6 ms·

Nice. Thinking about it, also deleting the whole right column (trending, who to follow) would really make Twitter a happier place.

robbyking 6y ago
This is why I use StyleBot! I don't customize every page I visit, but it makes a huge difference for sites I view regularly. Here's my custom Hacker News style: https://i.imgur.com/KbP5VAX.png https://i.imgur.com/KbP5VAX.png And Craigslist: https://i.imgur.com/uTyST6P.png https://i.imgur.com/uTyST6P.png
- moneywoes 6y ago
  What is your configuration
- iagovar 6y ago
  I use a similar solution, I like to modify the CSS of pages I visit, so I can avoid absurd design choices. Anyway the HN design is almost the pinnacle of perfection to me.
  - Flimm 6y ago
    (I like HN's design as well, except when I am using a touchscreen.)
- josefresco 6y ago
  Yeah Stylebot! I use it to fix UI annoyances on my daily favorite websites. I spend all day using browser developer tools, why not use my skills to improve my favorite websites?
wonder_er 6y ago
For a while, I could use uBlock to delete all those unwanted columns. It was effortless and permanent. I wrote up the instructions here: https://josh.works/take-back-your-attention https://josh.works/take-back-your-attention But a year ago or so, Twitter redesigned the front-end. Now the class names constantly change, and my CSS Selector knowledge isn't good enough to write flexible-enough rules to keep these unwanted elements blocked. :( I'd pay someone to pair with me on writing good uBlock rules that make these deletions permanent. I'd also like to remove all re-tweets and all instances of "so-and-so liked this tweet". uBlock consistently removes all advertisements from the timeline, so... small win. If you read this and wanna be involved, shoot me an email: joshthompson@hey.com I'd of course publish what we come up with so others could use it!
- ldd 6y ago
  twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] I use those rules on uBlock origin. let me know if it helps!
  - wonder_er 6y ago
    Whoa! Game changing! I never thought to search for aria-labels. I immediately and joyfully added your rules to uBlock, and it works like a charm! I ended up expanding on the concept: twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Search and explore"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Footer"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Who to follow"]
    - ldd 6y ago
      great! Paradoxically, I do need to start using twitter to market my game, but I dread spending time on that site. I'll probably try to only go there once a week. Social media is weird.
      - kbenson 6y ago
        About a year ago I tried getting into Twitter because it seemed like there were a few people I might want to follow, so I dutifully read a few people I knew about and added people they retweeted that seemed interesting. About a week or two in I tried engaging on a topic in a HN style way where I tried to ask questions and probe for something deeper (my first mistake), and on something where I sort of questioned the party line on a trending topic (my second mistake). I was actually wrong in some of my assumptions I was using at that time, but everyone was so busy assuming I was acting bad faith and trying to troll (and responding how they thought appropriate) that not one person could actually engage with me enough to even figure that out even though I tried to keep it entirely civil, I had to learn it myself a few hours later (and I did go back with a mea culpa). I only lasted about another week reading items on the platform regularly as it became obvious that this is just the expectation of how discourse happens on Twitter. I mean, I don't expect it to be like HN, but I also don't expect people to assume racist troll is the obvious and most likely option when I open my mouth, and that's how it feels on Twitter. What's worse, I'm not sure that's not a rational approach on the platform given how people on it act, which is why I don't want to be there. Twitter's like a giant set of improv performances where everyone is performing for their friends and private audiences in an effort to be the most extreme version of themselves, but all those performances are banging into each other and feeding off each other. Interesting and weird at first, until you realize it's all so terribly draining.
jfg 6y ago
For me, you can target the sidebar with the rule: div[data-testid="sidebarColumn"] .r-1u4rsef and promoted tweets (in light mode): .css-1dbjc4n.r-my5ep6.r-qklmqi.r-1adg3ll div[data-testid="placementTracking"]:not(.r-u8s1d) Obviously very fragile, but has been working fo the last month or so
- wonder_er 6y ago
  It's those auto-generated class names that kill me. :( They change all the time. An earlier suggestion just worked for me, and I suspect it'll be durable: twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] I ended up adding more labels: twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Search and explore"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Footer"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Who to follow"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Search Twitter"] Now my twitter looks like this: https://share.getcloudapp.com/v1ue8EZY https://share.getcloudapp.com/v1ue8EZY Here's a pastebin of all my twitter-related rules. You can see I've tried to manually delete a _lot_ of nodes. https://pastebin.com/Q6X8PrGu https://pastebin.com/Q6X8PrGu
dgut 6y ago
I love this thread. Personally I use Twitter to follow people who write interesting tweets about programming, but the trending sidebar tries very hard to make anybody anxious.
- wonder_er 6y ago
  This problem might already be solved! The creator of https://github.com/insin/tweak-new-twitter https://github.com/insin/tweak-new-twitter dropped by and brought this tool to my attention. It's everything I wanted, works perfectly, has plugins for Chrome and Firefox. Check it out! Might be exactly what you need.

robbyking 6y ago

This is why I use StyleBot! I don't customize every page I visit, but it makes a huge difference for sites I view regularly. Here's my custom Hacker News style: https://i.imgur.com/KbP5VAX.png https://i.imgur.com/KbP5VAX.png And Craigslist: https://i.imgur.com/uTyST6P.png https://i.imgur.com/uTyST6P.png

moneywoes 6y ago
What is your configuration
iagovar 6y ago
I use a similar solution, I like to modify the CSS of pages I visit, so I can avoid absurd design choices. Anyway the HN design is almost the pinnacle of perfection to me.
- Flimm 6y ago
  (I like HN's design as well, except when I am using a touchscreen.)
josefresco 6y ago
Yeah Stylebot! I use it to fix UI annoyances on my daily favorite websites. I spend all day using browser developer tools, why not use my skills to improve my favorite websites?

wonder_er 6y ago

For a while, I could use uBlock to delete all those unwanted columns. It was effortless and permanent. I wrote up the instructions here: https://josh.works/take-back-your-attention https://josh.works/take-back-your-attention But a year ago or so, Twitter redesigned the front-end. Now the class names constantly change, and my CSS Selector knowledge isn't good enough to write flexible-enough rules to keep these unwanted elements blocked. :( I'd pay someone to pair with me on writing good uBlock rules that make these deletions permanent. I'd also like to remove all re-tweets and all instances of "so-and-so liked this tweet". uBlock consistently removes all advertisements from the timeline, so... small win. If you read this and wanna be involved, shoot me an email: joshthompson@hey.com I'd of course publish what we come up with so others could use it!

ldd 6y ago
twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] I use those rules on uBlock origin. let me know if it helps!
- wonder_er 6y ago
  Whoa! Game changing! I never thought to search for aria-labels. I immediately and joyfully added your rules to uBlock, and it works like a charm! I ended up expanding on the concept: twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Search and explore"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Footer"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Who to follow"]
  - ldd 6y ago
    great! Paradoxically, I do need to start using twitter to market my game, but I dread spending time on that site. I'll probably try to only go there once a week. Social media is weird.
    - kbenson 6y ago
      About a year ago I tried getting into Twitter because it seemed like there were a few people I might want to follow, so I dutifully read a few people I knew about and added people they retweeted that seemed interesting. About a week or two in I tried engaging on a topic in a HN style way where I tried to ask questions and probe for something deeper (my first mistake), and on something where I sort of questioned the party line on a trending topic (my second mistake). I was actually wrong in some of my assumptions I was using at that time, but everyone was so busy assuming I was acting bad faith and trying to troll (and responding how they thought appropriate) that not one person could actually engage with me enough to even figure that out even though I tried to keep it entirely civil, I had to learn it myself a few hours later (and I did go back with a mea culpa). I only lasted about another week reading items on the platform regularly as it became obvious that this is just the expectation of how discourse happens on Twitter. I mean, I don't expect it to be like HN, but I also don't expect people to assume racist troll is the obvious and most likely option when I open my mouth, and that's how it feels on Twitter. What's worse, I'm not sure that's not a rational approach on the platform given how people on it act, which is why I don't want to be there. Twitter's like a giant set of improv performances where everyone is performing for their friends and private audiences in an effort to be the most extreme version of themselves, but all those performances are banging into each other and feeding off each other. Interesting and weird at first, until you realize it's all so terribly draining.

jfg 6y ago

For me, you can target the sidebar with the rule: div[data-testid="sidebarColumn"] .r-1u4rsef and promoted tweets (in light mode): .css-1dbjc4n.r-my5ep6.r-qklmqi.r-1adg3ll div[data-testid="placementTracking"]:not(.r-u8s1d) Obviously very fragile, but has been working fo the last month or so

wonder_er 6y ago
It's those auto-generated class names that kill me. :( They change all the time. An earlier suggestion just worked for me, and I suspect it'll be durable: twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] I ended up adding more labels: twitter.com##[aria-label="Timeline: Trending now"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Relevant people"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Search and explore"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Footer"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Who to follow"] twitter.com##[aria-label="Search Twitter"] Now my twitter looks like this: https://share.getcloudapp.com/v1ue8EZY https://share.getcloudapp.com/v1ue8EZY Here's a pastebin of all my twitter-related rules. You can see I've tried to manually delete a _lot_ of nodes. https://pastebin.com/Q6X8PrGu https://pastebin.com/Q6X8PrGu

dgut 6y ago

I love this thread. Personally I use Twitter to follow people who write interesting tweets about programming, but the trending sidebar tries very hard to make anybody anxious.

wonder_er 6y ago
This problem might already be solved! The creator of https://github.com/insin/tweak-new-twitter https://github.com/insin/tweak-new-twitter dropped by and brought this tool to my attention. It's everything I wanted, works perfectly, has plugins for Chrome and Firefox. Check it out! Might be exactly what you need.