Hacker News Reader

Comment by wilg | Hacker News Reader

I really wish that HN wasn't even in the running for a "worst case". For a community that seems to be all about UX and innovation, shouldn't it run on at least a marginally user-friendly piece of software with this-century markup?

I get that it has a sort of kitschy or retro appeal, but it's just basically a pain to use and looks terrible.

I can't tell you how often I click next page to find that I've taken too long and my session or whatever has expired.

View on HN

No. This site isn't about UX or innovation, it's about tech start ups. It's a constant reminder that something can be successful even if it was written in a LISP dialect and has a bunch of UX misses as long as the core idea is valid and the product usable enough.

I've used a bunch of HN skins that were supposedly better designed, but none of them stuck. Apparently it's just plain unnecessary for HN to be better.

So because it's written in LISP it gets a free pass in other areas? That seems like a dubious claim.

Indubitably.

That's not what he said.

No, despite it being written in an obscure language and sparse UI it has massive traction anyway. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

> There's a lesson in there somewhere

The website that lets technologists hang out with people who might give them large sums of money to see their ideas succeed doesn't have to be good, or pretty.

If the website were better, or prettier, that would not add any additional value to the previously mentioned large sums of money.

(Oh, and advice, and being able to chat with industry leaders and experts on diverse arrays of topics, etc.)

Couldn't agree more. E.g., when Digg got popular and redesigned their site everyone switched to the bare-bones Reddit.

I like HN because it gives me exactly what I want. A list of interesting links, ranked by what people that I truest more than news sites think of them. Oh and offers comment sections for each of them. HN is wonderful link discovery during compile time or if you need a break.

I think we all like HN, otherwise we wouldn't be here. That doesn't mean it can't improve.

If "improve" would involve turning it into AJAX-heavy app with images, CSS effects and some weird-ass scrolling interceptors, that requires me to load 200+ files for seeing the main page, I would rather live without any improvements.

I think better terms might be "clean up" or "restructure".

And why do you assume that is what I meant by "improve"?

A minimalist interface is fine but parts of HN are simply broken or suboptimal.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com