Ask HN: Flat/minimal design ergonomics question including example of Hacker News

While I appear to be asking for a change, and I would be honored if a change was made due to my thoughts, for me this is an exercise in people's perception of usability vs. simplicity.

I would personally love it if Hacker News added some slight amount of color (Say "Hacker News Orange") to the faded links that I have already clicked on, to make them easier to find. Color could be subtly added to the whole link title, or just to the item number acting as a bullet.

I chronically have to engage some noticeable cognitive effort to find previously clicked links on many occasions.

I am creating a design language for a lot of web site content of multiple kinds. If you have clear thoughts on design, and especially if you are a designer, what pros and cons come to mind when considering a change like that?

Also, in a non-HN example, my brain requires much more mental effort for flat design than design with 3D type accents. My interpretation is our visual pathways already have a lot power available to color and use 3-D hints such as shading, to quickly identify "objects".

For me at least, these elements require less subjective mental effort to interpret content.

What do the designers out their think about that? I feel like simplicity of pages are being prioritized of simplicity of use. Flat design ignores the cognitive capacity of our brains to quickly discover and respond to any 3D type cue.

AGAIN - NOT A SUGGESTION BUT USING MY EXPERIENCE WITH HN AND FLAT SITES TO ASK FOR OPINIONS AND RATIONALE'S FOR NOT USING OUR BRAIN'S EXCEPTIONAL ABILITY TO INTERPRETE COLOR AND 3D EFFECT WITH LESS EFFORT THAN HAVING TO INTERPRETE THINGS AS DIFFERENT (unclicked link, clicked link, what is a button, what is not, etc.)

I encourage only responding if this is something you have given a lot of thought to, or if you have any other ergonomic issue with minimal and flat design that (for you) causes you ergonomic issues.

EDIT: I love how HN uses black for "tab"-text colors in the top bar, with white as the currently viewed "tab". This could not be clearer. Batman pointing at the current tab with a mithril sword couldn't add more visual discovery.