Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN easier to read (oj-hn.com)

by latchkey 158 comments 147 points
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158 comments

[−] wackget 37d ago
Lots of nice tweaks, but the most important is missing: the ability to move the collapse comment buttons ([-]) to the left of commenters' usernames. Doing this makes the collapse buttons all aligned with each other, making them far easier to click in succession. "Comments Owl for Hacker News" extension does this I believe.
[−] oersted 36d ago
The grey bar on the left that the extension adds also collapses the comments. They are aligned vertically and they have a bigger clickable area than [-].
[−] conorcleary 36d ago
but then the upvote button is too close to the collapse thread, plus, why make it easier to hide discussion? => makes it easier for scripts to automate by visual/x,y placement
[−] latchkey 36d ago
Thanks for this suggestion, but I agree with the other commenters.
[−] altairprime 37d ago
Latchkey, would you be comfortable with HN adopting your dark mode styling as a user choice someday, if they came around to liking it? I really like it and I think it’s in the spirit of the site.
[−] andrecarini 37d ago
For those that prefer userstyles, I made a dark theme a while ago https://github.com/andrecarini/hn-dark-mode/blob/main/hn-dar...

Tom (the moderator) said he was looking into getting it appended to the HN's CSS. I haven't asked them about it since ages ago, wonder if they dropped the idea.

[−] satvikpendem 37d ago
I'm pretty sure that will never happen, as it would've happened already by now. People can and do already use custom CSS or Dark Reader for dark mode.
[−] redlewel 37d ago
Not bad I do like the transparency on AI usage. So many projects omit this completely and its difficult not to assume someone just claude coded it in an evening to farm clicks. But this looks nice I'll probably check it out
[−] Imustaskforhelp 37d ago
I use refined Hacker news Extension.

https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news#highlights

It might be beneficial to tell me what the difference between these two can be? A lot of the features from my first glance (I can be totally wrong though) are within HN refined.

I would really appreciate a short summary of differences. Personally I am really happy by HN refined though so kudos to @plibither8

[−] cobbman 37d ago
I want hacker news UX to stay as it is, mostly, but these are features I'd welcome.
[−] darepublic 37d ago
I would like to see users clustered by their political and programming axes of belief
[−] sgbeal 36d ago
This is pretty darn cool. i've not yet seen any mention of one particular quirk so will point it out: on Firefox it flashes between "normal" and "upgraded" mode pretty starkly (A) when switching pages and (B) when tapping "add comment" (which is apparently done via page reload rather than the HN API). i've no clue whether an extension/app has any influence over the timing of that so cannot suggest how it might be resolved, but will say that it's particularly jarring.
[−] greenpizza13 37d ago
I can't figure out how to toggle to Light Mode (maybe it uses the system setting?). HN is something I prefer to be in Light Mode but everything else in dark. Gonna remove until this is configurable.
[−] ipsum2 37d ago
It looks pretty good! I'm using it now and its a meaningful improvement to the existing site.

Out of curiosity, why did you make a new Github account for the extension instead of developing it on your own account?

[−] mhitza 37d ago
Pretty cool. This is the glitchy userscript I use on Firefox mobile[1] (with screenshot) to make tap targets bigger and move navigation at the bottom of the page + collapsed.

[1] https://gist.github.com/mhitza/0956d7e2c11d3102cbd4cba7f6d06...

[−] notatoad 37d ago
i like some of the things this does, but pretty much all of this is not UX improvements, it's UX opinions.

as a personal project to make HN better for you, i guess it's cool. but making every link open in a new tab so my back button never works is definitely not for me.

[−] satvikpendem 37d ago
"Tested, not vibe coded" yet you mention the AI has written all the tests. This extension may not be vibe coded but it's close to that, it seems. Regardless it seems to work well, I replaced the older Refined Hacker News extension with this, which seems like where you initially sourced the code from as the features are very similar, 1:1 even for some.

I also use this extension HNRelevant (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hnrelevant) which shows a list of similar posts, you might want to add that as an optional feature as well.

What's the tech stack, pure TS? You also might want to migrate from Biome to oxc, I did recently and it plays well with Vite+ (or just move to Vite+) directly.

Noticed a bug, once I edit my own comment and go back to the main post, I show up as [op] not you. Also I should be able to edit my post inline not be moved to a separate page.

[−] e40 35d ago
Octal on iOS is the best. Been using it for years and I have never found a better reader for hn.
[−] syngrog66 36d ago
my top wishlist of HN features:

* personal ability to mute/block any account

* BONUS: and/or delegate above decision to list-providing service at given externally-hosted URL

* intelligently autowrap text of long lines, like its 2026 (heck like 1997)

[−] Isolated_Routes 37d ago
This is helpful! Thank you
[−] beatrice111 36d ago
omg this is amazing, finally there is someone noticing that the ux of hn needs to be improved...
[−] rcarmo 36d ago
Dark mode!
[−] librasteve 37d ago
dang.

just shedding feedbin & reeder (paid)

it's 'hide read stories' for me & darkmode

[−] gitgud 37d ago
Another feature idea for you:

There’s an extension that I loved called “Proven” (now archived) which uses keybase.io proofs to show other proven accounts next to hn users

https://github.com/dschep/proven

Also about this:

> Mermaid Diagram Rendering

Honest question, how often are people posting raw mermaid diagrams in comments here?… I’ve never seen one

[−] xydac 37d ago
its funny how us developers build varied UX, but nothing beats the simplicity of HN's default experience. quick and bloat free.
[−] odysseus 37d ago
How about a Safari/Mobile Safari extension so iPhone users can use it?
[−] nikolay 37d ago
So many extensions and services, because YCombinator cannot have a part-time employee working on such an important community:

* https://hncompanion.com/

* http://oj-hn.com/

* https://hnrelevant.imadij.com/

* https://hnreplies.com/

[−] wesz 37d ago
The improvements are nice, that's for sure. But i checked out github and it looks like overengineered ai slop, you could implement all the features with 1/10 of the code. But again, nobody cares nowadays which makes me sad. You even generated chrome/firefox logos using ai...
[−] Novosell 37d ago
Did you ai generate the Chrome and Firefox logo? That isn't what they look like, or have ever looked like, from what I know.
[−] Klonoar 37d ago
What on earth is that Firefox logo...?
[−] mailcraftai 37d ago
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[−] fdekerm 36d ago
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[−] ramon156 37d ago

> Why Install Orange Juice?

> Because Hacker News is great, but repetitive UI friction adds up. Orange Juice keeps the original feel while removing the things that cost you time every day.

That does not convince me to use your app? This is like calling someone's Kia shit and instead telling them to buy a Tesla, but just stating that it's better.

I'll stick to HN, thanks.