3 ms·

Special HN pages like this one have to be made more well known. They are referenced throughout the site, but there is no central place to find all of them. Most

Special HN pages like this one have to be made more well known. They are referenced throughout the site, but there is no central place to find all of them. Most of the new users will have never seen them before. Even the older users will have trouble finding them when the need to use them. Here are some of these "special" pages for anyone who is curious: New Polls (http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll) Top Colors (http://news.ycombinator.com/topcolors http://news.ycombinator.com/topcolors) Formatting Options (http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc) Front Page with Threshold (http://news.ycombinator.com/over?points=100 http://news.ycombinator.com/over?points=100) Classic Front Page [1] (http://news.ycombinator.com/classic http://news.ycombinator.com/classic) [1] - The classic front page only counts votes from accounts that signed up in the first year that HN was released.

richbradshaw 16y ago
How does top colors work? Where can you set the colors?
- solipsist 16y ago
  You need to reach a certain threshold before you can use Top Colors. I think it maybe 500 karma points, but don't take my word for that. When you do get the feature, you can go to settings and enter a hexadecimal entry for topcolor. The banner on every page of HN (except in Add Comment) will then change from the default orange to the color you specified.
  - pluies 16y ago
    The threshold is indeed a bit lower than that; I have topcolor with 296 karma.
    - solipsist 16y ago
      Ok, thanks for pointing this out. It may be a 250 karma threshold, although we can't know for sure as it is always changing (due to inflation from new users): http://www.jacquesmattheij.com/The+Unofficial+HN+FAQ#cantdownvote http://www.jacquesmattheij.com/The+Unofficial+HN+FAQ#cantdow...
- hugh3 16y ago
  Am I right in thinking that the page of topcolors is a list of the topcolors that some account is currently using? (I just set my topcolor to b000b5 because I am incredibly easily amused.)
sahillavingia 16y ago
The classic front page only counts submissions (not votes), I believe.
- solipsist 16y ago
  PG: To measure any possible decline I created an alternative version of the frontpage that only counted the votes of users who signed up in the first year. (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2073513 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2073513)
  - barrkel 16y ago
    Unfortunately, first-year users will only vote on what they see, and if they don't consistently use the classic view - which I expect very few would - then they will most likely only vote on what everyone else has voted on. Thus, classic wouldn't be expected to be significantly different from the regular home page, and thus it cannot measure the decline.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - rkudeshi 16y ago
      As a newer user, what are the differences between the standard view and the classic view?
      - kgermino 16y ago
        Classic view (news.ycombinator.com/classic) looks the same, however the stories are ranked using only votes from older users. The cutoff is either (1)accounts that have been around for more than a year or (2)accounts that were made in the first year the site was running. I believe that it's (1), but I've heard it both ways.
simonw 16y ago
I think the current Hacker News UI balance with regards to karma points is about right. Exposing top ten lists etc too prominently on the site will inevitably encourage people to game the system, which will damage the quality of discussion.
solipsist 16y ago
Here's another page that many may not know about: Change Password (http://news.ycombinator.com/changepw http://news.ycombinator.com/changepw)
- andyking 16y ago
  Thanks for this - my account was linked with Clickpass before and it was a bit of a pain to log in - going through three or four different pages on a mobile isn't fun. I didn't know I could just use this and change it to a normal username/password account.

richbradshaw 16y ago

How does top colors work? Where can you set the colors?

solipsist 16y ago
You need to reach a certain threshold before you can use Top Colors. I think it maybe 500 karma points, but don't take my word for that. When you do get the feature, you can go to settings and enter a hexadecimal entry for topcolor. The banner on every page of HN (except in Add Comment) will then change from the default orange to the color you specified.
- pluies 16y ago
  The threshold is indeed a bit lower than that; I have topcolor with 296 karma.
  - solipsist 16y ago
    Ok, thanks for pointing this out. It may be a 250 karma threshold, although we can't know for sure as it is always changing (due to inflation from new users): http://www.jacquesmattheij.com/The+Unofficial+HN+FAQ#cantdownvote http://www.jacquesmattheij.com/The+Unofficial+HN+FAQ#cantdow...
hugh3 16y ago
Am I right in thinking that the page of topcolors is a list of the topcolors that some account is currently using? (I just set my topcolor to b000b5 because I am incredibly easily amused.)

sahillavingia 16y ago

The classic front page only counts submissions (not votes), I believe.

solipsist 16y ago
PG: To measure any possible decline I created an alternative version of the frontpage that only counted the votes of users who signed up in the first year. (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2073513 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2073513)
- barrkel 16y ago
  Unfortunately, first-year users will only vote on what they see, and if they don't consistently use the classic view - which I expect very few would - then they will most likely only vote on what everyone else has voted on. Thus, classic wouldn't be expected to be significantly different from the regular home page, and thus it cannot measure the decline.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - rkudeshi 16y ago
    As a newer user, what are the differences between the standard view and the classic view?
    - kgermino 16y ago
      Classic view (news.ycombinator.com/classic) looks the same, however the stories are ranked using only votes from older users. The cutoff is either (1)accounts that have been around for more than a year or (2)accounts that were made in the first year the site was running. I believe that it's (1), but I've heard it both ways.

simonw 16y ago

I think the current Hacker News UI balance with regards to karma points is about right. Exposing top ten lists etc too prominently on the site will inevitably encourage people to game the system, which will damage the quality of discussion.

solipsist 16y ago

Here's another page that many may not know about: Change Password (http://news.ycombinator.com/changepw http://news.ycombinator.com/changepw)

andyking 16y ago
Thanks for this - my account was linked with Clickpass before and it was a bit of a pain to log in - going through three or four different pages on a mobile isn't fun. I didn't know I could just use this and change it to a normal username/password account.