What if we at least add text to the alt tag on the spacer image in the black bar? Just make the width 100% and give it a title attribute so you can see it on hover? Maybe dupe for the alt as well. It could also be a link to a relevant article or news.
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#000000">
<img src="s.gif" height="5" width="100%" title="Name and brief bio of deceased here.">
</td>
</tr>
OP is correct. It needs context. /Two/ prominent tech people have passed. It would be useful to know which the black bar is referencing, or is it referencing both?
Why do you need that spelled out for you? The black bar can refer to anyone you want it to. "Context" would only lead to tedious arguments over who "deserves" it and who doesn't, etc, and there's too much of that as it is.
It would also violate HN's tradition of minimalism to add extra features to the UI. Particularly since people here tend to be so feature blind they likely wouldn't even notice them. Now on top of extra threads explaining why there's a black bar each time it happens we have extra threads pointing out the existence of whatever else gets added. Even though there's bound to be at least one (preferably only one) "x has died" thread which should be sufficient. Everything else is just noise pollution.
The link is still there but is black so you can’t see it. Do you have in mind changing this link color ? Then you may add a css stylesheet to HN, depending on your browser there’s extensions to do that for you.
