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Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

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Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#391

Post by bhnmmhmd »

pluma wrote: post #384
virgilp wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't think of a single popular site redesign that actually made the site better. Seriously? How about Google.com? Google Maps? Gmail? Apple.com? CNN? Uber? Surely you must believe at least some of those made the site better...

Apple.com is a marketing site. It's essentially a brochure that is expected to change completely for every new release of the product. The only major Google Maps redesign was from the original boxy low-fi design to the modern pan & zoom gestural design with overlays. The redesigns after that were mostly incremental and rarely affected the general look and feel of the site. There have been a number of design changes r…

Actually, Gmail used to be faster before they added dynamic elements to it. (For slow connections, it still has an option to switch back to the previous design).

I hate it when websites use JavaScript for most of their functionalities. I would always prefer static HTML/CSS pages over shiny, bloated, distracting, non-functional JavaScript-enabled ones.

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#392

Post by pluma »

sirtastic wrote: post #101
pmoriarty wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of a single popular site redesign that actually made the site better. They're almost inevitably worse, usually much worse. A common failing is trying to make the design more shiny and pretty while decreasing functionality, dumbing the site down, adding bloat, and slowing the site down to a crawl. I really hope Reddit does not go down this road, because they really have a good thing going now. It would b…

I can think of one. Google's material design. I love it and feel it tied their apps together while making them easier to use.

I'd disagree. I like some of the Material related changes to Google Maps, for example, others seem like they were only done for consistency's sake with no benefit to Google Maps UX. Also IMO they managed to make YouTube even worse with the recent attempts to shoehorn it into their Material design.

The problem with a unified design language is you end up with the lowest common denominator for vastly different products. Material works great for Google Now, somewhat okay for Google Maps, pretty meh for GMail and terribly for YouTube. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#393

Post by NOSHSHNACKERS »

stevenj wrote: post #3

>the company is literally re-writing all of its code Wow. >An early version of the new design, which we saw during our interview, looks similar to Facebook’s News Feed or Twitter’s Timeline: A never-ending feed of content broken up into “cards” with more visuals to lure people into the conversations hidden underneath. >“We want Reddit to be more visually appealing,” he explained, “so when new users come to Reddit the…

HN is a Slashdot replacement - Reddit is a Digg replacement. Facebook is an AOL replacement - Google is a yahoo myspace replacement They will all look alike one day in every single way

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#394

Post by pluma »

Angostura wrote: post #185
provost wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall Digg did a complete redesign for version 4, even the backend systems and database. And the users abandoned it shortly after launch.

What killed Digg though, wasn't any change in look at feel, as much as a fundamental change in content policy. It went from 'users submit stuff and upvote it' to 'content publishers can automate a firehose of their stories into the system for a price' people didn't like that.

The way I remember it, Reddit had pretty much already beat Digg by the time they attempted the redesign and pivot (which largely went hand-in-hand). Those changes were just the final nail in the coffin. But as far as Digg was competing with Reddit, Digg hat already lost.

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#395

Post by anonred »

Markoff wrote: post #377
yoodenvranx wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The old mobile page is awesome and the day they kill it is the day I will stop using reddit on mobile.

why not use Sync, Boost or Slide? honestly if it were not for desktop i would not even know how looks Reddit at the moment, all clients are superior to their website and official client that's like visiting hacker news website from mobile instead of using Materialistic

The HN mobile site is perfectly fine now that they tweaked the CSS.

I personally find all Reddit apps to be too opinionated and prefer the reduced mobile site + an RSS reader for smaller communities.

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#396

Post by bnolsen »

stevenj wrote: post #3

>the company is literally re-writing all of its code Wow. >An early version of the new design, which we saw during our interview, looks similar to Facebook’s News Feed or Twitter’s Timeline: A never-ending feed of content broken up into “cards” with more visuals to lure people into the conversations hidden underneath. >“We want Reddit to be more visually appealing,” he explained, “so when new users come to Reddit the…

another reason i like reddit is that i can easily load it up on a bedside fanless cherry trail system with no lag. Redos pretty much guarantee added bloat and response time. Sounds like reddit might go the way of that other post site that preceded reddit whose name I can't remember...ohh yeah, digg...

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#397

Post by bnolsen »

Angostura wrote: post #185
provost wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall Digg did a complete redesign for version 4, even the backend systems and database. And the users abandoned it shortly after launch.

What killed Digg though, wasn't any change in look at feel, as much as a fundamental change in content policy. It went from 'users submit stuff and upvote it' to 'content publishers can automate a firehose of their stories into the system for a price' people didn't like that.

For me Digg's real problem was that a small cadre of politically active users figured out how to hijack the site and steer it the way they wanted. That's why I left. Reddit did a way better job of sandboxing those people.

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#398

Post by lucideer »

virgilp wrote: post #379
pmoriarty wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of a single popular site redesign that actually made the site better. They're almost inevitably worse, usually much worse. A common failing is trying to make the design more shiny and pretty while decreasing functionality, dumbing the site down, adding bloat, and slowing the site down to a crawl. I really hope Reddit does not go down this road, because they really have a good thing going now. It would b…

> I can't think of a single popular site redesign that actually made the site better. Seriously? How about Google.com? Google Maps? Gmail? Apple.com? CNN? Uber? Surely you must believe at least some of those made the site better...

The line you quoted does seem to go too far (I'm sure there are some redesigns out there that improved things), but your listed examples really compound it.

Google.com has only ever had tiny tweaks, yet if you read the recent HN comment thread on Instant Search it's enough to show that even these small changes were significant regressions.

Apple.com, as has been mentioned, is a different case.

The rest have pretty categorically disimproved with each iteration. I doubt many would disagree here.

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#399

Post by HelloMcFly »

eridius wrote: post #181
provost wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall Digg did a complete redesign for version 4, even the backend systems and database. And the users abandoned it shortly after launch.

And that fueled Reddit's rise, because the Digg users flocked there.

I believe Reddit had already surpassed Digg by then. Digg's redesign may have been in part an attempt to respond to reddit's rise, rather than creating it.

Re: Reddit raises $200M at a $1.8B valuation

#400

Post by corobo »

roselan wrote: post #346
DanBC wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=658683 But then see these, which seem to acknowledge downvote to disagree is a problem: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1057338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403716

In that sense why not go to a "stars" system? It requires more cognitive overhead, but I think HN members can handle it.

Because people only ever vote 1 star or 5 stars. 3 at a push for neutral. They map to up, down and no vote so may as well just be that
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