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

aaronbrethorst · on March 22, 2014

> 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.

specialk · on March 22, 2014

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/) 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.

OWaz · on March 22, 2014

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.

mcintyre1994 · on March 22, 2014

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.

NameNickHN · on March 23, 2014

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.

clarry · on March 23, 2014

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.

mschuster91 · on March 22, 2014

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

gruseom · on March 22, 2014

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.

Jamie452 · on March 22, 2014

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...

schrodingersCat · on March 22, 2014

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

danellis · on March 22, 2014

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

Jamie452 · on March 22, 2014

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!

EnderMB · on March 25, 2014

You may already know about this, but HN Notify is worth looking into. I'm sure it's what a lot of people on here use to make sure they get notifications.

http://hnnotify.com/