Great suggestion. I'd bet that many people, even if they know what the bar signifies, look around the front page to try to figure out who but unless it's a massively upvoted post and/or very prominent name aren't quite sure whose passing is being noted. There have also been cases of more than one person on a single day. Perhaps a link to their wikipedia page(s) or bio(s)?

> I would appreciate it if the black bar was at least clickable for more info

Agree. Why not have it point to the pertinent HN submission.

or something more prominent so it didnt just look like a CSS bug

Although I've been on HN for some time, every time a black bar appears, I click to see if it would go to the relevant HN post. No such luck (yet!)

Or a “title” attribute so it has a tooltip.