Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Some news from LWN

lwn.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 152 posts

Re: Some news from LWN

#81

Post by zeveb »

daraosn wrote: post #14
pubby wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this website comes across as very unprofessional due to the total lack of any design elements Really? I've always viewed plain HTML sites in the complete opposite way. They tend to have really good, well thought-out content. There's no filler or clickbait with them.

Disagree, even Hacker News has some attempts to have a better design while keeping the HTML site look.

> the HTML site look.

I love that phrase for all it implies about the point of view of the user thereof — to my knowledge, every site is an HTML site.

Re: Some news from LWN

#82

Post by ckastner »

rleigh wrote: post #74
ckastner wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, LWN is more than just about Linux kernel development. I find it a useful aggregator of information of note from the F/OSS world. For example, as of right now, most of the articles on the front page aren't about kernel development: distro security updates, LibreOffice, Firefox, GnuPG, ...

This is very true, but I am increasingly wanting something a bit less Linux-centric for all the major categories it covers, which also includes the BSDs and other platforms. There's also an increasingly unhealthy echo chamber regarding "the desktop" if you read the comments, which largely mirrors subscribers' corporate/project affiliations, and that's one of the reasons I no longer subscribe or read it too frequently…

I've had a similar feeling about the comments, which probably contributes to why I don't read them anymore.

Re: Some news from LWN

#83

Post by pluma »

lukeschlather wrote: post #75
pluma wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, objectively. Unless you're saying it's intended to emphasize the metadata over the content. I'm talking about factors that are measurably detrimental to readability -- not fashion. Visual emphasis isn't new, it's been around for centuries -- it's not just a fad. There is plenty of introductory material on visual emphasis around, not just covering emphasis in textual media, e.g.: http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/e…

It doesn't emphasize the metadata over the content - they are equal peers. Most techniques for making metadata less emphasized make the metadata objectively less readable. I like having the metadata there. I like being able to read it. I have no trouble reading the text (because it's a decent size and the layout handles zooming without issue.)

It puts the metadata first with no visual distinction from the content itself. The distance between paragraphs in the comment and between the metadata and the comment is identical.

Also, the title of the article is repeated throughout and drastically emphasised (considering nothing else is that visually distinct and it even has a solid background color).

Re: Some news from LWN

#84

Post by zeveb »

bflesch wrote: post #4

I've never been a subscriber of this page and I don't think I am their real target audience. But I'm a professional programmer and I have been using Linux for around 15 years. I must say that this website comes across as very unprofessional due to the total lack of any design elements which would make it more easy to consume the content (spacing, choice of font). Also it seems like they don't use CSS to enhance the s…

In fairness, I see your point, and it's not a bad one. I do appreciate the fact that LWN works in any browser, and doesn't require JavaScript to function.

I wouldn't say that it comes across as unprofessional, though — rather the opposite. To me, LWN appears to be professional: no-frills, focused on substance over form.

Re: Some news from LWN

#85

Post by spoonie »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #46

So I see a lot of confusion about what LWN is on here. While it provides a detailed write up of recent kernel development for sure, it is far from the only thing they do. LWN is first and foremost a great way to stay on top of the most important developments in the free/open-source community, without having to browse tens of mailing list discussions on a weekly basis. I see it as giving me a way to keep a tap on the…

I also like how they have a variety of price points. I've been subscribed for a few years (paying annually) and vary my payment up and down depending on my budget.

Re: Some news from LWN

#86

Post by oblio »

csense wrote: post #77
bflesch wrote: post #4

I've never been a subscriber of this page and I don't think I am their real target audience. But I'm a professional programmer and I have been using Linux for around 15 years. I must say that this website comes across as very unprofessional due to the total lack of any design elements which would make it more easy to consume the content (spacing, choice of font). Also it seems like they don't use CSS to enhance the s…

> design elements which would make it more easy to consume the content For me, "design elements" tend to make content harder to consume. > it just feels clunky Pages that load megabytes of JavaScript to display kilobytes of text feel clunky. The modern trend toward large icons, large fonts, wide margins, and slow response times because everything has to go through JS/XHR makes websites that keep with today's design f…

You're mixing up design "fads" with solid principles.

> large icons, large fonts, wide margins

I have 20/20 vision but even for me, all these are boons. It's the "design types" that want small fonts because they look cool. But for reading, give me a 14 or 16 font any day of the week, much more relaxing on the eyes.

All those things you're complaining about improve readability and discoverability.

I can't even imagine how people with bad eyesight think about this topic...

> and slow response times because everything has to go through JS/XHR

This does, indeed, look like a (software) design fad.

Re: Some news from LWN

#87

Post by Svenskunganka »

wtbob wrote: post #21
bflesch wrote: post #4

I've never been a subscriber of this page and I don't think I am their real target audience. But I'm a professional programmer and I have been using Linux for around 15 years. I must say that this website comes across as very unprofessional due to the total lack of any design elements which would make it more easy to consume the content (spacing, choice of font). Also it seems like they don't use CSS to enhance the s…

> I must say that this website comes across as very unprofessional due to the total lack of any design elements which would make it more easy to consume the content (spacing, choice of font). Say what? On the contrary, I think that it's splendidly simple to read LWN, because there's no distraction. It's a good, clean site; it respects the styling I instruct my browser to apply to it; it displays just fine in links, l…

You don't really have to make it look "current" to make it better. I think a good example is antirez blog: http://antirez.com/latest/0

It's clean, very simple and renders fine in everything, even mobile. No distracting content, proper font and font spacing.

Re: Some news from LWN

#88

Post by CaptSpify »

oblio wrote: post #86
csense wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> design elements which would make it more easy to consume the content For me, "design elements" tend to make content harder to consume. > it just feels clunky Pages that load megabytes of JavaScript to display kilobytes of text feel clunky. The modern trend toward large icons, large fonts, wide margins, and slow response times because everything has to go through JS/XHR makes websites that keep with today's design f…

You're mixing up design "fads" with solid principles. > large icons, large fonts, wide margins I have 20/20 vision but even for me, all these are boons. It's the "design types" that want small fonts because they look cool. But for reading, give me a 14 or 16 font any day of the week, much more relaxing on the eyes. All those things you're complaining about improve readability and discoverability. I can't even imagine…

I feel like I'm not understanding what your saying. Zooming is easy. I have bad eyes and zoom in on websites all the time. Simple sites like LWN work great, but every "magically interactive overly-designed" site breaks immediately. Large icons start overlapping/fighting with each other and the text. Wide-margins end up squishing the site to one or two word columns

Re: Some news from LWN

#89

Post by anders098 »

I know that Jonathan Corbet is having cancer but he still keep working on and supporting this site. Not mentioning this is the best place for kernel developers, hackers to keep up with latest kernel news. God bless Jon.

Re: Some news from LWN

#90

Post by karma_vaccum123 »

gluegadget wrote: post #23

I'm a subscriber but I don't look at it as a subscription to a weekly magazine but an investment. Enabling knowledgeable people to write in-depth analysis of various patch sets or subsystems of Linux kernel—which rarely change dramatically—ensures that, later on, there'll always be an article in Google search results that'll explain the reason behind certain behaviours in a more approachable manner than reading the s…

I felt the same way and subscribed for years, but lately most of the content seems to be links out to external sites, and many of those seem to be reposts from HN or proggit....just not worth it anymore to me
Post reply on HN