6 ms·
Ask HN: Why is there a black bar added on top?
Why has the black bar been added on top of the title bar ?
http://i.imgur.com/O8FU6km.png
- _RPM 11y agoThis gets asked every time the black bar happens.
- sdiq 11y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11333402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11333402
- t3ra 11y agoOh ....
- jpgvm 11y agoIt'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.
- an4rchy 11y agoI 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.
- ronjouch 11y ago@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 11y agoI 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.
- ronjouch 11y agoAgreed, except when you have no idea what it's related to. Then there's nothing poignant because there's no message conveyed, the contrary of the initial objective. Like an4rchy mentioned here in a comment, yesterday I thought it was "a styling issue or maintenance mode etc", and had to google it to learn about it. Not really intuitive. EDIT to your EDIT: "a flag at half-mast" has shared meaning among sailors. I'm not so sure about an innocuous black bar on a website.
- Ntrails 11y agoI just assumed it was a glitch somewhere. Never would have occurred to me it was meaningful - but then maybe it doesnt need to be? In the end this is about HN displaying something for themselves, I don't think my response matters.
- Mithaldu 11y agoSame, i've noticed it happening a few times before and i always just thought the CSS was broken by someone experimenting.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- dfc 11y agoIn addition to sailors a flag at half mast has shared meaning to any American. When someone of national importance dies (former potus, sitting supreme, etc) the flag is lowered to half mast for a certain period of time.
- orbitur 11y agoYou grow up in a place where people ceremoniously raise and lower flags as symbolic tributes. Here, we just see a black bar. So you're okay with these threads every time there's a black bar?
- raldi 11y ago
- huuu 11y ago<td bgcolor="#000000" title="Andy Grove (1936 – 2016)">
- CodyReichert 11y agoYeah, a link would be nice, but a title tooltip was my first instinct.
- fosco 11y ago+1 +1
- raldi 11y agoOkay, that strikes a pretty good balance.
- chm 11y agoWhat about writing something like "Andy Grove, 1936-2016" in an HTML comment? Then a simple inspect element should clarify why the black bar is there. Edit: The tooltip mentioned above is an even better idea.
- ebbv 11y agoIt's not that hard to figure out. Anything to add an explanation detracts from the gesture.
- mbrutsch 11y agoWhen someone dies that they believe worthy, they do the black bar thing.
- stratfordfellow 11y agoIs 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."
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- raverbashing 11y agoWell, 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 11y agoEven 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 11y agoThe 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
- geofft 11y agoWhatever happened to "We exist without skin color, without nationality" and "Cyberspace does not lie within your borders"?
- raverbashing 11y agoThe site is accessible everywhere, but to expect it not to cater to a specific audience is disingenuous
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- xigency 11y agoIt's tradition.
- 11y ago
- orbitur 11y agoProbably 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.
- DanBC 11y agoIt'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 11y agoI 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 11y agoI perhaps should have said "it surprises me when people make a post before searching".
- jsprogrammer 11y agoYou must be new? (To the Internet, humanity, etc)
- proactivesvcs 11y agoI didn't assume it was a design change, bad or otherwise. I assumed it was to flag something.
- danielsamuels 11y agoWhat search box are you talking about?
- NietTim 11y agoExactly. I didn't know this before it was pointed out to me, but the genius who made Hackernews thought it was a good idea to put the search feature at the bottom of the page.
- 11y ago
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- fiatpandas 11y agoI wasn't sure if it was for Brussels or Andy Grove.
- hodwik 11y agoIt's especially meaningless for those of us who use Hacker Vision. http://i.imgur.com/c81G9a6.png http://i.imgur.com/c81G9a6.png
- vegancap 11y agoI was equally as confused recently, until someone (quite bluntly...) pointed it out to me on Twitter.
- willthefirst 11y ago.mourning { border-top: 5px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); }
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- chrisstu 11y agoThe black bar is nice and geeky but totally inappropriate to mark the passing of a human being.
- algorithmsRcool 11y agoI'm curious why you think it is inappropriate. I find it very tasteful.
- chrisstu 11y agoTo me it just feels rather curt. I suppose it saves the effort of trying to write something meaningful.
- krzrak 11y agoTo 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.
- dkersten 11y agoI saw the black bar and thought "huh, who died?". I then briefly scanned the front page, saw that someone called Andy Grove had died. It took two seconds to do a Google search and I had my answer. Its really not very difficult (or time consuming) to find out who it is.
- ekianjo 11y ago> I saw the black bar and thought "huh, who died?" It's highly selective though. There are some great Hackers who have passed away recently and get no black bar at all. I guess you don't want to do it every single day, but then why do it at all ?
- krapp 11y agoThat's the biggest problem with the black bar in a status-conscious community like HN - it unintentionally becomes a prize. Certain deaths earn it, other deaths don't.
- soapdog 11y agoI thought this was about the brussels attack...
- drivingmenuts 11y agoI didn't even notice the black bar until I read this post. Maybe something a little more distinctive would be useful, maybe.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- tsguo3 11y agoPrinceton's colors are black and orange.