Hacker News Redesign

Productivity

news reader redesign

SHOW HN2014

380points
198comments
#25of 2,272 in 2014
Top 2%of 2014 by points

How HN took it

RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical

17 positive, 26 neutral or asking, 20 mixed, 80 critical, out of 143 comments about the project. Thread score -0.47.

Design: 7 for, 74 againstIdea: 5 for, 5 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Redesign looks clean and nice; search bar addition welcomed

    From 2 comments
    • I've seen a couple of redesigns of HN in my time and I have to say, your redesign is by far the best I've seen of any HN redesign. You've obviously put a lot of thought and…
      DigitalSea on HN
    • I do a lot of website critiques for others and thought I'd take a look at your redesign. Here is a quick run-down of my thoughts and a few suggestions. The Y-meter is visually…
      pseudometa on HN

Objections

  • Y-meter is confusing and visually complex; numbers preferred

    From 3 comments
    • The Y-meter isn't very useful to me. Respectfully, I don't care about an abstract graph, nor about having to remember point ranges for its various states. I care about the actual…
      mzarate06 on HN
    • 1. Hard to grasp concept of Y-Meter as a new user, and even for those in the know, it's a visual overload. Numbers provide greater clarity. 2. The white is hard to read, because…
      nijiko on HN
    • Some thoughts: - The Y-Meter is inconsistent, why is 50 votes half the filled in space whereas 400 is the full space? - The comments are really far to the right. I often read the…
      calbear81 on HN
  • Comment counts placed far right make it hard to match to stories

    From 3 comments
    • This post was posted in #startups. Nice effort. A larger font is definitely something HN needs (considering a significant amount of HN readers are 30y+)! It is difficult to…
      dvabr on HN
    • I like it, here some few points though. - Time ago is important when you are checking out the "new" items on HN - Domain from where the article came from, seems to be more…
      NicoJuicy on HN
    • That big empty square in the middle of the point meter would be a perfect place for the comment count to go. That way it would be communicating both the rank and activity in one…
      shaunxcode on HN
  • Thin grey body font is hard to read

    From 3 comments
    • The text on hilapeleg.io is nearly unreadable on Windows 7 with Firefox 30. The font is rendered strange, way too thin and uneven with gaps in the strokes. The link color is just…
      Tomte on HN
    • The font you are using in the body of your blog post is bearly readable on my computer : http://i.imgur.com/5WJwMUC.jpg You should really use light weight fonts carefully.
      aikah on HN
    • I want this thin grey body font trend to die. This blog is really not easily readable, and I have a high DPI display
      sullichin on HN
  • HN does not need a redesign; it should stay simple

    From 2 comments
    • I never feel like any HN redesign is actually needed [1]. Although well presented (as is usually the case for unsolicited redesigns), it fails at acknowledging the primary…
      bbx on HN
    • I absolutely disagree. The comments on the far right is bad. The boxes are worse. I'm a numbers guy, visual aids like the box do NOT help, but a comment count below the article…
      dpcan on HN
  • Not mobile friendly enough in the design

    From 2 comments
    • I absolutely disagree. The comments on the far right is bad. The boxes are worse. I'm a numbers guy, visual aids like the box do NOT help, but a comment count below the article…
      dpcan on HN
    • I think there are good takeaways here. I think having the comments-button contain the # is efficient, and I believe placement on the right side will encourage reading the article…
      BrandonMarc on HN

Requests

  • Show numerical vote counts alongside or instead of the Y-meter

    From 3 comments
    • I actually really like the Y-meter, though I'm not a fan out completely hiding the numerical rating of the topic. It might be worthwhile to still show the number for those who…
      nilkn on HN
    • Nice idea, I'd really miss the numbers for upvotes though
      jwblackwell on HN
    • As a heavy HN user, I often skim the front page to see what's happening. The point/comment ratio often tells a lot about an article. First thing I don't like: the Y meter. Most…
      GuiA on HN
  • Better mobile experience

    From 2 comments
    • I think there are good takeaways here. I think having the comments-button contain the # is efficient, and I believe placement on the right side will encourage reading the article…
      BrandonMarc on HN
    • I absolutely disagree. The comments on the far right is bad. The boxes are worse. I'm a numbers guy, visual aids like the box do NOT help, but a comment count below the article…
      dpcan on HN
  • Move comment count closer to story titles

    From 2 comments
    • Right or wrong I use the comment count as a proxy of how interesting the link is - moving it way over to the left breaks that.
      dugmartin on HN
    • I like it, here some few points though. - Time ago is important when you are checking out the "new" items on HN - Domain from where the article came from, seems to be more…
      NicoJuicy on HN

Questions

  • Why the Y-meter fills inconsistently

    From 2 comments
    • I thought it was weird/annoying how the Y Meter fills up inconsistently. Sometimes when you go up a tier in points, the bar extends 1 unit (half a side) and other times it…
      dyeje on HN
    • Some thoughts: - The Y-Meter is inconsistent, why is 50 votes half the filled in space whereas 400 is the full space? - The comments are really far to the right. I often read the…
      calbear81 on HN

Alternatives named

  • HN Colors Chrome extension

    From 1 comment
    • I find the Y-meter a bit gratuitous and not very readable. For a better solution that works right now, check out HN Colors:…
      msutherl on HN
  • Georgify Chrome extension

    From 1 comment
    • Of all the Hacker News redesigns and variations I have come across, I still prefer the Georgify extension for Chrome. It's 99% original Hacker News with Georgia as the default…
      ivanbozic on HN
  • HN+ Chrome overlay

    From 1 comment
    • To this day, i still find the HackerNews+ (or simply HN+) chrome overlay by @jarques quite awesome. It has a Google-esque look to it and does a great job in keeping the overall…
      laander on HN
  • Vellum typography

    From 1 comment
    • Most comments are focused on the y-meter... and I understand why: it's the most different from the current page and is visually complex so it draws attention. I'm also not sure…
      azinman2 on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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