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@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 ne
by 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 agoIf you saw a mourning family on the street wearing all black, would you suggest they hold up a sign with the name of the deceased?
- Mithaldu 11y agoExcept this is the equivalent of wearing a black hat. My father used to occasionally do it when the mood struck him and nobody bothered to think it signified anything.
- orbitur 11y agoNo, but at least I'd know they intended a public display of mourning. Whenever I've seen the black bar before this thread, it's just been a black bar. I thought something was screwy with the CSS or maybe my version of Chrome. The black bar is not at all obvious in its intent. I don't see why it should remain that way.
- geofft 11y agoIf I'm in that family and I have no idea who died and why they dressed me in black, absolutely! The fundamental problem with the non-discoverability is that it means that you're either one of the in-group people who knows who Andy Grove is and that he died yesterday, or you're an outsider and not a real Hacker News family member. If that's the approach to community HN wants to take, that's fine, but then why are there three stories about Andy Grove's death if all the real HN commenters already know that?
- dubcanada 11y agoI visit HN every day and I am either dumb or missed something but I had no idea why the black bar was at the top. I assumed it was an error. Unless you know what it is, it's really not obvious at all. A flag at half-mast is a commonly known thing, someone important died. A 5 pixel black bar at the top of a site is not used anywhere but here.
- raldi 11y agoC'mon, "no idea"? There are three mentions of Andy Grove on the front page right now, and there's been at least one the entire time that the bar's been up.
- dubcanada 11y agoI can assume lots of things raldi. I could also assume it's because of Brussels, but I would be wrong. I could assume it's because of a mudslid, still wrong. Regardless of what you say it's not obvious... If it was there wouldn't be this thread.
- fosco 11y agoI initially assumed the bar was for Brussels as well until reading further and then felt a bit silly. I am aware of what the black bar represents however it is not always consistently used. for example, Ian Murdock who I consider to have a great impact on GNU/Linux in general was not given one after his passing.
- FreeFull 11y agoI definitely believe Ian Murdock was deserving of a black bar as well. Debian is one of the most widely used Linux distributions.
- bmoresbest55 11y agoI know that this site does not deal in current events outside the tech/startup community but my first thought was an error. My second thought was the Brussels bombings. I did not know who Andy Grove. I now know he was a significant figure in the community but the black bar did clearly state that to me. In general, I don't think that some background information on the person takes away from their significance.
- d0m 11y agoIf you want to keep it very minimal you can add a "alt"-type description on mouseover, maybe just the name.
- Aron 11y agoI think obscurity mostly serves as an in-group vs. out-group signal. I'm not a fan of the unexplained black bar.
- 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.