Stacker News Homepage + Profile Design Ideas \ stacker news ~meta

Stacker News Homepage + Profile Design Ideas

3762 sats \ 36 comments \ @kr 20 Feb meta

A while back, I worked on some mockups for a refreshed homepage design + profile page design, and figured it was worth sharing the ideas on SN.

We initially decided to shelve the design ideas to prioritize other SN improvements, but with a growing number of open source contributors lately, I thought there might be some interest in revitalizing some of these ideas.

Here are a few of the old mockups for mobile screens (homepage + profile pages with certain elements expanded), feel free to share any feedback below!

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695 sats \ 12 replies \ @ch0k1 20 Feb

I like encourage the profile updates adding the rank and other useful data which will help users get profile insights but please don't replace the old logo/fonts/icons etc. because you're going to lose your unique branding and amazing signature

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @UCantDoThatDotRugged 20 Feb

I agree with this, not for a 'i like this over that' change. I would say the bar is high for changing it drastically. It would be possible to take the existing logo and really expand on it without changing it, and the style does make sense for zapping. I would lean toward at some point asking a pro 'see what you can do to spice up our existing' over 'see what you can do to create brand new.' But open minded to ideas too, wouldn't mind an overhaul if it was just right, if you have a pro come on and come up with a great overall branding package that's really unique and legit. It really is still early enough, even though I like what you have. I like the design mockup though other than that, looks nice.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 20 Feb

good points. for context, this was initially designed in summer of 2022, and one of the reasons it was prioritized was that the cost of changing the design was very low then.

fwiw, i think it’s still very low, but the cost of introducing big design changes does grow over time.

0 sats \ 9 replies \ @kr OP 20 Feb

good feedback!

0 sats \ 8 replies \ @ch0k1 20 Feb

10x ❤️

I hope it is sufficient enough to make you consider the last part 🙏

0 sats \ 7 replies \ @kr OP 20 Feb

that was definitely a consideration when initially proposed.

what features contribute most to the unique branding and amazing signature in your view?

0 sats \ 6 replies \ @ch0k1 20 Feb

As I said above the logo/fonts/icons

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @kr OP 20 Feb

are you advocating for no change at all? or just less drastic change than what i proposed?

495 sats \ 4 replies \ @ch0k1 20 Feb

No, I love changes - just don't touch the UI (look and feel) but instead as functionalities - all that will help users make sure the profile is legit and worth engaging like profile info, ranking data, trophies etc.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @kr OP 20 Feb

are there any good examples of successful sites that haven’t changed their UI over time?

craigslist is the best example i can think of, but even they have made subtle UI changes over the years.

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496 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 20 Feb

Very cool! I think these changes would be good, so long as specific opt out tools are still available.

200 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 20 Feb

re: opt out tools, are you thinking mostly about the scoring display on the profile page?

451 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 20 Feb

Yes. Exactly.

451 sats \ 3 replies \ @siggy47 20 Feb

I was just looking at it closely. I noticed the smaller bio page. I know that @nout really makes the most of the bio, and I imitated it with mine. I think @DarthCoin and @Natalia also use an expanded bio. Would there be a way to keep that content?

200 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 20 Feb

right, maybe an “expand” button for longer content makes sense instead of a hard cap…

405 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 20 Feb

That would be good. Retains the choice of a less cluttered look.

188 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 21 Feb

I was thinking to reduce my bio. Too much info.

481 sats \ 0 replies \ @Design_r 22 Feb

Superbe Re~Design

440 sats \ 3 replies \ @nout 21 Feb

It's great to see that you are pushing this forward! Is it ok if I give you raw, potentially negative feedback on that?

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @kr OP 21 Feb

the more the merrier!

865 sats \ 1 reply \ @nout 21 Feb

FEATURES

I really like some of the features hinted in the profile mocks. As a quick background: some of my points from this SN comment would still apply here - so please take a look there.

I think some users would be interested in making the SN profile page their "internet profile" page. Specifically I think as a user it would be great if I can select couple building blocks for the profile to make it my own. E.g. I would like to select following blocks:

links to other accounts (e.g. nostr)
my markdown fullpage description on top.
show my top articles (not shared links) - exactly how I currently have it in my SN profile.
show my top SN comments based on zaprank
show my Nostr comments and have a convenient link to open those in the right nostr app...

It would be for sure good to have a solid default. Defaults matter. I think the stats and trophies are ok, but in the mocks those currently take too much space - I would like to have those somewhere on the side, I'm more interested in having my content and links in my profile page.

And just one quick point to keep in mind:

Separate Public vs Private: Clearly separate the "public facing profile" view from the "user private config/wallet, etc" views, so users don't get confused.

REDESIGN & STYLING

For the redesign & styling: I'm not a fan, since the design "language" is what we used to do in early 2000s and not in a good way. This was the style before we discovered "flat UI design" in 2011+ :) (this is a reasonable summary). The color gradients (yellow to orange) in the buttons/logo is what gives it away the most. Font sizing, font face, and overall spacing is also not that great, but that's not as hard to fix. I'm definitely not against redesign/updated styling, but I don't like this one in particular. My tip would be to share it with the best UX designer you can find and get their input/critique.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 21 Feb

great feedback!

434 sats \ 0 replies \ @Tef 21 Feb

It would look better with these changes. I like them!

423 sats \ 0 replies \ @026180d3a3 21 Feb

Just the news is sufficient for me. I don't need my user profile face on everything.

69 sats \ 2 replies \ @brandonsbytes 20 Feb

deleted by author

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 20 Feb

fair enough, i don’t know if anyone ever likes change to the products they use regularly.

can’t actually think of any examples of social companies shipping changes that were universally liked at first.

481 sats \ 0 replies \ @brandonsbytes 21 Feb

yeah, that's why I deleted it. It was a silly comment to make. Of course change is hard, and on the grand scheme of things, a UI change is a change I think I can handle haha.

561 sats \ 0 replies \ @supratic 21 Feb

@kr you maybe missed this? #433457

264 sats \ 1 reply \ @Nuttall 21 Feb

Who is that grouchy looking guy?

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 21 Feb

the grinch

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs 21 Feb

Whatever you do, you absolutely have to keep the way "SN" is displayed right now: looks mighty-fine!

Otherwise, looks good.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Natalia 21 Feb

I think the mockups are really crowded, too much to look...

I prefer something clean and simple, a default area showing all the posts would be enough ( so that I don't need to do it manually 👀 ) the stats area should be optional, stackers can choose to share or not to in public.

The trophies area is good - hinting the quality level of this user. 👌🏽

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Cowboy 21 Feb

Amazing, do it.