Why is Hacker News such an oldschool page?

1 point·nickfthedev··11 comments

Wouldn't it be nice if this place evolves into something more modern?

I want a fast page load and no wasted space on the display. I'm not interested in "modern" if I lose any of that.

Hmm. I am replying to the above comment about "no wasted space on the display".

That comment has a line of information that could be shrunk down to a user name and 4 icons, the comment itself, then a line with only "Reply" on it. It could all easily fit on one display line instead of three.

But then the item I want to view would be harder to select on a phone or tablet. Let's not forget those devices. On my tablet the page currently shows 25 items without scrolling and I can easily select an item of interest without accidental selections. In my opinion the current display works well with a reasonable compromise between to much whitespace and too "fiddly".

If only there were some way of tailoring the appearance of a web page depending on the characteristics of the viewing device.

Sounds like Reddit is right up your alley. They did a “modern” redesign. I much prefer this site.

What would be nice about changing it? The site is fast and works across all platforms.

It'd be good if you describe what is really inconvenient for now. For me, what I care is visibility and page speed.

Please call it "minimalist".

What I want is markdown format support in Hacker news. But other features really not important :)

No, it would not. You are implying that 'modern' is inherently good.

Because oldschool is the future! Just ask AI. It's where the profits come from doing things the same old way that profits came from...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com