss
It's more inviting then, so I think it would draw more randoms. Now it's
basically home to people who know the value already and choose to join because
that's what matters to them.

That's at least why I come here. I hope that's a motivator until the lights go
out one day. Without a doubt the most consistently intelligent conversations
happen here.

~~~
krapp
"Randoms" wouldn't hang out on a site called "Hacker News" to begin with, much
even know that it exists. A more "inviting" layout wouldn't change that.

------
remarkEon
The auto-refresh feature is cool. I find myself hitting F5 a lot.

...

On the other hand, I really appreciate how minimalist this website is - both
in how it's designed and how it's moderated. It's a nice retreat from the rest
of the internet that's often overbuilt and thoughtlessly controlled.

------
majkinetor
Very nice.

I would like to be able to collapse entire thread by clicking on its line,
even when I scrolled. For that lines should be visible for entire thread
duration, not only original comment (like new reddit).

I would also like to see autorefresh on topic itself.

~~~
koheripbal
Also, the linked area of the line is too thin - I can barely click on it.

------
walterbell
Feature request: color coding of usernames by reader-defined groups. User
could specify group name/color via a CSS style with a common prefix. The
extension would need to maintain a local database of usernames in each group.
Enables visual highlighting of user comments and stories based on previous
experience.

~~~
koheripbal
If there's an extension, maybe we could have a collaborative tagging system so
we can see what other people have labelled the author as?

~~~
walterbell
Potentially, although that gets into social networks, feedback loops, status
dynamics, information warfare, reputation systems, voting rings, sock puppets
and other fun topics :)

Step 1 would be private lists.

------
Shared404
I think that this looks cool. I would be perfectly fine with most of these
being integrated into default HN, on the condition that it would gracefully
degrade back to the current form if you have JS disabled.

------
mrep
I love this extension for it's ability to highly new comments you haven't seen
before. Only downside is it does not work for comments after the first page.

------
kiddico
Add in the facelift changes from 'Hacker News Enhancement Suite' and I'd be
all about it. I wonder what happens if I use both...

Actually it works fine. Not sure what the spinning icon on the main page is
all about.

edit: you can turn that off. I think I've found my new HN setup :D

It does some weird things to the popup for user profile info, but I don't
think that'll be an issue.

------
michaelmrose
I really like the ability to reply without losing context.

------
sebazzz
I think the basis interface of Hacker News prevents some people from
participating in discussions on this website. That is a double edged sword.

------
joshspankit
Respect for linking directly to the visual demo.

------
twistedanimator
This looks great, like the start of a "Reddit Enhancement Suite" for hacker
news. It would be great if it also worked with hckrnews.com as I find that to
be my main interface for browsing the day's discussions.

