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DN 2.0 Status Report: A More Spacious Stories Layout and More

8 years ago from , sometimes Maxwell

Say hello to the wider, roomier Designer News. Alongside the additional real estate, we’ve been busy with a variety of visual/functional improvements we wanted to share:

  • A much roomier stories layout
  • Reverse up-voting - Upvote by accident? Fret not, you can now take that vote back.
  • Support for Safari 9 pinned tabs
  • Comment collapsing - Simply click the user’s pixel avatar next to the comment you’d like to collapse.
  • :visited color - Easy on the eyes, yes?
  • Plus, dozens of other various cosmetic and functional improvements

Don’t forget about that friendly face in the lower right corner, keep your feedback coming!

Still making some small tweaks here and there to correct some jankiness. Bear with us :-)

46 comments

  • Mattan IngramMattan Ingram, 8 years ago

    I'm loving the wider layout, much more comfortable to read now!

    45 points
  • Pedro Ivo HudsonPedro Ivo Hudson, 8 years ago

    It's better! (: Replies are still a bit messy.

    11 points
  • adrian ioadrian io, 8 years ago

    New updates are much easier on the eyes. Removing the border around the upvote count somehow helped a lot.

    Good job DN team.

    11 points
  • Joe Blau, 8 years ago (edited 8 years ago )

    This site is really moving along in a great direction! Keep up the improvements.

    Edit: Emoji's broke my original post, so I vote for emoji support :)

    8 points
  • Koy CarrawayKoy Carraway, 8 years ago

    – Wider layout is much better. – Less dominant upvote/downvote... I like. – :visited color is nice and subtle – Without knowing I can collapse a comment, I would never know that clicking the avatar would perform such action. Not very clear or intuitive.

    6 points
  • Matt WilliamsMatt Williams, 8 years ago

    Comment collapsing: If a user has a blank pixel avatar then you have to guess as to where to click. Even with an avatar I don't think this action is very intuitive.

    6 points
  • ポール ウェッブポール ウェッブ, 8 years ago

    I refreshed the page and things changed. o_O;

    I love the roomier layout, make good use of these wide screens we have!

    4 points
  • Emanuel S.Emanuel S., 8 years ago

    I have mixed feelings about this. Are there small updates scheduled in the near future?

    4 points
  • Mattias JohanssonMattias Johansson, 8 years ago

    Keep up the good work!

    3 points
  • Mario MontoyaMario Montoya, 8 years ago

    How do you reverse a vote?

    3 points
    • Dave LucianoDave Luciano, 8 years ago

      Clicking the upvote button again seems to undo it for me. Not entirely intuitive--but not necessarily the end of the world for an action like that.

      1 point
  • Vincent MillikenVincent Milliken, 8 years ago

    Niceeeee!

    3 points
  • Cristian MoiseiCristian Moisei, 8 years ago

    That's great - love the wider layout. But how about support for Safari? Have all the bugs been fixed? Also, I have to agree with @Pedro Ivo Hudson that comments are still a bit messy.

    One place to start would be to alternate the background of comments so it's easier to scan through. The reply lines also don't work that well, especially when a lot of people write several long comments and start a conversation, but I don't have any ideas about how to fix this. Mentions are also something I would like to see.

    Image alt

    2 points
    • John ChouraJohn Choura, 8 years ago (edited 8 years ago )

      It'd be cool if the nested comments were more obvious.

      Like so, potentially.

      screenshot

      Just add this css to .comments-list .child-comments

      border-left: 5px solid rgba(0,0,0,.025); background-color: rgba(0,0,0,.025);
      4 points
      • Cristian MoiseiCristian Moisei, 8 years ago

        This would require some vertical space to be added to keep the padding rules intact but it could work. Nice one.

        1 point
      • Crampa ...Crampa ..., 8 years ago (edited 8 years ago )

        Looks pretty good, but I worry on longer threads, the majority of the page will be this darker grey color. It introduces many new shades which are not users anywhere else on the site. I think zebra striping might work a bit better, but something more subtle like this works too: http://i.imgur.com/VTidaCy.png

        Image alt

        1 point
    • Stefan Rauch, 8 years ago

      +1 for mentions

      0 points
  • Daniel GoldenDaniel Golden, 8 years ago

    Kudos, y'all. I love what I've seen so far.

    2 points
  • Colm TuiteColm Tuite, 8 years ago (edited 8 years ago )

    I think some of the updates are good improvements, but not centering the main content seems like a HUGE step backwards....

    1 point
  • Kody DahlKody Dahl, 8 years ago

    So nice, guys. Thanks for pushin' the platform forward.

    1 point
  • Surjith S MSurjith S M, 8 years ago

    Great update.

    BUGS BUGS BUGS

    1. Upvoting does not work in Stories Page (its reversing automatically)
    2. Comment collapsing : it was an existing feature, but does not works now
    3. Sidebar broken to bottom in Stories page
    4. markdown help is broken

    Mozilla Latest / Windows 8.1 64bit

    1 point
    • Max LindMax Lind, 8 years ago

      Thanks Surjith... got a couple bugs we're sorting through in Firefox.

      1 point
  • Max GlenisterMax Glenister, 8 years ago

    Glad that the left sidebar has been moved. Much better hierarchy now!

    1 point
  • Jesus GallentJesus Gallent, 8 years ago

    Great!

    1 point
  • Rafael MasoniRafael Masoni, 8 years ago

    Much better, now! Thanks for the effort!

    1 point
  • Kevin XuKevin Xu, 8 years ago

    Awesome, thanks for the :visited color change!

    1 point
  • Hawke BassignaniHawke Bassignani, 8 years ago

    The comment collapsing is a great addition… just not at all learnable or intuitive. Perhaps consider other treatments to show this?

    Or at the very least, a hover state (but touch-devices will be sad pandas).

    1 point
  • Dana (dmxt)Dana (dmxt), 8 years ago

    Search function doesn't work on Firefox 40.0, nothing happens when I press enter. Perhaps you should add 'Search' button?

    1 point
  • Gina RodriguezGina Rodriguez, 8 years ago

    Can you guys fix the copy of the reset password page to not be so mean? :)

    1 point
    • Max LindMax Lind, 8 years ago

      You're right, good call!...sure seems like we need to practice what we preach, "Be nice. Or Else." :)

      2 points
  • Tim GabrielTim Gabriel, 8 years ago

    Is there any way to have a link to the comment in the RSS feed (like Hacker News)? I use RSS to read DN and if I find something I want to comment on I need to go to the site and look for the post, it's not great.

    0 points
  • Marcus CampbellMarcus Campbell, 8 years ago

    The tap area of the menu hamburger seems to be limited to its strokes rather than an enclosing box.

    0 points
  • Navarr BarnierNavarr Barnier, 8 years ago

    Now if you could make non-www work or at least redirect, I would be so happy.

    0 points
  • Mathias AdamMathias Adam, 8 years ago

    This is definitely better. Just an Idea, could you just grow the "upvote comment" clickable area ?

    0 points
  • Cihad TurhanCihad Turhan, 8 years ago

    Great job guys!

    Please integrate a markdown preview. I'm sure many people use chrome plugin but it's a need!

    0 points
  • Jonathan YapJonathan Yap, 8 years ago

    Looking cool! Love the new layout and the dropdown search bar and sub nav.

    One thing I did find is the search function isn't working on individual story page. :O

    0 points
  • Account deleted 8 years ago

    Is it me or does the comment collapsing not work on this page? It seems to work on other stories though...

    0 points
  • Brennan Smith, 8 years ago

    and don't forget about the downvote hotkey feature.

    0 points