yurivictor

I seriously had just spent like two hours looking for an app exactly like this and BAM I came across this post.

Thank you and oh, I like the new site.

Rather than design a whole new site, just create a userscript or plugin design overlay for Hacker News.

Example of a design overlay for Google Reader: http://helvetireader.com/

Example of a design plugin for Google Reader: http://reederforchrome.tumblr.com/

Some quick thoughts:

• Ads are eroding the experience. Focus on high impact inventory with fewer competing ads and alternatives to display. The goal is higher revenue and a better experience.

• Need to design beyond news. Give users indispensable tools for their daily routine and provide context beyond the news cycle.

• The site lacks a voice. You live in your community. Your site should look and sound local.

• Local news seems to be your core asset. Provide a local filter on everything. Allow passive and active customization for better relevance.

• The navigation and taxonomy are confusing. By housing everything, you showcase nothing. Decrease top navigation by increasing in-page navigation.

Wordpress does publishing right. The admin is easy and intuitive for writers, photographers, editors and the news production. Ruby on Rails and Django have admins best saved for programmers.

I suspect the time and effort to create a user-friendly admin and publishing system for either framework was higher than just using Wordpress, which already just works and people are familiar with. This makes sense.

But, Wordpress can be a pain for programming teams with front end and back end developers. The code is often embedded, which means both a designer and programmer often have to touch the same file at the same time. The MVC model fixes this problem allowing teams to work simultaneously with designers designing and coders coding, while also simultaneously making the coding easier by creating a model built around standard framework structure.

Wordpress wins for writers. MVC wins for programmers and designers. MTV wins for both.