Very nice concept and design. One thing I partially dislike about hn/reddit/youtube/etc is that most of the discussion has already occurred once I have arrived at a post. Although I admit that I find reading others' online discussions addictive, having a more real-time chat attached to a post like on sqwok is appealing. It means anyone can jump in and steer the discussion at any time, and not just be forced to tack on a comment at the bottom that will likely never be seen, buried under the weight of the existing discussion.
I have some feedback:
1.
One part of the interface confused me. From the "trending" tab I clicked on a post in the list. Then, I clicked the left-facing chevron above the post, which to me looked like a "back" button. After clicking, I was taken to the page of the user that made the post I was on. I expected to be taken back to the main trending list. This applies to both the desktop layout and to the mobile layout.
2.
An aspect of the design that rubs me the wrong way is the amount of persistent screen space dedicated to the content of a post in the desktop layout. The content of the post is generally pretty small, yet it takes up over half of the screen, and it appears there is no way to collapse it (?).
Once I've viewed the content of the post, I no longer need to see it, and would probably just want to engage in discussion in the chat with full focus. However, I'm still stuck with the main post taking up over half of the screen, and the chat boxed into its smaller panel.
In the mobile layout of sqwok, the user can click onto the chat tab, and the chat is given the full screen. I like that for a text or image post. On the other hand, for a video post I may want to view the video and read the comments at the same time.