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> The UI isn't beautiful. I disagree. HN's UI is perfect.

by mrzool 8y ago

dhh2106 8y ago
Perfect and beautiful are two different things. 100% agree that HN's UI is great, but I'm not sure anyone would look at it and say, "oh that's gorgeous." Or at least I wouldn't After all, the purpose of UI is not to be beautiful, but too many people still think it is
heavenlyblue 8y ago
They could have fixed the overflowing fixed-width blocks on mobile, to be honest :) But I agree with you in every sense.
- kaybe 8y ago
  It was worse in the past. The last batch of changes improved a lot already.
smacktoward 8y ago
Hard disagree. It's barely acceptable on desktop, but on a mobile device it's awful. All the links and buttons are tiny, and they're all so crowded together I frequently end up doing dumb things like tapping "flag" when I meant to tap "discuss." With just a little bit of work HN's UI could be so much better.
- burger_moon 8y ago
  Seriously I get that they want the 'shit plain look to scare off normal people' schtick but it's also terrible for accessibility. For being a company that beats the inclusive and equality drum they seem to go out of their way to make it impossible for people who don't have incredible dexterity or eyesight to use this site. I love the simple layout but make it accessible to everyone.
  - ozaark 8y ago
    I was going to disagree with you on the sites accessibility but after taking a closer look it is pretty bad, though for different reasons. Tables everywhere, missing alt tags, doc language missing, no form labels.. As far as aesthetics I actually like the current site. It serves its purpose well IMO. The real accessibility issues should be addressed per WCAG.
  - z3t4 8y ago
    try opera mobile browser. it has a nice zoom feature where the text will always word wrap to fit on the screen!
  - koestie 8y ago
    I've been using hn.premii.com for years now ... also available as apps across iOS, Android and Windows UWP. Gives me an optimal reading experience on all my devices, but I'm mostly a lurker so YMMV.
- jerrytsai 8y ago
  On mobile, try using https://hackerweb.app/ https://hackerweb.app/ A much nicer mobile interface for consuming HN, but you'll have to go direct to the site to interact with it.
  - jamiek88 8y ago
    Still just okay imo. Sure it looks new and mobiley but all I really want (not OP btw) is the same site but with bigger buttons on mobile. I have it set up on iOS to auto zoom and to raise the font size a couple clicks but the action buttons are still hard to click on and at least once a day I flag or downvote something I have to then undo. Unless you have perfect eyesight and dexterity it’s a chore. I might make what i seek actually. At least then I’ve scratched my own itch. Maybe an extension? Can that even be done with the current apis?
  - JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
    Oh nice, thank you!
  - smacktoward 8y ago
    The proliferation of third-party mobile apps for HN just proves the point. If HN's UI were decent on mobile, these apps would have no reason to exist.
- doublepg23 8y ago
  I use the Materialistic app on Android. Works great.
  - DpdC 8y ago
    Totally agree.
UncleMeat 8y ago
Tiny buttons that are hard to click on mobile. Markdown that drives people to use block quotes when it isn't needed and make reading quotes a nightmare on mobile. Clicking the back button after replying doesn't show your post. Low contrast difference between background and thread title. The list goes on.
bhauer 8y ago
Agreed, it's quite good. Most complaints seem to be focused on mobile. Eh, on mobile I only consume content, so I don't really care if it's hard to post a comment or vote on mobile. Desktop computing is my jam. And any complaints about its appearance on desktop are easy to tune to user preferences using a userscript. I have a simple userscript that changes the color scheme to a dark theme I quickly concocted. (Part of why I don't even bother to contribute on mobile is because mobile platforms are so constrained that a quick and dirty userscript isn't particularly easy to use.)
codebook 8y ago
I thought I am viewing different website from yours. I am totally not satisfied hackernews website design and UI.

> The UI isn't beautiful. I disagree. HN's UI is perfect.

by mrzool 8y ago

> The UI isn't beautiful. I disagree. HN's UI is perfect.

Perfect and beautiful are two different things. 100% agree that HN's UI is great, but I'm not sure anyone would look at it and say, "oh that's gorgeous." Or at least I wouldn't After all, the purpose of UI is not to be beautiful, but too many people still think it is

heavenlyblue 8y ago

They could have fixed the overflowing fixed-width blocks on mobile, to be honest :) But I agree with you in every sense.

kaybe 8y ago
It was worse in the past. The last batch of changes improved a lot already.

smacktoward 8y ago

Hard disagree. It's barely acceptable on desktop, but on a mobile device it's awful. All the links and buttons are tiny, and they're all so crowded together I frequently end up doing dumb things like tapping "flag" when I meant to tap "discuss." With just a little bit of work HN's UI could be so much better.

burger_moon 8y ago
Seriously I get that they want the 'shit plain look to scare off normal people' schtick but it's also terrible for accessibility. For being a company that beats the inclusive and equality drum they seem to go out of their way to make it impossible for people who don't have incredible dexterity or eyesight to use this site. I love the simple layout but make it accessible to everyone.
- ozaark 8y ago
  I was going to disagree with you on the sites accessibility but after taking a closer look it is pretty bad, though for different reasons. Tables everywhere, missing alt tags, doc language missing, no form labels.. As far as aesthetics I actually like the current site. It serves its purpose well IMO. The real accessibility issues should be addressed per WCAG.
- z3t4 8y ago
  try opera mobile browser. it has a nice zoom feature where the text will always word wrap to fit on the screen!
- koestie 8y ago
  I've been using hn.premii.com for years now ... also available as apps across iOS, Android and Windows UWP. Gives me an optimal reading experience on all my devices, but I'm mostly a lurker so YMMV.
jerrytsai 8y ago
On mobile, try using https://hackerweb.app/ https://hackerweb.app/ A much nicer mobile interface for consuming HN, but you'll have to go direct to the site to interact with it.
- jamiek88 8y ago
  Still just okay imo. Sure it looks new and mobiley but all I really want (not OP btw) is the same site but with bigger buttons on mobile. I have it set up on iOS to auto zoom and to raise the font size a couple clicks but the action buttons are still hard to click on and at least once a day I flag or downvote something I have to then undo. Unless you have perfect eyesight and dexterity it’s a chore. I might make what i seek actually. At least then I’ve scratched my own itch. Maybe an extension? Can that even be done with the current apis?
- JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
  Oh nice, thank you!
- smacktoward 8y ago
  The proliferation of third-party mobile apps for HN just proves the point. If HN's UI were decent on mobile, these apps would have no reason to exist.
doublepg23 8y ago
I use the Materialistic app on Android. Works great.
- DpdC 8y ago
  Totally agree.

UncleMeat 8y ago

Tiny buttons that are hard to click on mobile. Markdown that drives people to use block quotes when it isn't needed and make reading quotes a nightmare on mobile. Clicking the back button after replying doesn't show your post. Low contrast difference between background and thread title. The list goes on.

bhauer 8y ago

Agreed, it's quite good. Most complaints seem to be focused on mobile. Eh, on mobile I only consume content, so I don't really care if it's hard to post a comment or vote on mobile. Desktop computing is my jam. And any complaints about its appearance on desktop are easy to tune to user preferences using a userscript. I have a simple userscript that changes the color scheme to a dark theme I quickly concocted. (Part of why I don't even bother to contribute on mobile is because mobile platforms are so constrained that a quick and dirty userscript isn't particularly easy to use.)

codebook 8y ago

I thought I am viewing different website from yours. I am totally not satisfied hackernews website design and UI.