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Really like the site! Not an academic but i was wondering why the thumbnail? They all look pretty much the same, why would I want to see a thumbnail of lot of t

Really like the site! Not an academic but i was wondering why the thumbnail? They all look pretty much the same, why would I want to see a thumbnail of lot of text?

lou1306 9y ago
This is a really good question! Maybe they should ditch them and give greater visual importance to subs?
sdrothrock 9y ago
I agree about the thumbnail -- I'd be a fan of compact icons that show what field(s) of study the linked paper covers, something like the tags https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/ https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/ has.
- danielecook 9y ago
  I like the idea of integrating the sub/field similar to what r/askscience has.
danielecook 9y ago
Thank you - There are a few of reasons. (1) the thumbnails indicate that the PDF is available and can be downloaded. This is to promote submissions from pre-print servers and open access journals that make their research readily available. If the PDF is behind a paywall there will not be a thumbnail. (2) the behavior of the site differs slightly from HN and Reddit. Clicking the title link of a publication takes you to be comment page, whereas the thumbnail takes you to the PDF. Open to hearing what people think about this, but the thumbnail image replaces the title link. (3) the thumbnails do tend to look similar - but you can often tell what journal it is in and you can recognize familiar papers from it. I like it when authors put figures up front too which some of the ML paper do and which adds some variety.
- Laaas 9y ago
  (1) I think you should just color paywalled PDFs differently (2) I don't think this is good enough justification for the huge amount of space wasted by the thumbnail (3) Recognizing familiar papers isn't all that useful. Making a specific thumbnail for each sub would be better IMO.
  - hultner 9y ago
    I agree with this speaker, I would rather see an excerpt from the abstract then a thumbnail. It's much better to the distinguish paywalled content in another way, as I user I didn't get that association at all, rather add some paywall icon (maybe a warning-sign or a cross) in a colour associated with warning or danger i.e. red or yellow (think traffic lights, paywall is a stop).
- terrantech 9y ago
  I think the sort of people who are looking up scientific articles would almost entirely be the same sort of people who appreciate information density and hate useless whitespace. Your first and second points could be satisfied by showing a small PDF icon where the thumbnails currently are. Whatever size that allows the listings themselves to be as close together as possible. The PDF icon could also be different colours depending if it has a paywall, or an money symbol over it. The really big thumbnails that mostly all look the same make the site look very amateurish on first sight.
  - danielecook 9y ago
    Thanks for the feedback. The thumbnails could definitely be made smaller and/or substituted. I'll be making some sort of change but not sure exactly what yet.
    - euid 9y ago
      Compact mode, which Reddit also offers, is an easy way to satisfy both camps. Set the default to whatever your users prefer (determine this with A/B testing) and allow the other choice in Settings.
chatmasta 9y ago
Unrelated to the main discussion, I’ve been wondering how to approach this UI in a document processing product I’m working on. What is the best way to “preview” a document with a thumbnail?

Really like the site! Not an academic but i was wondering why the thumbnail? They all look pretty much the same, why would I want to see a thumbnail of lot of text?

lou1306 9y ago

This is a really good question! Maybe they should ditch them and give greater visual importance to subs?

sdrothrock 9y ago

I agree about the thumbnail -- I'd be a fan of compact icons that show what field(s) of study the linked paper covers, something like the tags https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/ https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/ has.

danielecook 9y ago
I like the idea of integrating the sub/field similar to what r/askscience has.

danielecook 9y ago

Thank you - There are a few of reasons. (1) the thumbnails indicate that the PDF is available and can be downloaded. This is to promote submissions from pre-print servers and open access journals that make their research readily available. If the PDF is behind a paywall there will not be a thumbnail. (2) the behavior of the site differs slightly from HN and Reddit. Clicking the title link of a publication takes you to be comment page, whereas the thumbnail takes you to the PDF. Open to hearing what people think about this, but the thumbnail image replaces the title link. (3) the thumbnails do tend to look similar - but you can often tell what journal it is in and you can recognize familiar papers from it. I like it when authors put figures up front too which some of the ML paper do and which adds some variety.

Laaas 9y ago
(1) I think you should just color paywalled PDFs differently (2) I don't think this is good enough justification for the huge amount of space wasted by the thumbnail (3) Recognizing familiar papers isn't all that useful. Making a specific thumbnail for each sub would be better IMO.
- hultner 9y ago
  I agree with this speaker, I would rather see an excerpt from the abstract then a thumbnail. It's much better to the distinguish paywalled content in another way, as I user I didn't get that association at all, rather add some paywall icon (maybe a warning-sign or a cross) in a colour associated with warning or danger i.e. red or yellow (think traffic lights, paywall is a stop).
terrantech 9y ago
I think the sort of people who are looking up scientific articles would almost entirely be the same sort of people who appreciate information density and hate useless whitespace. Your first and second points could be satisfied by showing a small PDF icon where the thumbnails currently are. Whatever size that allows the listings themselves to be as close together as possible. The PDF icon could also be different colours depending if it has a paywall, or an money symbol over it. The really big thumbnails that mostly all look the same make the site look very amateurish on first sight.
- danielecook 9y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. The thumbnails could definitely be made smaller and/or substituted. I'll be making some sort of change but not sure exactly what yet.
  - euid 9y ago
    Compact mode, which Reddit also offers, is an easy way to satisfy both camps. Set the default to whatever your users prefer (determine this with A/B testing) and allow the other choice in Settings.

chatmasta 9y ago

Unrelated to the main discussion, I’ve been wondering how to approach this UI in a document processing product I’m working on. What is the best way to “preview” a document with a thumbnail?