Ask HN: Why is YC's website almost exactly the same as it was 9 years ago? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why is YC's website almost exactly the same as it was 9 years ago?

11 pointsjosephpmay8 comments

The Y Combinator website is almost exactly the same as it was nine years ago (see: http://web.archive.org/web/20051124005340/http://ycombinator.com/). I remember reading awhile back that Weebly was accepted into the first YC class after redesign YC's website in five minutes during their interview. Between the companies in YC's portfolio that specialize in web design and the technical expertise of probably every YC partner, a more modern redesign would be trivial. So that leads me to my question: Why had YC decided to keep its early design? Is it just because it's not necessary? Is there a specific reason why the current design is optimal? Is a redesign planned but just extremely low priority?

Edit: This is referring to www.ycombinator.com NOT Hacker News

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Why do so many websites feel a need to redesign the site every 2-3 years to keep up with the latest design fads? Do old sites regularly break on new devices / browsers? Or is it all a scheme to generate employment for web developers and demand for the increased hardware resources that are provided by ever-advancing technology?

I find it hard to buy the claim that users really care that much whether your website uses the latest fads in infinite-scrolling responsive AJAX design as opposed to an old-school server-generated paginated display. As a user I care about content more than presentation, and usually interface "innovations" just end up breaking and making me unhappy. [1]

[1] http://xkcd.com/1309/

I think a big part of it is a "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. It's the same reason why people always want the latest phone or car, or why businesses are quick to jump on the latest buzzword.

The right question is, what value would a fancier design add? pg talks constantly in his essays about doing the things that matter-- i.e. the things that bring the most value-- and I'd imagine he followed the same philosophy with YC's website.

EDIT: Some of this answer maybe still applies, but basically I seem to have misread the question. Apologies.

HN has in fact changed quite a lot over the years and PG has been visibly tweaking it continually. I guess you are asking specifically about why the graphic design has not changed much...

Pretty clearly modernity per se is not worth optimizing for. I have zero inside knowledge, but some thoughts on what the current design might be optimizing:

1) HN probably benefits from discouraging undesired users in a variety of subtle ways. Like the trivial Metafilter subscription fee, an unadorned layout may create a low bar that discourages extremely casual users. PG is pretty explicitly NOT trying to rapidly scale HN.

2) The YC partners have a lot of opportunity costs for every hour of work. Current layout good enough? OK, on to the next problem...

3) Quick load times, works in any browser/OS/device.

To answer your question with a question: what do you think could be functionally improved by a redesign?

I'm not asking about HN, I'm asking about www.ycombinator.com

Personally, I like the simplicity. The site is always fast to load, has zero bloat, and works on any device and any browser. It does not have any crazy frameworks or things to break.

If I could make a suggestion though, I would love a responsive design that scaled for smaller screens.

It is one way of signalling "we value substance over style"

This is a bit pedantic, but this might be better as an Ask PG.

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