[meta]
They should add something else to avoid having this question everytime there is a black bar at the top. It happened to me, it happened to many others and now to Grangar. Is there a repo where to contribute to HN's code? Maybe an admin?
I even went into the view-source figuring there would at least be an html comment and suggestive css class. I guess in retrospect now it's obvious what the bar is for but I agree a hover or similar would be nice.
I would probably at least have added an id tag to the div with something like "rip-chuck". That was the first thing I checked until I asked a colleague.
People could also search about it - I've seen a handful of this question today already - without even looking people are posting and asking (this isn't the first time the bar has been there either lol)
I'm not trying to be snippy, but the answer is generally on the front page. Or you could type "died" into the search box and choose most recent.
Personally I'm glad they resist efforts to "improve" the site. I'm tired of the slippery slope of fast and information-dense sites becoming slow and information-sparse. Just my opinion, don't shoot me.
Look at every other venue for black bars... sports, military, flags at half mast... they never have a person's name on them. That just isn't how it's done.
Just making it clickable to link to the relevant post would be enough IMO. I never knew the black bar principle myself.
Assuming knowledge is not the way to go.
Or you could type "black bar" and find the answer?
I had no idea seeing this black bar meant a death. I thought it meant a rendering error and gave a half second to reload the page, say hunh it's still there, and go on to something else. I came away with the impression somebody got design-y and changed things up for no real reason.
Edit: and for all the talk on this page about the bar, very little is being said about the man. Here's his Wikipedia page for anybody interested:
The suggestion that it be a link or something similar has come up... almost every single time there's a black bar. Hasn't happened since I've been here, doubt it's gonna happen anytime soon either.
I just scroll through page one until I see the word "died".
These threads wouldn’t happen if there were enough information carried in the bar itself (e.g. text, linking, hovering, etc.).
I feel weird that this thread is marked "[flagged]”. I’d read the post about Chuck’s passing yesterday, noticed the bar today, and still didn’t realize that’s what it was for. This thread is what answered that question for me.
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 80.9 ms ] threadWorked at Xerox PARC, and project leader on the Alto.
The answer is apparently Chuck Thacker.
Personally I'm glad they resist efforts to "improve" the site. I'm tired of the slippery slope of fast and information-dense sites becoming slow and information-sparse. Just my opinion, don't shoot me.
But that presupposes you know this black bar indicates someone's death, which is not the case of the person asking the question in the first place.
I had no idea seeing this black bar meant a death. I thought it meant a rendering error and gave a half second to reload the page, say hunh it's still there, and go on to something else. I came away with the impression somebody got design-y and changed things up for no real reason.
Edit: and for all the talk on this page about the bar, very little is being said about the man. Here's his Wikipedia page for anybody interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P._Thacker
I just scroll through page one until I see the word "died".
I feel weird that this thread is marked "[flagged]”. I’d read the post about Chuck’s passing yesterday, noticed the bar today, and still didn’t realize that’s what it was for. This thread is what answered that question for me.