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I'd be very cautious with redesigning HN. As a negative example, just look what happened to Slashdot and Reddit. Slashdot's redesign ten years ago in particular

I'd be very cautious with redesigning HN. As a negative example, just look what happened to Slashdot and Reddit. Slashdot's redesign ten years ago in particular seemed really well-done at first, but took away "substance" for lack of a better term, and so did Reddit's. That said, maybe HN could place the logout button further away from the login name/link while preserving info density eg without a fat/dick menu. Right now, these two small touch areas on top of another are mildly prone to mis-clicking on mobile.

Aeolun 6y ago
Mildly though. Plus everyone is so used to that particular situation now that any change there can hardly go right (e.g. just as many people will hate as like it)
cik 6y ago
Digg is still the hallmark of bad redesign to me. It was so bad that it killed the company.
untitaker_ 6y ago
A redesign does not have to be ambitious. There are so many things that can be incrementally improved in HN you'll be busy without ever touching the core of the UI like Reddit did. The bar is literally on the floor. A reason those HN readers look like entire rewrites (besides being rewrites) is because they are not dangerous rollouts, and because they have to provide strong reasons to use them as third party sites over the "real" HN.
corobo 6y ago
Yeah the only thing I'd change about this site is making pre tags word wrap on mobile Literally it. Please don't break it!
marcosdumay 6y ago
The problem with /. wasn't exactly the design. The moderation system and the article ranking algorithm were completely rebuilt too. And both were biased in a direction the community hated (quite explicitly, and since before the change). And the problem with Reddit didn't stop at the design. Yeah, the new site is slow, ugly and hard to use, but the larger issue is that the new design favors video and memes over good content. If not for that point and the lots of on your face growth-hack, I don't think the reaction would be that strong. And none of those despised changes happened by bad luck or technical incompetence. They all come from managerial decisions. The technical act of redesigning can be harmful, but it's not as risky as they examples make it look.
- 9HZZRfNlpR 6y ago
  Well they found their new user base also, that is why they didn't crash like digg. Reddit has become very Facebook like design and content wise.

Aeolun 6y ago

Mildly though. Plus everyone is so used to that particular situation now that any change there can hardly go right (e.g. just as many people will hate as like it)

cik 6y ago

Digg is still the hallmark of bad redesign to me. It was so bad that it killed the company.

untitaker_ 6y ago

A redesign does not have to be ambitious. There are so many things that can be incrementally improved in HN you'll be busy without ever touching the core of the UI like Reddit did. The bar is literally on the floor. A reason those HN readers look like entire rewrites (besides being rewrites) is because they are not dangerous rollouts, and because they have to provide strong reasons to use them as third party sites over the "real" HN.

corobo 6y ago

Yeah the only thing I'd change about this site is making pre tags word wrap on mobile Literally it. Please don't break it!

marcosdumay 6y ago

The problem with /. wasn't exactly the design. The moderation system and the article ranking algorithm were completely rebuilt too. And both were biased in a direction the community hated (quite explicitly, and since before the change). And the problem with Reddit didn't stop at the design. Yeah, the new site is slow, ugly and hard to use, but the larger issue is that the new design favors video and memes over good content. If not for that point and the lots of on your face growth-hack, I don't think the reaction would be that strong. And none of those despised changes happened by bad luck or technical incompetence. They all come from managerial decisions. The technical act of redesigning can be harmful, but it's not as risky as they examples make it look.

9HZZRfNlpR 6y ago
Well they found their new user base also, that is why they didn't crash like digg. Reddit has become very Facebook like design and content wise.