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Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

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Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#341
post #126

I submitted feedback over it but, aside from the over-reliance on rounded corners, and making pills and buttons hard to separate, the single worst change is that you can't see the latest commit status from the repo screen. Instead, you get the commit hash, and have to click a tiny ellipsis button to get the commit message and the status indicator. When I'm browsing on github and not using git directly, the commit sho…

> the single worst change is that you can't see the latest commit status from the repo screen. Instead, you get the commit hash, and have to click a tiny ellipsis button to get the commit message and the status indicator. Omitting the commit message is a net improvement to me; I've found that the commit message of the random commit that happens to be at top of tree is completely unhelpful for someone browsing the rep…

> If it hasn't passed CI and status checks, it shouldn't be in your default branch.

Broken master is inevitable in a large enough project. Really what you want is to be able quickly fix a broken master.

By all means keep a perfect master if you have a toy project but once things have several developers hacking on a project with multiple artifacts and hundreds of thousands or millions of lines of code then you need to accept a broken master.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback about the latest commit status. This is something we should definitely fix. Also – I don't think there is a principle of lowering information density at work here. I think it's just a design that we will keep iterating. We are pro information density at GitHub.

If only there was a "Feature preview" option where you could ask users and the community what they think about design changes before they go live. Oh wait you have that. You just rolled it out for a couple of weeks basically to see if there were any showstopper bugs before you went live. I don't expect companies to take on my feedback. I do expect them not to treat it like it's a joke.

To follow on, many of us felt this was rushed through and that our feedback was not heard. You can sense the frustration in the parent to this comment.

You destroyed much of the trust I had. Will you roll this back and reconsider after talking more of your user base?

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#343
post #117

I have a single major problem with all of their new layouts. They place content at extreme ends of the screen, completely stretched out like a rubber band with No Man's Land in the middle. In this case, the top half is stretched and the bottom half is centred. Completely inconsistent and tiring for your eyes darting around corners of the screen. Example: https://twitter.com/JahedDEV/status/1275532988772683776 I don't…

Ya, I didn't understand this design choice. For a while I've had some custom css which also extends the width of the main content on github as well because I've always found reading some github issues with logs in them challenging. This is the css I'm running now to fix this, as well as extend the width of the main content. The 1600px is such that when using i3 and having my browser be half the screen it consumes mos…

How can I use this code snippet? Apologies if it's obvious to everyone.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#344

Ugh. Yet another design by someone who keeps their browser window maximized (or has the luxury of an enormous display) and expects everyone else to do the same. A few things that leap out at me: - Large margins everywhere - Sidebar gobbling up 20-30% of my browser window's horizontal space, no matter how far down I scroll. - Hamburger menu hiding the dashboard and other frequently used links. - Latest commit timestam…

I have the same complaints, I do agree that the new redesign looks great in my external monitor, except I do my browsing on my 14" display and the repo information looks kind of squished into the left.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#345
post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya, I didn't understand this design choice. For a while I've had some custom css which also extends the width of the main content on github as well because I've always found reading some github issues with logs in them challenging. This is the css I'm running now to fix this, as well as extend the width of the main content. The 1600px is such that when using i3 and having my browser be half the screen it consumes mos…

How can I use this code snippet? Apologies if it's obvious to everyone.

On Chrome, I use an extension called 'Stylebot'. Not sure about other platforms.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#346
post #117

I have a single major problem with all of their new layouts. They place content at extreme ends of the screen, completely stretched out like a rubber band with No Man's Land in the middle. In this case, the top half is stretched and the bottom half is centred. Completely inconsistent and tiring for your eyes darting around corners of the screen. Example: https://twitter.com/JahedDEV/status/1275532988772683776 I don't…

I remember this happened before several years ago in a previous redesign where the top menu would just stretch to fill the entire screen. It was later changed to one with a proper max width. I guess they forgot that lesson.

Ha, to me it is an improper max width. My biggest peeve with the GitHub web UI is the squished center pane.

I hate that it centers it with giant gutters wasting over half the width of a 4K monitor, should I choose to maximize a browser window. I'd much rather see everything shifted to the left. I'd even be OK with some soft margin still causing regular README text to wrap at a typical width.

But, if there are long code or raw text lines, or any embedded image or markdown table or other structure that is inherently wide, I want it to overflow and use that extra screen space, not get clipped into this ridiculously narrow bowling lane. That's my instinctual desire and the only reason I would expand the browser to full screen, and it is an utter disappointment to try that and be told, "no space for you."

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#349
post #159

I know obviously files are important in GitHub, but for the opening page of a random repo I think I would actually prefer to see the README first. I just went to the Explore page and picked the first repo: https://github.com/johannesboyne/gofakes3 You have to scroll so far down to find out what the project _actually is_. I know there's an about message on the right, but it's not great. The new UI does look more moder…

I agree this sucks. If it helps someone else avoid scrolling, I discovered that the "readme" text on the right side (right under the "about" block) is a link to the top of the readme at the bottom.

I'm gonna say it: we need to not dunk on designs by being inconvenienced for like, a second, while we figure out something new. People are way too quick to say something sucks.
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