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I wouldn't be using Hackernews if it wasn't for the community and moderation. This website is terribly bad: - UX/UI is terrible and not user friendly - Infrast

I wouldn't be using Hackernews if it wasn't for the community and moderation. This website is terribly bad: - UX/UI is terrible and not user friendly - Infrastructure and the code is like COBOL from the 80s - No notifications when someone replies to your comment - Profile section is non-existent - API is just as bad as the website I could go on with the list, but you get the idea... for a website which receives millions of visitors, it's a shame that it's so bad.

meheleventyone 3y ago
The UX and the lack of notifications are part of the reason I really like it!
- boredemployee 3y ago
  2nd that. no need of tricks for "user retention", the content is so good that we keep coming by our own.
dzdt 3y ago
I think many of the things you identify as flaws are actually strengths of this site. The minimalist text-only gui IS very usable for discussion, and forces that the focus is on the discussion. I think for instance adding images to posts or comments would make the site worse, as images serve to attract and focus attention away from discussion. But the discussion here is the point! The minimal profile sections are also a feature. This account is not your digital homepage. It is a place people go for discussion. A bigger focus on your profile would be a step towards use of the site as brand-building which favors attention-whoring over quality discussion. Again, the focus is on reducing frictions to people to contribute to quality discussion, and avoiding dynamics that might supplant this.
- mewpmewp2 3y ago
  Some features would still be nice, like to know when someone has responded to you.
  - mr_mitm 3y ago
    Or just moving the collapse button next to the vote buttons, so collapsing multiple comment branches becomes easier. Would not change anything the GP mentioned and would probably be super easy to implement.
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      Easy enough to do it yourself via userstyle (for Stylus) or userscript (for TamperMonkey)? :). I'm currently using both - userstyle for DIY dark mode, userscript on mobile for font size adjustment (no Stylus available on Firefox for Android yet). Plus uBlock Origin configured to nuke the karma counter.
      - dredmorbius 3y ago
        True. And though I don't have a relocated collapse control, there are modified light/dark mode HN styles linked in my HN profile, for those interested in either using those directly or as a starting point for your own restyle.
      - mr_mitm 3y ago
        I could and probably will, but solving this on the server-side would be a huge time-saver for millions of users. Is there a RES-style browser addon for HN with some of these little quality of life improvements?
        TeMPOraL 3y ago
        Then again, it's hacker news. If the audience of this site won't individually hack the UX to match their preferences, who will?
        mr_mitm 3y ago
        With that logic, why not just provide an API. Everybody just hack together their own client. Being a hacker doesn't mean you never get to benefit from prior work, or never work together on something, or never share your work. I get the appeal of providing a minimal service like HN, but unless I'm missing something, my proposed change is an absolute no-brainer considering it's effort-reward ratio.
taneq 3y ago
Those are all features.
Joker_vD 3y ago
You get the list of trending articles, you can go read the article itself, you can look at the discussions, and you can also get a comment box to add to those discussions. Oh, and you can up- and downvote articles and comments. What else do you really need, honestly? It's like reddit, only with actually readable comment threads.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  Personally, I'd like some more formatting options: 1. inline code formatting, e.g. Markdown's `place code here` with backticks) 2. direct links, or some sort of footnotes system. I prefer to thoroughly source posts, especially when it's either rare/obscure knowledge or when it's an opinion/viewpoint that goes against the "hive mind" or however else you want to call the "mass opinion" on here - it's easier and more productive to debate on sourced facts than on unsubstantiated claims. 3. an actual quote indicator, just as Reddit does with lines that begin with > - it would be a waaay better way to follow visually in lengthy posts 4. actually working ordered and unordered lists. Markdown's syntax is bad, but anything is an improvement over nothing.
TheHumanist 3y ago
I mean, Reddit may suit your needs? I find HN pretty perfect for my needs. The simplicity keeps me coming back. I find all the things you mention to be benefits, personally.
- mr_mitm 3y ago
  Reddit is lacking the most important part: the community and the moderation.
  - digitalsushi 3y ago
    reddit got so big its community was equivalent being out in public. it got so big on the inside that it turned into the outside
  - TheHumanist 3y ago
    I completely agree. I was just saying for the person I replied to that maybe Reddit was more their thing, which is fine. I still use Reddit for some things. It can be a really great resource at times. But I much prefer to spend my time on HN, overall. And yes, the community and moderation here are a literal breath of fresh air compared to most of Reddit.
bluish29 3y ago
One of the reasons I learned a lot of css and js was actually inspired by me writing userscript to modify HN webpage to be like I want. That might count as a plus for me. The HN page source makes it easy to customize. And lack of notifications is a good feature. It does help in many cases where you would go into very heated or not very useful discussions.
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  My learning tool was Google+ back in the day. I'd already been hacking up various websites' CSS for a while, but that instance was ... special... Though not notifications, I've included code to annotate YC startup job listings, just so I could clearly distinguish them from regular posts. I took to increasingly muting the notification such that it now reads: /* HN startup job ads */ html[op="news"] .athing td:nth-of-type(2):not(.votelinks) { background: #eee; } html[op="news"] .athing td:nth-of-type(2):not(.votelinks):before { content: "YC"; position: relative; left: 0.8em; top: 0; color: #000; font-size: 0.6em; } That's a very faint grey highlight to the text. Anything more is like sand in my eyeballs, and this really does stand out clearly for me.
imjonse 3y ago
If only they could raise a seed round and hire a decent team to add some animation on the frontpage and set it up on kubernetes then blog about their unique experience...
Piisamirotta 3y ago
I'm very glad that people who think like this aren't running this site
Aerbil313 3y ago
Each of the “downsides” you listed is consistent with the HN’s goals.
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  And further, searching for comments on each of these by HN's mods (dang, sctb, and pg) will turn up rationales against them, for those curious. E.g.: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20notifications&sort=byPopularity&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...>
jval43 3y ago
re: replies, check out hnreplies.com (no affiliation), it works quite well.
joshxyz 3y ago
lmao i always imagine dang laughing on us because we mispress buttons and links with our fat fingers haha
marton_s 3y ago
> UX/UI is terrible and not user friendly The Hacker News UX/UI is one of the best among the websites I regularly visit!

meheleventyone 3y ago

The UX and the lack of notifications are part of the reason I really like it!

boredemployee 3y ago
2nd that. no need of tricks for "user retention", the content is so good that we keep coming by our own.

dzdt 3y ago

I think many of the things you identify as flaws are actually strengths of this site. The minimalist text-only gui IS very usable for discussion, and forces that the focus is on the discussion. I think for instance adding images to posts or comments would make the site worse, as images serve to attract and focus attention away from discussion. But the discussion here is the point! The minimal profile sections are also a feature. This account is not your digital homepage. It is a place people go for discussion. A bigger focus on your profile would be a step towards use of the site as brand-building which favors attention-whoring over quality discussion. Again, the focus is on reducing frictions to people to contribute to quality discussion, and avoiding dynamics that might supplant this.

mewpmewp2 3y ago
Some features would still be nice, like to know when someone has responded to you.
- mr_mitm 3y ago
  Or just moving the collapse button next to the vote buttons, so collapsing multiple comment branches becomes easier. Would not change anything the GP mentioned and would probably be super easy to implement.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    Easy enough to do it yourself via userstyle (for Stylus) or userscript (for TamperMonkey)? :). I'm currently using both - userstyle for DIY dark mode, userscript on mobile for font size adjustment (no Stylus available on Firefox for Android yet). Plus uBlock Origin configured to nuke the karma counter.
    - dredmorbius 3y ago
      True. And though I don't have a relocated collapse control, there are modified light/dark mode HN styles linked in my HN profile, for those interested in either using those directly or as a starting point for your own restyle.
    - mr_mitm 3y ago
      I could and probably will, but solving this on the server-side would be a huge time-saver for millions of users. Is there a RES-style browser addon for HN with some of these little quality of life improvements?
      - TeMPOraL 3y ago
        Then again, it's hacker news. If the audience of this site won't individually hack the UX to match their preferences, who will?
        mr_mitm 3y ago
        With that logic, why not just provide an API. Everybody just hack together their own client. Being a hacker doesn't mean you never get to benefit from prior work, or never work together on something, or never share your work. I get the appeal of providing a minimal service like HN, but unless I'm missing something, my proposed change is an absolute no-brainer considering it's effort-reward ratio.

taneq 3y ago

Those are all features.

Joker_vD 3y ago

You get the list of trending articles, you can go read the article itself, you can look at the discussions, and you can also get a comment box to add to those discussions. Oh, and you can up- and downvote articles and comments. What else do you really need, honestly? It's like reddit, only with actually readable comment threads.

mschuster91 3y ago
Personally, I'd like some more formatting options: 1. inline code formatting, e.g. Markdown's `place code here` with backticks) 2. direct links, or some sort of footnotes system. I prefer to thoroughly source posts, especially when it's either rare/obscure knowledge or when it's an opinion/viewpoint that goes against the "hive mind" or however else you want to call the "mass opinion" on here - it's easier and more productive to debate on sourced facts than on unsubstantiated claims. 3. an actual quote indicator, just as Reddit does with lines that begin with > - it would be a waaay better way to follow visually in lengthy posts 4. actually working ordered and unordered lists. Markdown's syntax is bad, but anything is an improvement over nothing.

TheHumanist 3y ago

I mean, Reddit may suit your needs? I find HN pretty perfect for my needs. The simplicity keeps me coming back. I find all the things you mention to be benefits, personally.

mr_mitm 3y ago
Reddit is lacking the most important part: the community and the moderation.
- digitalsushi 3y ago
  reddit got so big its community was equivalent being out in public. it got so big on the inside that it turned into the outside
- TheHumanist 3y ago
  I completely agree. I was just saying for the person I replied to that maybe Reddit was more their thing, which is fine. I still use Reddit for some things. It can be a really great resource at times. But I much prefer to spend my time on HN, overall. And yes, the community and moderation here are a literal breath of fresh air compared to most of Reddit.

bluish29 3y ago

One of the reasons I learned a lot of css and js was actually inspired by me writing userscript to modify HN webpage to be like I want. That might count as a plus for me. The HN page source makes it easy to customize. And lack of notifications is a good feature. It does help in many cases where you would go into very heated or not very useful discussions.

dredmorbius 3y ago
My learning tool was Google+ back in the day. I'd already been hacking up various websites' CSS for a while, but that instance was ... special... Though not notifications, I've included code to annotate YC startup job listings, just so I could clearly distinguish them from regular posts. I took to increasingly muting the notification such that it now reads: /* HN startup job ads */ html[op="news"] .athing td:nth-of-type(2):not(.votelinks) { background: #eee; } html[op="news"] .athing td:nth-of-type(2):not(.votelinks):before { content: "YC"; position: relative; left: 0.8em; top: 0; color: #000; font-size: 0.6em; } That's a very faint grey highlight to the text. Anything more is like sand in my eyeballs, and this really does stand out clearly for me.

imjonse 3y ago

If only they could raise a seed round and hire a decent team to add some animation on the frontpage and set it up on kubernetes then blog about their unique experience...

Piisamirotta 3y ago

I'm very glad that people who think like this aren't running this site

Aerbil313 3y ago

Each of the “downsides” you listed is consistent with the HN’s goals.

dredmorbius 3y ago
And further, searching for comments on each of these by HN's mods (dang, sctb, and pg) will turn up rationales against them, for those curious. E.g.: <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20notifications&sort=byPopularity&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...>

jval43 3y ago

re: replies, check out hnreplies.com (no affiliation), it works quite well.

joshxyz 3y ago

lmao i always imagine dang laughing on us because we mispress buttons and links with our fat fingers haha

marton_s 3y ago

> UX/UI is terrible and not user friendly The Hacker News UX/UI is one of the best among the websites I regularly visit!