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The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

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Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#31
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

25x25 is pretty big. I think it would be clever to make it 15x15 or 10x10...

...or 10 x 1. Even with only 32 colors per pixel, that's over a quadrillion color combinations.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25x25 is pretty big. I think it would be clever to make it 15x15 or 10x10...

How about just 1x1? Using the standard RGB color space there are 16,777,216. I doubt HN will have that many users so everyone gets their own color :-)

Your design is not future-proof.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#33
post #9

I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

Maybe you could write a Greasemonkey script? You could have randomly generated avatars like Miis. Then you could also assign an image for specific posters that you feel are better indicative of their personalities.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

Maybe you could write a Greasemonkey script? You could have randomly generated avatars like Miis. Then you could also assign an image for specific posters that you feel are better indicative of their personalities.

Where would you get the images? Just generate them randomly?

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about just 1x1? Using the standard RGB color space there are 16,777,216. I doubt HN will have that many users so everyone gets their own color :-)

Your design is not future-proof.

Sure it is, just add another pixel :)

"Look at that 3 pixel noob..."

You could use the user's top bar preferences!

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#38
My suggestion is a little different: I would like to see more history kept than the last 20 or so comments (although search.yc helps a lot here) so that when I come across a new poster I can read their other submissions and comments and get a better feel for how they think based on what else they have written.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#39
post #9

I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.

That's exactly the problem I am describing. They are making their own portraits, but they aren't sticking to their usernames, at least for me. A visual icon would help. It could be small, 25x25 as someone suggested.

I agree. I think we can all give links to our blogs, or make a community on facebook. Actually, I am just going to do that and submit a link for those who are interested.

Re: The case for pictures next to usernames on Hacker News

#40
post #9

I think it's better if people make their own portraits with their ideas.

Then why have usernames (displayed) at all? Why is a picture so different than a username in terms of degrading the painting of a "portrait" of ideas? You could drop them altogether or replace them with a random string (generated each page view).

The way the user names are colored, it looks like we barely have them at all: The post text is in black, and the other information is in gray. I frequently find myself reading the text before I read who wrote it... which I think is just fine. It sends the message that the content is more important than the poster.
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