I've been working on a browser extension to make Hacker News easier to use. No, not change the UX, but just some nice conveniences. Keyboard navigation, inline replies, dark mode, a nicer topcolors page, and many more features. I am hoping to add some social features, like being able to follow someone. All in a well-tested and extensible codebase that has minimal impact on the site. Open source, GPL...

Orange Juice

https://oj-hn.com

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incognito_robot 20 hours ago | parent [-]

Sounds great! I've been thinking about making something similar now for a while.

If you don't mind me sharing ideas that I would love to have in such an extension:

- Changing the UI of the comment actions to make them easier to use. Using HN mostly on a phone, I keep hitting downvote when I mean to do the opposite. Similar with the collapse action.

- Keep a local list of users that get their comment subtrees stripped out. Some people are argumentative by nature and not in good faith. It's best to ignore them (easier when you don't see their comments).

- Hide new accounts by default (perhaps auto collapsed).

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oj-hn-dot-com 12 hours ago | parent [-]

Thanks for the feedback!

So far, desktop is the current target. Not even sure I can run extensions on a phone.

The last two fall under content moderation. I'm a bit less interested in that as it changes the UX and there are infinite things we could do there. Right now, the extension has no preferences switches, and I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible. When there are a whole bunch of knobs to tweak, it makes everything overwhelming.

	▲	incognito_robot 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Fair enough, and I understand the arguments against adding that. On the mobile extension side, just in case you were unaware, Firefox on Android has had extensions now for 2+ years. Good luck with the project!