Browser extension which makes it easer to follow comment threads on Hacker News across multiple visits, allows you to annotate and mute users, and other UI tweaks and mobile UX improvements
Hacker News has one of the designs of all time - this browser extension focuses on improving the site's functionality (drawing the rest of the friendly owl, if you will) while preserving the UI we all know.
Its core functionality is improving your ability to follow comment threads across repeat visits. The fun begins the _second time_ you visit a comments thread on Hacker News - how many times have you searched for "hour(s) ago" or "minutes ago" on the page to try to find new comments?
Comments Owl stores details of your last visit to each item's comments and uses that to display the number of new comments on list pages, and to automatically highlight new comments and collapse threads without new comments the next time you visit.
This 2.0 release adds mobile support and a Safari version for the first time:
- The navigation bar is improved somewhat by displaying links below the header instead of squashed into it
- You can hide navigation links you don't/rarely use
- To avoid accidental flagging while scrolling on mobile, flagging on list pages can be disabled (hides the link) or require a confirmation
- Increases the distance between upvote and downvote controls to help avoid mis-votes
- & other small mobile-specific UI fixes
User notes have also been added - you can now add notes to a user on their profile page, the first line of which will be displayed to their comments. User muting is also available should you feel the need to make use of it.
Comments Owl for Hacker News
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