I'm a big fan of HTML, and I really don't understand why Hacker news is using tables instead of lists.
Lists make a lot more sense than tables in this case, also the CSS will be easier to modify.
Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
1–10 of 93 posts
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#2This came up a while ago. pg's answer was "Because we're smart enough to realize that html is object code?"
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#3PG might tell you it's because html is object code: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50159
But then you'll note that his code is full of tab, tr, and td macros so it's not like html tables are completely abstracted out. So a better answer might be that he puts a premium on quickly getting things out that work and ignoring details that the user never knows about; I'm guessing you didn't know the page was table based until you looked at the source. I'm also guessing that it's as easy for him to make arc changes as it would be for you to make the corresponding css changes (were the page list based).
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#4This came up a while ago. pg's answer was "Because we're smart enough to realize that html is object code?" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50154
That is. Table is 'not optimized object code' compared to lists. So you should ask: why your object code is not optimized (and it slow loaded and slow rendered on my PC :).
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#5I think because it's easier... for him. I don't like it either though.
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#6smacks head
Not this again...
The answer being who gives a shit? Does it look fine in most browsers?
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#7PG might tell you it's because html is object code: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50159 But then you'll note that his code is full of tab , tr , and td macros so it's not like html tables are completely abstracted out. So a better answer might be that he puts a premium on quickly getting things out that work and ignoring details that the user never knows about; I'm guessing you didn't know the page was table ba…
You're right, I realized that the page was table based by looking at the source.
Programmers love to read beautiful code, As a web designer, I love to read beautiful and meaningful HTML. ;)
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#8This came up a while ago. pg's answer was "Because we're smart enough to realize that html is object code?" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50154
That is. Table is 'not optimized object code' compared to lists. So you should ask: why your object code is not optimized (and it slow loaded and slow rendered on my PC :).
How old is your computer? I've found news.yc load times are close to instant.
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#9PG might tell you it's because html is object code: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50159 But then you'll note that his code is full of tab , tr , and td macros so it's not like html tables are completely abstracted out. So a better answer might be that he puts a premium on quickly getting things out that work and ignoring details that the user never knows about; I'm guessing you didn't know the page was table ba…
You're right, I realized that the page was table based by looking at the source. Programmers love to read beautiful code, As a web designer, I love to read beautiful and meaningful HTML. ;)
Tables are embedded in the Arc code for news.yc, as brett mentioned, but probably it could be rewritten in a few hours for a list-based layout. Of course, changing the layout would require an Arc developer, which is the disadvantage to not using templates. You may have noticed that most hackers seem to think web design is unimportant and/or should require a programmer for each change.
Re: Ask YC: Why is YC's layout table based?
#10I think PG must have known, what I only ended up finding out myself after trying too hard to make everything CSS, is that it doesn't always need to be.
I kinda wish I could have an outter body experience +add that with time travel, and go back a few months so I can kick my old self in the ASS(twice) for wasting hours trying to make a forums page in all CSS, only to give up and accomplish it with tables, in what felt like seconds compared to the time I had spent previously.
CSS is of course a really good thing, especially if your building a big site(my site still mainly CSS based), But there's no need to spend unneeded time on things that the end user won't see,notice or care.