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Ask HN: Why has HN not bothered about updating its UX?

4 points by escapist16 6y ago

thanatos519 6y ago
Because it is already perfect!
LandR 6y ago
As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with its UX. It works, you can upvote / downvote. It's simple, doesn't need tonnes of JS to run. It's fast. What do you think needs updating? The only possible thing I would think about changing is favouriting a post. It's not obvious to me that you click the the x minutes ago part to get to a screen where you can favourite.
- escapist16 6y ago
  It is true that it is simple and gets the job done. I was wondering if it would be better with a more Product Hunt like experience.Also the search is at the very bottom, too me some time to locate it. Also , getting to a user's submissions take multiple clicks. There is a lot of real estate on the user profile that could have been used.
  - enonevets 6y ago
    I highly prefer the way HN is now over PH. If they made those changes, it'd be worse in my personal opinion, not better.
robocat 6y ago
Nitpick: I think you update a UI. You would improve a UX. Try reading the words out in full. Also UX is a terribly misunderstood term from what I have seen - I would tend to clarify meaning using different words.
- escapist16 6y ago
  Nitpicking noted! New thing learnt. Thanks. The HN user interface has been the same as long as I remember and there certainly are a few user experience related things that can be improved.Was just wondering why and how has HN resisted the temptation.
m-p-3 6y ago
The only thing I'd like to see is a dark theme that follow the system settings. Other than that HN is perfect and loads blazingly fast.
krapp 6y ago
They do update it from time to time. The biggest recent updates I can think of were thread folding and an improvement to mobile styles. Recently there was a thread about adding a dark style, and the mods said they were considering it. They're just conservative about changing things, and at this point, the look of the site has more or less become part of its brand.

4 points by escapist16 6y ago

Because it is already perfect!

As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with its UX. It works, you can upvote / downvote. It's simple, doesn't need tonnes of JS to run. It's fast. What do you think needs updating? The only possible thing I would think about changing is favouriting a post. It's not obvious to me that you click the the x minutes ago part to get to a screen where you can favourite.

escapist16 6y ago
It is true that it is simple and gets the job done. I was wondering if it would be better with a more Product Hunt like experience.Also the search is at the very bottom, too me some time to locate it. Also , getting to a user's submissions take multiple clicks. There is a lot of real estate on the user profile that could have been used.
- enonevets 6y ago
  I highly prefer the way HN is now over PH. If they made those changes, it'd be worse in my personal opinion, not better.

robocat 6y ago

Nitpick: I think you update a UI. You would improve a UX. Try reading the words out in full. Also UX is a terribly misunderstood term from what I have seen - I would tend to clarify meaning using different words.

escapist16 6y ago
Nitpicking noted! New thing learnt. Thanks. The HN user interface has been the same as long as I remember and there certainly are a few user experience related things that can be improved.Was just wondering why and how has HN resisted the temptation.

m-p-3 6y ago

The only thing I'd like to see is a dark theme that follow the system settings. Other than that HN is perfect and loads blazingly fast.

krapp 6y ago

They do update it from time to time. The biggest recent updates I can think of were thread folding and an improvement to mobile styles. Recently there was a thread about adding a dark style, and the mods said they were considering it. They're just conservative about changing things, and at this point, the look of the site has more or less become part of its brand.