One usability change: put the collapse link on the left side of article title (ala reddit), this makes it quicker to find the widget since it will always be in the same place.
Yep, that's a crucial part of this addon and everyone seems to be forgetting it. I remember when someone suggested it on Reddit and the staff almost immediately implemented it, because it was so obviously better.
Works only with http://, I have to add https:// one day, but I always forget it... Also some other things should be improved, then I could update NavigComments @ LWN too.
Huh, I never even realized that Chrome had removed the ability to install extensions from third party websites. I'll get that up on the chrome web store when I get some time.
This new one is better. I used yours for a while some time ago and it's extremely annoying that the collapsed comment is not aligned to the rest of the comments at the same depth. Gives you a weird feeling that you collapsed the parent and the next one is its child.
When you randomly collapse comments the result may be a mess where you're not exactly sure who answered to who.
Also, your collapse/uncollapse button is placed on the right instead of left so its X position may vary, making it a bit more difficult to collapse comments in a series.
It makes me happy to see the concepts from RES ported to HN. Thanks for sharing the link; I think this will legitimately help me to speed through the front page more quickly in the mornings.
What do you think about http://news.ycommentator.com ? It does some HN-enhancement (shows top comments on the front page), but using a server to do all the processing instead of a client script.
I built it a few months ago. If there was any interest, I could expand it to include collapsible comments.
Once someone has added this to their bookmark toolbar and started to use it, they are likely to forget where they got it
from. And when they want to know where they got it from, they are likely to look for clues in the source code of the bookmarklet.
So, I humbly suggest that you add to the bookmarklet some "googleable" string such as "Author: niyazpk". When I googled on "niyazpk" just now, your Github was the fourth hit.
Asked pg to integrate my script but he wouldn't do so, even though he would have just had to copy the Javascript over (I had adapted the code for him).
I have always assumed this feature was consciously omitted from HN in order to encourage more thoughtful conversation. Since I can't skip conversations, I read them and sometimes hold my tongue rather than commenting with the first thing that comes to mind.
Sounds like a good idea at first, but I feel that not having collapsible comments is detrimental to the discussion, and in particular it counteracts the advantages of tree threaded discussion versus linear discussion (as seen on many messageboards and blog comments).
Why? Because the advantage of tree-based threads is that you can split off and have a relatively off-topic conversation without jacking the whole discussion. However, if such a discussion develops just below the top-voted comment, and it gets larger, it will dominate the whole discussion because people (naturally) won't always read the full page of the discussion.
This gets doubly problematic because of the tendency is that a "large, slightly off-topic discussion near the top comment" is very often about the same chewed-to-death topics that are just two camps firing off their default arguments at eachother (Apple vs general purpose computing, anything libertarian, intellectual property vs piracy, etc etc, you have seen them all). Which may be worthwhile discussions to have, nor would I want to prevent anyone from having them, but very often I want to read the discussion about the particular topic in this particular article, or at least how it differs from other articles triggering such responses, and not the general arguments by the two camps, which I already know (and most people have made up their minds about, anyway).
The last couple of extensions / bookmarklets that did this, did not work in Opera (at the moment that I tried them, at least). But this one does, kudos for that! I'm using it, thanks! :)
39 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 84.4 ms ] threadI love approaches like this, as opposed to just moaning feature X doesn't exist, implement it!
I'm thinking of making a Chrome Extensions from this bookmarklet.
NavigComments @ Hacker News
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aelihpmbbbpmljkdco...
Supports hiding comments marked as read.
Works only with http://, I have to add https:// one day, but I always forget it... Also some other things should be improved, then I could update NavigComments @ LWN too.
My bookmarklet has also been included in this very nice browser extension: http://hckrnews.com/about.html
1. Download the extension file from the website and save it to your computer.
2. Click the wrench icon on the browser toolbar. Select Tools > Extensions.
3. Locate the extension file on your computer and drag the file onto the Extensions page.
4. Review the list of permissions in the dialog that appears. If you would like to proceed, click Install.
--http://support.google.com/chrome_webstore/bin/answer.py?hl=e...
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mnlaodleonmmfkdhfo...
Also, your collapse/uncollapse button is placed on the right instead of left so its X position may vary, making it a bit more difficult to collapse comments in a series.
Good effort though.
Of course this one could have some advantages, I was just pointing out my bookmarklet that also provides that "collapse whole thread" feature.
That Chrome extension also has a neat "new postings" feature.
I don't use Chrome.
----
[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bappiabcodbpphnojd...
Secondly the collapse button would be much better on the left side.
I built it a few months ago. If there was any interest, I could expand it to include collapsible comments.
So, I humbly suggest that you add to the bookmarklet some "googleable" string such as "Author: niyazpk". When I googled on "niyazpk" just now, your Github was the fourth hit.
So I guess, pg just doesn't think it's useful.
Why? Because the advantage of tree-based threads is that you can split off and have a relatively off-topic conversation without jacking the whole discussion. However, if such a discussion develops just below the top-voted comment, and it gets larger, it will dominate the whole discussion because people (naturally) won't always read the full page of the discussion.
This gets doubly problematic because of the tendency is that a "large, slightly off-topic discussion near the top comment" is very often about the same chewed-to-death topics that are just two camps firing off their default arguments at eachother (Apple vs general purpose computing, anything libertarian, intellectual property vs piracy, etc etc, you have seen them all). Which may be worthwhile discussions to have, nor would I want to prevent anyone from having them, but very often I want to read the discussion about the particular topic in this particular article, or at least how it differs from other articles triggering such responses, and not the general arguments by the two camps, which I already know (and most people have made up their minds about, anyway).
https://arantius.com/misc/greasemonkey/hacker-news-comment-c...
Also collapses by default threads below depth two.