4 ms·

This is what code-quoted non-code HN text looks like on a narrow screen: http://imgur.com/LYwZWbT http://imgur.com/LYwZWbT

by sowbug 9y ago

mikevm 9y ago
Woops. Sorry about that. Don't know if there's a proper way of quoting text on HN.
- sowbug 9y ago
  Since we have this discussion every time a top-voted comment does this, and nobody has ever suggested a solution that I've seen, I don't think it can be done. Just throw a > or two in there and we'll figure it out.
  - tyingq 9y ago
    "nobody has ever suggested a solution that I've seen" Media queries seem straightforward enough.
    - sowbug 9y ago
      I mean for content contributors. I'm sure an HN code change could make the site smarter. * Asterisks work for italics * (remove inner spaces), but they seem to crap out for a passage longer than about a line, making them tedious for block quotes.
      - tyingq 9y ago
        Yes, makes sense. HN could use a few minor tweaks and upgrades.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  There isn't. No one knows why.
- germinalphrase 9y ago
  Judging by the frequency with which this issue is complained about, it is -- apparently -- an impossible problem to solve.
  - matte_black 9y ago
    Not with a little bit of JavaScript.
  - sjwright 9y ago
    It makes sense to me. A formalised quoting mechanism is a recipe for everyone quoting everyone else, resulting in 50-70% of the words on screen being redundant and pointless. This is par for the course in most other forums.
    - germinalphrase 9y ago
      I'm sympathetic to what you're saying; however, quoting is still happening – just in a manner than leaves 50-70% of the text annoyingly difficult to read on mobile.
      - sjwright 9y ago
        Absolutely. But by providing no formal mechanism, quoting is used extremely sparingly. Which is good. (The mobile formatting issue wouldn't happen but for a few rare crazies who attempt to hijack the wrong syntax.)
allthenews 9y ago
Every time! Even in landscape! On a tech central website! What gives? Is there some kind of weird technical limitation?
- stan_rogers 9y ago
  Not as such, no, but the rendering of HTML from that markup is <code> nested in <pre>. The user agent is supposed to render it as the pre-formatted text it claims to be, complete with line breaks and returns as entered. It is meant for code, not for blockquotes.
27182818284 9y ago
Yes, I've been visiting HN for ten-ish years and yeah some love to the front-end would be good. I wonder if there is a fear to make any updates because any updates are seen as not keeping with the minimalistic roots. I hope not. I don't think anyone wants an extreme change, but letting the '>' character quote things a bit better would be a good change.
- ythn 9y ago
  There are alternate front-ends that use HN's backend you can use. Such as: https://vue-hn.now.sh/item/16893581 https://vue-hn.now.sh/item/16893581

This is what code-quoted non-code HN text looks like on a narrow screen: http://imgur.com/LYwZWbT http://imgur.com/LYwZWbT

by sowbug 9y ago

This is what code-quoted non-code HN text looks like on a narrow screen: http://imgur.com/LYwZWbT http://imgur.com/LYwZWbT

mikevm 9y ago

Woops. Sorry about that. Don't know if there's a proper way of quoting text on HN.

sowbug 9y ago
Since we have this discussion every time a top-voted comment does this, and nobody has ever suggested a solution that I've seen, I don't think it can be done. Just throw a > or two in there and we'll figure it out.
- tyingq 9y ago
  "nobody has ever suggested a solution that I've seen" Media queries seem straightforward enough.
  - sowbug 9y ago
    I mean for content contributors. I'm sure an HN code change could make the site smarter. * Asterisks work for italics * (remove inner spaces), but they seem to crap out for a passage longer than about a line, making them tedious for block quotes.
    - tyingq 9y ago
      Yes, makes sense. HN could use a few minor tweaks and upgrades.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
There isn't. No one knows why.
germinalphrase 9y ago
Judging by the frequency with which this issue is complained about, it is -- apparently -- an impossible problem to solve.
- matte_black 9y ago
  Not with a little bit of JavaScript.
- sjwright 9y ago
  It makes sense to me. A formalised quoting mechanism is a recipe for everyone quoting everyone else, resulting in 50-70% of the words on screen being redundant and pointless. This is par for the course in most other forums.
  - germinalphrase 9y ago
    I'm sympathetic to what you're saying; however, quoting is still happening – just in a manner than leaves 50-70% of the text annoyingly difficult to read on mobile.
    - sjwright 9y ago
      Absolutely. But by providing no formal mechanism, quoting is used extremely sparingly. Which is good. (The mobile formatting issue wouldn't happen but for a few rare crazies who attempt to hijack the wrong syntax.)

allthenews 9y ago

Every time! Even in landscape! On a tech central website! What gives? Is there some kind of weird technical limitation?

stan_rogers 9y ago
Not as such, no, but the rendering of HTML from that markup is <code> nested in <pre>. The user agent is supposed to render it as the pre-formatted text it claims to be, complete with line breaks and returns as entered. It is meant for code, not for blockquotes.

27182818284 9y ago

Yes, I've been visiting HN for ten-ish years and yeah some love to the front-end would be good. I wonder if there is a fear to make any updates because any updates are seen as not keeping with the minimalistic roots. I hope not. I don't think anyone wants an extreme change, but letting the '>' character quote things a bit better would be a good change.

ythn 9y ago
There are alternate front-ends that use HN's backend you can use. Such as: https://vue-hn.now.sh/item/16893581 https://vue-hn.now.sh/item/16893581