4 ms·

Yes, but we can't tell which comment threads you've looked at.

by dlimeb 18y ago

mojuba 18y ago
The problem is, there might be new comments even if you visited the thread. But there's a remedy for it and it's simple: the link includes the number of comments in that discussion, so that your browser can change the color if the number of comments has changed since your last visit. Edit: e.g. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=268389&c=21 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=268389&c=21
- ichverstehe 18y ago
  That is so very simple and genious. PG, better implement this pronto, shouldn't take more than five lispy, lispy seconds.
- pg 18y ago
  Very clever. I may do that. But it would take more than 5 seconds, because I have to think about the best way to distinguish between visited and unvisited links.
  - gojomo 18y ago
    Why not just use the same slight-fading that's used for submission titles? (Also: simply changing the link URL would mean users could make a change in their local stylesheets, even if there's no styling change at News.YC.)
- mhartl 18y ago
  This is neat. I've been using this technique ever since stumbling across it in "Building Communities with Software" by Joel Spolsky (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswithSo.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswi...). Money quote: Q. Why don't you have some kind of system so I can see what posts I've already read? A. We have the best system that can be implemented in a distributed, scalable fashion: we let everyone's browser keep track of it. Web browsers will change the color of the links you've already visited from blue to purple. So all we have to do is subtly change the URL for each topic to include the number of replies available; that way when there are additional replies the post will appear in the "unread" color again. Anything more elaborate than this would be harder to build and would needlessly complicate the UI.

Yes, but we can't tell which comment threads you've looked at.

by dlimeb 18y ago

Yes, but we can't tell which comment threads you've looked at.

The problem is, there might be new comments even if you visited the thread. But there's a remedy for it and it's simple: the link includes the number of comments in that discussion, so that your browser can change the color if the number of comments has changed since your last visit. Edit: e.g. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=268389&c=21 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=268389&c=21

ichverstehe 18y ago
That is so very simple and genious. PG, better implement this pronto, shouldn't take more than five lispy, lispy seconds.
pg 18y ago
Very clever. I may do that. But it would take more than 5 seconds, because I have to think about the best way to distinguish between visited and unvisited links.
- gojomo 18y ago
  Why not just use the same slight-fading that's used for submission titles? (Also: simply changing the link URL would mean users could make a change in their local stylesheets, even if there's no styling change at News.YC.)
mhartl 18y ago
This is neat. I've been using this technique ever since stumbling across it in "Building Communities with Software" by Joel Spolsky (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswithSo.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswi...). Money quote: Q. Why don't you have some kind of system so I can see what posts I've already read? A. We have the best system that can be implemented in a distributed, scalable fashion: we let everyone's browser keep track of it. Web browsers will change the color of the links you've already visited from blue to purple. So all we have to do is subtly change the URL for each topic to include the number of replies available; that way when there are additional replies the post will appear in the "unread" color again. Anything more elaborate than this would be harder to build and would needlessly complicate the UI.