4 ms·

Show HN: Chrome extension to collapse and expand HN parent comments threads

44 points by marcosnils 6y ago

anotheryou 6y ago
I'd love a firefox version too :)
- blendergeek 6y ago
  It looks like its open source. The developer would probably be delighted to take a patch adding Firefox support!
  - AlchemistCamp 6y ago
    The developer is the person who posted the story. How does patching Chrome plugins to add Firefox "support" work, exactly? Have you ever done that? FWIW, I'd totally check this out if it were for Firefox. I left Chrome years ago for privacy reasons.
    - blendergeek 6y ago
      Firefox tries to be largely chrome compatible. It is likely, that it would work on Firefox with minimal work and merely needs to be added to AMO. If that is the case, then it is a simple case of asking the developer to add it to Firefox. I would recommend a Github Issue for that.
      - anotheryou 6y ago
        The trouble of course exists in both direction. I have a FF extension I didn't manage to port to chrome yet because chrome is missing something (finding me the tallest element that has a scroll bar).
nikivi 6y ago
One thing I truly want HN to add is a button like https://apolloapp.io https://apolloapp.io or official reddit app have that lets you go down/up the top threads quickly. Usually its in the bottom right corner. Super useful when browsing on mobile.
- Vinnl 6y ago
  I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but I had a similar need and wrote this extension for my personal use: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/sihn/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/sihn/ It adds "parent" and "root" buttons under every comment. You can use the collapse button next to a post to get to its next sibling. (They are also made easier to hit on mobile.) Firefox only though.
- skavi 6y ago
  Sync for Reddit allowed you to map volume buttons to thread up/down. That was super convenient and fast. Unfortunately, it seems Apple does not look to such features kindly.
- Merman_Mike 6y ago
  I hope that HN doesn't add anything. It's great just the way it is. People can certainly add whatever they want with browser extensions, though.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Floating buttons are…kind of annoying, to be honest. Just like those “back to top” buttons a lot of websites use.
- ballenf 6y ago
  I prefer the current option to hit the '-' to collapse threads when I'm done with them and not having any more click/touch targets on screen. It seems like the collapsing is remembered while logged in across devices and sessions.
jvzr 6y ago
I can recommend Refined Hacker News by plibither8 (https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news). I added a "collapse root comment" module which does just that. The addon itself has tons of other useful features, and is still pretty lightweight
- CharlesW 6y ago
  It's so great. I forget that I'm using it, and then am shocked when I use HN on a browser which doesn't have it.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
crumpled 6y ago
Slightly off-topic, but, does anyone have a tip/tool for actually making it through a long thread (such as "who's hiring") in multiple sessions? I have trouble saving my spot if I leave the tab for too long, or if I navigate away, and then come back with the back button. It's possible I've never seen beyond page 2 because it's such a slog and I often have limited time.
- dirtyid 6y ago
  https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/18066-hn-comments-owl https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/18066-hn-comments-owl https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn-comments-owl/kpoggabejgbenjahggloahnnaolmfock?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn-comments-owl/kp... E: This will only highlight comments since X time, it helps somewaht.
mancerayder 6y ago
I only use Chrome for work. Since they perma-stopped my ability to cease the video autoplay and back when I would turn it off, it would somehow get itself turned on again, I stopped using it as my 'leisure browser' at home and at work during lunchtime. Any hopes for some HN-y Firefox plugins?
- interestica 6y ago
  I don't know HN's view of Opera, but I've been using it for more than a year and really like it. It's chromium based and can use any plugin from the chrome store. It also has a lot of useful features (PIP video window, sidebar messengers, dev tools, dark mode, workspaces)
  - hyperdimension 6y ago
    Opera was bought out by a Chinese company a few years back. It's now, as I understand, more-or-less a Chromium clone. If you like(d the old) Opera, 12.16 IIRC, though, I would suggest a more-or-less Chromium clone: Vivaldi. It feels like it has the same truly-a-user-agent feeling as Opera gave me so long ago. I believe it's staffed by ex-Opera devs, too. EDIT: Okay, I just realized you acknowledged it was a Chromium fork...I wish I knew how to read. My recommendation on Vivaldi still stands however.
    - interestica 6y ago
      Yeah, I get that it was bought by a Chinese company and that seems to be the primary criticism from people (and I'm not sure it's justified.) I wouldn't call it a Chromium clone - the codebase and most functions/abilities are the same but the UX and UI thinking is very different. I will still check out Vivaldi!
  - zamadatix 6y ago
    PIP and dark mode sound like standard chromium features. Curious what's better in the dev tools though.
alexh1 6y ago
Ha, I made something similar last year https://github.com/AlexBHarley/skipper https://github.com/AlexBHarley/skipper. It adds a keyboard shortcut to take you to the next top level comment. I think it's broken now because I did it in a really hacky way. When you get tired of a comment chain in a thread click two (or three, I forgrt) keys and bam, you're into the next conversation.
gpnt 6y ago
I think that should be the default, all parents collapsed. Very neat. If you want a quick preview, you can copy the code on this page[1] from the GitHub repo directly and paste it on the console. Works on Firefox too. [1] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marcosnils/orange-juicer/main/core.js https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marcosnils/orange-juicer/m...
de_nied 6y ago
This actually gives me an idea for just the thread page itself. Default collapsed threads that you can expand to show comments. Illustration: https://i.imgur.com/NrR8TVR.png https://i.imgur.com/NrR8TVR.png *The comments and thread are unrelated. I just picked random ones from a thread I was on.

44 points by marcosnils 6y ago

anotheryou 6y ago

I'd love a firefox version too :)

blendergeek 6y ago
It looks like its open source. The developer would probably be delighted to take a patch adding Firefox support!
- AlchemistCamp 6y ago
  The developer is the person who posted the story. How does patching Chrome plugins to add Firefox "support" work, exactly? Have you ever done that? FWIW, I'd totally check this out if it were for Firefox. I left Chrome years ago for privacy reasons.
  - blendergeek 6y ago
    Firefox tries to be largely chrome compatible. It is likely, that it would work on Firefox with minimal work and merely needs to be added to AMO. If that is the case, then it is a simple case of asking the developer to add it to Firefox. I would recommend a Github Issue for that.
    - anotheryou 6y ago
      The trouble of course exists in both direction. I have a FF extension I didn't manage to port to chrome yet because chrome is missing something (finding me the tallest element that has a scroll bar).

nikivi 6y ago

One thing I truly want HN to add is a button like https://apolloapp.io https://apolloapp.io or official reddit app have that lets you go down/up the top threads quickly. Usually its in the bottom right corner. Super useful when browsing on mobile.

Vinnl 6y ago
I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but I had a similar need and wrote this extension for my personal use: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/sihn/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/sihn/ It adds "parent" and "root" buttons under every comment. You can use the collapse button next to a post to get to its next sibling. (They are also made easier to hit on mobile.) Firefox only though.
skavi 6y ago
Sync for Reddit allowed you to map volume buttons to thread up/down. That was super convenient and fast. Unfortunately, it seems Apple does not look to such features kindly.
Merman_Mike 6y ago
I hope that HN doesn't add anything. It's great just the way it is. People can certainly add whatever they want with browser extensions, though.
saagarjha 6y ago
Floating buttons are…kind of annoying, to be honest. Just like those “back to top” buttons a lot of websites use.
ballenf 6y ago
I prefer the current option to hit the '-' to collapse threads when I'm done with them and not having any more click/touch targets on screen. It seems like the collapsing is remembered while logged in across devices and sessions.

jvzr 6y ago

I can recommend Refined Hacker News by plibither8 (https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news). I added a "collapse root comment" module which does just that. The addon itself has tons of other useful features, and is still pretty lightweight

CharlesW 6y ago
It's so great. I forget that I'm using it, and then am shocked when I use HN on a browser which doesn't have it.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

crumpled 6y ago

Slightly off-topic, but, does anyone have a tip/tool for actually making it through a long thread (such as "who's hiring") in multiple sessions? I have trouble saving my spot if I leave the tab for too long, or if I navigate away, and then come back with the back button. It's possible I've never seen beyond page 2 because it's such a slog and I often have limited time.

dirtyid 6y ago
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/18066-hn-comments-owl https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/18066-hn-comments-owl https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn-comments-owl/kpoggabejgbenjahggloahnnaolmfock?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hn-comments-owl/kp... E: This will only highlight comments since X time, it helps somewaht.

mancerayder 6y ago

I only use Chrome for work. Since they perma-stopped my ability to cease the video autoplay and back when I would turn it off, it would somehow get itself turned on again, I stopped using it as my 'leisure browser' at home and at work during lunchtime. Any hopes for some HN-y Firefox plugins?

interestica 6y ago
I don't know HN's view of Opera, but I've been using it for more than a year and really like it. It's chromium based and can use any plugin from the chrome store. It also has a lot of useful features (PIP video window, sidebar messengers, dev tools, dark mode, workspaces)
- hyperdimension 6y ago
  Opera was bought out by a Chinese company a few years back. It's now, as I understand, more-or-less a Chromium clone. If you like(d the old) Opera, 12.16 IIRC, though, I would suggest a more-or-less Chromium clone: Vivaldi. It feels like it has the same truly-a-user-agent feeling as Opera gave me so long ago. I believe it's staffed by ex-Opera devs, too. EDIT: Okay, I just realized you acknowledged it was a Chromium fork...I wish I knew how to read. My recommendation on Vivaldi still stands however.
  - interestica 6y ago
    Yeah, I get that it was bought by a Chinese company and that seems to be the primary criticism from people (and I'm not sure it's justified.) I wouldn't call it a Chromium clone - the codebase and most functions/abilities are the same but the UX and UI thinking is very different. I will still check out Vivaldi!
- zamadatix 6y ago
  PIP and dark mode sound like standard chromium features. Curious what's better in the dev tools though.

alexh1 6y ago

Ha, I made something similar last year https://github.com/AlexBHarley/skipper https://github.com/AlexBHarley/skipper. It adds a keyboard shortcut to take you to the next top level comment. I think it's broken now because I did it in a really hacky way. When you get tired of a comment chain in a thread click two (or three, I forgrt) keys and bam, you're into the next conversation.

gpnt 6y ago

I think that should be the default, all parents collapsed. Very neat. If you want a quick preview, you can copy the code on this page[1] from the GitHub repo directly and paste it on the console. Works on Firefox too. [1] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marcosnils/orange-juicer/main/core.js https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marcosnils/orange-juicer/m...

de_nied 6y ago

This actually gives me an idea for just the thread page itself. Default collapsed threads that you can expand to show comments. Illustration: https://i.imgur.com/NrR8TVR.png https://i.imgur.com/NrR8TVR.png *The comments and thread are unrelated. I just picked random ones from a thread I was on.