4 ms·

There's a really easy fix to this: Load more comments on scroll-to-bottom. No button, no bandwidth used, but those who make it to the bottom of a thread don't h

There's a really easy fix to this: Load more comments on scroll-to-bottom. No button, no bandwidth used, but those who make it to the bottom of a thread don't have to do anything to see new comments. I agree with OP; the current system is suboptimal, to say the least.

cincinnatus 16y ago
That would be the first instance of an ajaxy thing on HN I believe.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- ianl 16y ago
  The upvote/downvote on comments and stories uses ajax i believe.
  - requinot59 16y ago
    yes/no: it uses simple assignations to (new Image()).src.
    - nfriedly 16y ago
      Not sure why you got hit with the down votes, I always assumed it used "real" ajax.
antimatter15 16y ago
Infinite scrolling screws with scrollbar behavior though :(
- redthrowaway 16y ago
  Not until you hit the bottom of the first "page", at which point you've resigned yourself to more content.
flatline 16y ago
Ugh, I hope this does not happen, I hate the scroll-to-the-bottom-and-get-more thing. Particularly if the server is under heavy load already, you never know if there is more or if so how much, and it takes the scrollbar away from your mouse pointer once it's loaded another chunk due to the relative offset.
- brianpan 16y ago
  I'm confused by your reasons. With scroll for more, you would know if there is more- the end is the end, just like with pagination. And it's no worse than pagination in the "you don't know how much more" department, either. The pagination is a "More" link, it doesn't indicate how much is on the next page.
  - regularfry 16y ago
    One would think it would be relatively trivial for "More" to become "256 More" or similar...
- mnutt 16y ago
  Maybe I'm missing something because I've never seen it before, but has anyone ever tried leaving blank space at the bottom of the first page relative to the total number of comments? It may work better on items of fixed length than comments, but even on comments it would at least make the scrolling a little less jumpy.
marshray 16y ago
NOoooo!!! Anything but the Scrollbar of Sisyphus!
- 1337p337 16y ago
  I'd not heard this term for it before, and it sums up the horror accurately. You have enriched my life. The Scrollbar of Sisyphus breaks the back button (click "Back", browser remembers where you had scrolled to, can't go that far down, lands at the bottom, triggers second "page" of results) jumping to the bottom of the page, occasionally searching, and forces you to jump to the end of the page repeatedly to figure out where you were. It breaks nearly every UI expectation one has about scrolling (especially on a phone) and several that your browser has about caching.
  - redthrowaway 16y ago
    Those problems you listed are implementation-specific, and not necessary conditions of the feature.
mambodog 16y ago
This still would prevent being able to CTRL/CMD-F for a particular term to see if anyone has mentioned it already, something I do a lot, and I imagine others do too.
- redthrowaway 16y ago
  This is true, but a little bit of js would take care of that.

cincinnatus 16y ago

That would be the first instance of an ajaxy thing on HN I believe.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
ianl 16y ago
The upvote/downvote on comments and stories uses ajax i believe.
- requinot59 16y ago
  yes/no: it uses simple assignations to (new Image()).src.
  - nfriedly 16y ago
    Not sure why you got hit with the down votes, I always assumed it used "real" ajax.

antimatter15 16y ago

Infinite scrolling screws with scrollbar behavior though :(

redthrowaway 16y ago
Not until you hit the bottom of the first "page", at which point you've resigned yourself to more content.

flatline 16y ago

Ugh, I hope this does not happen, I hate the scroll-to-the-bottom-and-get-more thing. Particularly if the server is under heavy load already, you never know if there is more or if so how much, and it takes the scrollbar away from your mouse pointer once it's loaded another chunk due to the relative offset.

brianpan 16y ago
I'm confused by your reasons. With scroll for more, you would know if there is more- the end is the end, just like with pagination. And it's no worse than pagination in the "you don't know how much more" department, either. The pagination is a "More" link, it doesn't indicate how much is on the next page.
- regularfry 16y ago
  One would think it would be relatively trivial for "More" to become "256 More" or similar...
mnutt 16y ago
Maybe I'm missing something because I've never seen it before, but has anyone ever tried leaving blank space at the bottom of the first page relative to the total number of comments? It may work better on items of fixed length than comments, but even on comments it would at least make the scrolling a little less jumpy.

marshray 16y ago

NOoooo!!! Anything but the Scrollbar of Sisyphus!

1337p337 16y ago
I'd not heard this term for it before, and it sums up the horror accurately. You have enriched my life. The Scrollbar of Sisyphus breaks the back button (click "Back", browser remembers where you had scrolled to, can't go that far down, lands at the bottom, triggers second "page" of results) jumping to the bottom of the page, occasionally searching, and forces you to jump to the end of the page repeatedly to figure out where you were. It breaks nearly every UI expectation one has about scrolling (especially on a phone) and several that your browser has about caching.
- redthrowaway 16y ago
  Those problems you listed are implementation-specific, and not necessary conditions of the feature.

mambodog 16y ago

This still would prevent being able to CTRL/CMD-F for a particular term to see if anyone has mentioned it already, something I do a lot, and I imagine others do too.

redthrowaway 16y ago
This is true, but a little bit of js would take care of that.