We Built a Hacker News for Biotech

It's funny...looking at the OP, I suddenly realize how much real estate is wasted on HN and its single column layout...if the OP reduced font-size and a little line-height, it could fit almost as many headlines above-the-fold as HN does, using much less horizontal space.

But maybe I'm old, and too familiar with HN, and too resistant to change, but HN's fuck-it-just-fill-the-column-with-a-table layout is comfortable in ways that I've only noticed when doing direct comparisons to HN-like sites.

In regards to the OP, I think that what HN loses in information density, it gains in "zen"...On the front page, there's simply less "conflict"...my mind feels more relaxed at looking at a single flat list...and when I click through to the comments, seeing just a long (and admittedly, too wide) column of comments. With the OP, my mind has to divide itself between scanning the list on the left and whatever may be on the right...and even if the right side is mostly blank (as it is with empty threads), something in my subconscious thinks that something is wrong...it's enough cognitive burden to make the experience not as effortless as it is with HN.

But I may be stretching here...HN works instinctively because I read it enough for its quirks to be instinctive. But the bigger picture is that HN, day in and day out, provides good reading material and almost never fails to disappoint in the comment threads...so any HN-clones, regardless of improved UI, still have that major hill to adoption to climb.

Shameless plug: I just built a Hacker News for Education, and I'd love to get some feedback/ interested users:

http://educatornews.net

PS Also very happy to check out OP's take on building an HN "clone". I am a math and science teacher, and keeping up with current science always makes my classes more interesting and relevant.

Yes the keyboard navigation is great, I didn't notice it at first.

Whilst I agree with danso's comment below, that there is too much to look at on harlembiospace.com vs. HN, I think a hybrid between the two would be great.

HN list layout with keyboard navigation!

Infact, if someone could build that into my Chrome HackerNews Extension suite I would be very happy!

A hacker news for hacker news-like sites (and, maybe, forum design in general... or whatever)

I would suggest "hnforx.com" but someone got to it...

Have some faith and submit it as its own story.

[edit: is this it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7399336 ]