3 ms·

Wow, my browser's Reader Mode saved my bacon on this one. Otherwise, I would have left immediately. I'm all for speedy, simple, plaintext websites, but it is

Wow, my browser's Reader Mode saved my bacon on this one. Otherwise, I would have left immediately. I'm all for speedy, simple, plaintext websites, but it is a negligible amount of work in 2026 to throw some barebones CSS in and make it approachable.

beyonddream 2mo ago
I don’t know why you got downvoted but you have a point. It looks as if OP doesn’t write for readership and his posts contents have similar characteristics of reckless abandon for conventional norms for a tech post. Too many cross references and link-backs to his own other articles that makes it really hard to follow the main thread of the essay.
- phist_mcgee 2mo ago
  Dan Luu is a bit famous around HN. I think he might subscribe to the philosophy of everyone should style websites however they like and not be prescribed by the author.
  - markdown 2mo ago
    Nah, he's just trying to be different. It's vanity. He's had a usable website in the past. This one is explicitly made to be shitty. "Look at me, I'm such a geek" energy.
    - tom_ 2mo ago
      His site has always looked like this, i'm sure of it. This is what sites look like if you just write them as text. Not everybody knows how to use sql or css or java or whatever thing it is that lets you pick the font.
      - markdown 2mo ago
        I'm almost certain he used to have a reasonably styled website. I just tried to look it up but it looks like he's excluded the website from WayBackMachine. > Not everybody knows how to use sql or css or java or whatever thing it is that lets you pick the font. lol at the idea that Dan Luu can't add css to his website by copypasting some links into his html. He could make the site readable in about 3 mins and never have to worry about it again.  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:300,300italic,700,700italic">  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/normalize/8.0.1/normalize.css">  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/milligram/1.4.1/milligram.css"> BTW this is just the first such library I found. There are lots of 'em, and all very well documented, requiring less knowledge to use than what it takes to publish a blog... which he's mastered.
        duskdozer 2mo ago
        Honestly I prefer the minimal style because I add my own to many pages as it is, or use the built-in reader or a reader extension. People have much different opinions on what's readable.
        markdown 1mo ago
        > People have much different opinions on what's readable. Opinions are dime a dozen, but readability (and usability in general) is a well-studied field and having to move your head from side to side to read text that stretches the width of a screen is objectively bad for readability. That's just one example. And making the website readable for the majority does not prevent one from using the built-in reader or an extension.
      - jeffreyrogers 1mo ago
        No it didn't. It used to be more readable and he changed it to look like this.
- privong 2mo ago
  The downvotes may be related to community enforcing what's in the HN guidelines: > Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
jaggederest 2mo ago
Ironically a perfect thing to iterate on with your favorite coding agent. "make this page look better, present me 2 versions, I'll pick my favorite, and we'll iterate until I say stop"
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senderista 2mo ago
You must not look at many academic websites.
vessenes 2mo ago
Counterpoint - I like Dan's site. I think it fits his vibe and priorities, and I don't find it unreadable. I can always pick my browser width and font size with a couple keyboard touches, and I never have to fight his idea of how I should want to read it.
vagab0nd 2mo ago
"There's no reason for websites to be ugly anymore"
userbinator 2mo ago
What exactly do you mean by "make it approachable"? Is the content-to-fluff ratio too high for you? This page is exactly what I want the majority of websites to look like: no fluff, no idiotic "modern design" trendchasing bullshit, just pure and simple content. Also, perhaps you should learn how to make use of the user stylesheet feature of your browser, or ask an AI to tell you how...
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tobinfekkes 1mo ago
Edit: I should have clarified that I was on a 17" desktop monitor. I just loaded it on mobile, and it's fine and dandy on mobile. But reading small white text on black background that's 100% width is nearly impossible to read.

beyonddream 2mo ago

I don’t know why you got downvoted but you have a point. It looks as if OP doesn’t write for readership and his posts contents have similar characteristics of reckless abandon for conventional norms for a tech post. Too many cross references and link-backs to his own other articles that makes it really hard to follow the main thread of the essay.

phist_mcgee 2mo ago
Dan Luu is a bit famous around HN. I think he might subscribe to the philosophy of everyone should style websites however they like and not be prescribed by the author.
- markdown 2mo ago
  Nah, he's just trying to be different. It's vanity. He's had a usable website in the past. This one is explicitly made to be shitty. "Look at me, I'm such a geek" energy.
  - tom_ 2mo ago
    His site has always looked like this, i'm sure of it. This is what sites look like if you just write them as text. Not everybody knows how to use sql or css or java or whatever thing it is that lets you pick the font.
    - markdown 2mo ago
      I'm almost certain he used to have a reasonably styled website. I just tried to look it up but it looks like he's excluded the website from WayBackMachine. > Not everybody knows how to use sql or css or java or whatever thing it is that lets you pick the font. lol at the idea that Dan Luu can't add css to his website by copypasting some links into his html. He could make the site readable in about 3 mins and never have to worry about it again.  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:300,300italic,700,700italic">  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/normalize/8.0.1/normalize.css">  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/milligram/1.4.1/milligram.css"> BTW this is just the first such library I found. There are lots of 'em, and all very well documented, requiring less knowledge to use than what it takes to publish a blog... which he's mastered.
      - duskdozer 2mo ago
        Honestly I prefer the minimal style because I add my own to many pages as it is, or use the built-in reader or a reader extension. People have much different opinions on what's readable.
        markdown 1mo ago
        > People have much different opinions on what's readable. Opinions are dime a dozen, but readability (and usability in general) is a well-studied field and having to move your head from side to side to read text that stretches the width of a screen is objectively bad for readability. That's just one example. And making the website readable for the majority does not prevent one from using the built-in reader or an extension.
    - jeffreyrogers 1mo ago
      No it didn't. It used to be more readable and he changed it to look like this.
privong 2mo ago
The downvotes may be related to community enforcing what's in the HN guidelines: > Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

jaggederest 2mo ago

Ironically a perfect thing to iterate on with your favorite coding agent. "make this page look better, present me 2 versions, I'll pick my favorite, and we'll iterate until I say stop"

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deleted 2mo ago

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senderista 2mo ago

You must not look at many academic websites.

vessenes 2mo ago

Counterpoint - I like Dan's site. I think it fits his vibe and priorities, and I don't find it unreadable. I can always pick my browser width and font size with a couple keyboard touches, and I never have to fight his idea of how I should want to read it.

vagab0nd 2mo ago

"There's no reason for websites to be ugly anymore"

userbinator 2mo ago

What exactly do you mean by "make it approachable"? Is the content-to-fluff ratio too high for you? This page is exactly what I want the majority of websites to look like: no fluff, no idiotic "modern design" trendchasing bullshit, just pure and simple content. Also, perhaps you should learn how to make use of the user stylesheet feature of your browser, or ask an AI to tell you how...

deleted 1mo ago

[deleted]

tobinfekkes 1mo ago

Edit: I should have clarified that I was on a 17" desktop monitor. I just loaded it on mobile, and it's fine and dandy on mobile. But reading small white text on black background that's 100% width is nearly impossible to read.