7 ms·

Completely agreed. The site: 1) loads instantly 2) is mostly plaintext. Reddit, for what it's worth, provides about the same features but on an absolutely he

Completely agreed. The site: 1) loads instantly 2) is mostly plaintext. Reddit, for what it's worth, provides about the same features but on an absolutely heavyweight site. Especially the new (redesigned) SPA reddit

moonchild 6y ago
https://i.reddit.com/ https://i.reddit.com/
- u801e 6y ago
  How does that compare with https://old.reddit.com https://old.reddit.com ?
  - snazz 6y ago
    i.reddit.com is way more basic than old.reddit.com. It's intended for ancient cell phones or the slowest of slow connections. It's actually pretty impressive that it works at all these days.
    - giantDinosaur 6y ago
      Fundamentally all reddit is is some comments and upvotes in a database combined with a ranking algorithm of some kind. Other than scale, the actual core functionality is exceedingly basic, so I hope they maintain these old versions (mainly old.reddit) for a long, long time.
  - mrob 6y ago
    i.reddit.com has infinite scrolling, so it's worse.
- imgabe 6y ago
  You can also append .compact to any url for a simple mobile- friendly version of reddit. I refuse to use the app and this works great for me.
  - JacobAldridge 6y ago
    Seconding the Compact version - at one point the site upgrade / redesign reached the point where it was unusable in my browser. Compact saved the day, and makes the experience much smoother to a fellow app-refuser.
jimmaswell 6y ago
SPA is one of the worst things to happen to the web. There are a small number of instances where it makes sense but it just ruins sites like Reddit, especially on a mobile device.
- bransonf 6y ago
  I've had this conversation a lot lately with a friend of mine who is a React developer. And I recall a thread on HN where someone broke it into a dichotomy. There are those who believe strongly in the web as interactive documents. I fall largely into this camp. I want small pages with a minuscule amount of JS. On the other hand, there are those now using the web as a distribution platform. My favorite example is Figma. Figma is my favorite vector graphics program of all time. Compare it to something like Illustrator, but with file syncing, collaboration and updates abstracted. I don't have to expose myself to the horror of Adobe bloat. So I must disagree. SPA and the rise of JS frameworks is not one of the worst things to happen to the web. Look at what Facebook has become. It's an application, not a website of interactive documents. Or see what GitHub is doing. They are soon to integrate a whole IDE into the browser with Codespaces. I'm bullish on WASM as well. I envision a future where all software could be distributed via the browser. The problem I think is that too many companies have become overly ambitious and bought into a lot of unnecessary tech. Reddit is a great example, and they are also guilty of pushing their native app incessantly. The problem isn't the technology. It's the misuse of the technology.
- snazz 6y ago
  To be completely fair, Reddit is an absolutely terrible SPA to begin with. The infinite scrolling is very poorly implemented (if you click a link and hit the back button, you end up at the top of the infinite scroll page and have to wait for it to load everything below again), the memory usage is higher than any other app on my computer, and collapsing comment threads takes forever. The Apollo app solves every technical problem with Reddit, so I just recommend that people use that instead of dealing with the official web app. Luckily, they haven't gotten rid of old.reddit.com.
- a4wtaw4tawtawt 6y ago
  so? made good money building them. could care less about the JS crybabies.
rckoepke 6y ago
The thing that keeps me feeling warm and fuzzy is that they dont redirect any links. It's amazing how special I feel when copy/pasting hyperlinks works like it did back in the '90s.
theklub 6y ago
I can't stand the new reddit I'm always on the old.reddit
swsieber 6y ago
HN is the one thing I can access on my phone when my data plan goes out.
- mmmBacon 6y ago
  Ha! I also use it to test my network connection. If HN loads slowly I know it’s the network!

moonchild 6y ago

https://i.reddit.com/ https://i.reddit.com/

u801e 6y ago
How does that compare with https://old.reddit.com https://old.reddit.com ?
- snazz 6y ago
  i.reddit.com is way more basic than old.reddit.com. It's intended for ancient cell phones or the slowest of slow connections. It's actually pretty impressive that it works at all these days.
  - giantDinosaur 6y ago
    Fundamentally all reddit is is some comments and upvotes in a database combined with a ranking algorithm of some kind. Other than scale, the actual core functionality is exceedingly basic, so I hope they maintain these old versions (mainly old.reddit) for a long, long time.
- mrob 6y ago
  i.reddit.com has infinite scrolling, so it's worse.
imgabe 6y ago
You can also append .compact to any url for a simple mobile- friendly version of reddit. I refuse to use the app and this works great for me.
- JacobAldridge 6y ago
  Seconding the Compact version - at one point the site upgrade / redesign reached the point where it was unusable in my browser. Compact saved the day, and makes the experience much smoother to a fellow app-refuser.

jimmaswell 6y ago

SPA is one of the worst things to happen to the web. There are a small number of instances where it makes sense but it just ruins sites like Reddit, especially on a mobile device.

bransonf 6y ago
I've had this conversation a lot lately with a friend of mine who is a React developer. And I recall a thread on HN where someone broke it into a dichotomy. There are those who believe strongly in the web as interactive documents. I fall largely into this camp. I want small pages with a minuscule amount of JS. On the other hand, there are those now using the web as a distribution platform. My favorite example is Figma. Figma is my favorite vector graphics program of all time. Compare it to something like Illustrator, but with file syncing, collaboration and updates abstracted. I don't have to expose myself to the horror of Adobe bloat. So I must disagree. SPA and the rise of JS frameworks is not one of the worst things to happen to the web. Look at what Facebook has become. It's an application, not a website of interactive documents. Or see what GitHub is doing. They are soon to integrate a whole IDE into the browser with Codespaces. I'm bullish on WASM as well. I envision a future where all software could be distributed via the browser. The problem I think is that too many companies have become overly ambitious and bought into a lot of unnecessary tech. Reddit is a great example, and they are also guilty of pushing their native app incessantly. The problem isn't the technology. It's the misuse of the technology.
snazz 6y ago
To be completely fair, Reddit is an absolutely terrible SPA to begin with. The infinite scrolling is very poorly implemented (if you click a link and hit the back button, you end up at the top of the infinite scroll page and have to wait for it to load everything below again), the memory usage is higher than any other app on my computer, and collapsing comment threads takes forever. The Apollo app solves every technical problem with Reddit, so I just recommend that people use that instead of dealing with the official web app. Luckily, they haven't gotten rid of old.reddit.com.
a4wtaw4tawtawt 6y ago
so? made good money building them. could care less about the JS crybabies.

rckoepke 6y ago

The thing that keeps me feeling warm and fuzzy is that they dont redirect any links. It's amazing how special I feel when copy/pasting hyperlinks works like it did back in the '90s.

theklub 6y ago

I can't stand the new reddit I'm always on the old.reddit

swsieber 6y ago

HN is the one thing I can access on my phone when my data plan goes out.

mmmBacon 6y ago
Ha! I also use it to test my network connection. If HN loads slowly I know it’s the network!