Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN easier to read
34 points
1 hour ago
| 13 comments
| oj-hn.com
| HN
satvikpendem
14 minutes ago
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"Tested, not vibe coded" yet you mention the AI has written all the tests. This extension may not be vibe coded but it's close to that, it seems. Regardless it seems to work well, I replaced the older Refined Hacker News extension with this, which seems like where you initially sourced the code from as the features are very similar, 1:1 even for some.

I also use this extension HNRelevant (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hnrelevant) which shows a list of similar posts, you might want to add that as an optional feature as well.

What's the tech stack, pure TS? You also might want to migrate from Biome to oxc, I did recently and it plays well with Vite+ (or just move to Vite+) directly.

Noticed a bug, once I edit my own comment and go back to the main post, I show up as [op] not you. Also I should be able to edit my post inline not be moved to a separate page.

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latchkey
5 minutes ago
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It is heavily coded with AI, but I'm also a 30+ year web developer. I'm not just one shotting all of the code, I'm reading it too. I'm feeling like it is giving me super powers.

See the thread below about refined, which hasn't received an update in 4 years.

I have HNRelevant on my list of features that I've been collecting.

I tried oxc and didn't like it as much as biome. They admittedly aren't as good at formatting yet. The real winner here is ultracite.

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ramon156
19 minutes ago
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> Why Install Orange Juice?

> Because Hacker News is great, but repetitive UI friction adds up. Orange Juice keeps the original feel while removing the things that cost you time every day.

That does not convince me to use your app? This is like calling someone's Kia shit and instead telling them to buy a Tesla, but just stating that it's better.

I'll stick to HN, thanks.

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satvikpendem
3 minutes ago
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To me, that doesn't sound like your analogy at all. It'd be true if the extension for example redirected an HN thread to a reddit thread of the same posted URL, ie a replacement of the original, but the extension simply adds features to the existing site. There have been extensions like this available for years, like Refined HN which this is based off, as well as many third party HN clients. Therefore I think you should try it before judging so harshly.
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latchkey
13 minutes ago
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Sure. What language would convince you?
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Novosell
37 minutes ago
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Did you ai generate the Chrome and Firefox logo? That isn't what they look like, or have ever looked like, from what I know.
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latchkey
35 minutes ago
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Yes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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DrBenCarson
30 minutes ago
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…why?
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latchkey
26 minutes ago
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I'd rather focus on building features vs. caring about logos.

Update: I'm having AI fix this since you guys want to focus so hard on it. Of all things... lol.

FIXED!

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semolino
20 minutes ago
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Taking shortcuts with design tends to result in users trusting your project less.
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59nadir
22 minutes ago
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Why not just use the actual logos? It's not as if you *have* to generate them.
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dartharva
7 minutes ago
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You need AI to just replace the svg?
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satvikpendem
1 minute ago
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These days, everyone is using AI for even small things, because honestly it's easier to say to an AI to use original SVGs and have it go out and find the correct ones with a web search tool call than to do it myself, it's simply a waste of my time for small tasks like that.
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latchkey
1 minute ago
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Of course I don't, but if it helps me do trivial tasks so that I can focus on other things, I might as well use it.
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Klonoar
24 minutes ago
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What on earth is that Firefox logo...?
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latchkey
9 minutes ago
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FIXED
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maxloh
39 minutes ago
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latchkey
35 minutes ago
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This is exactly what I don't want my extension to become. I don't want a new UX, I want the existing UX to be enhanced.
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ipsum2
35 minutes ago
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It looks pretty good! I'm using it now and its a meaningful improvement to the existing site.

Out of curiosity, why did you make a new Github account for the extension instead of developing it on your own account?

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latchkey
32 minutes ago
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Thanks!

Because I see this becoming bigger than me and a separate organization made sense. There is a super thin backend component right now too. There is the potential to also add in some extra features that require a server/db. I'm kind of inspired by the atuin model of things.

I've got a LONG list of features I'd like to implement over time.

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cobbman
41 minutes ago
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I want hacker news UX to stay as it is, mostly, but these are features I'd welcome.
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latchkey
34 minutes ago
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Thanks. My feeling as well.
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altairprime
38 minutes ago
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Latchkey, would you be comfortable with HN adopting your dark mode styling as a user choice someday, if they came around to liking it? I really like it and I think it’s in the spirit of the site.
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satvikpendem
17 minutes ago
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I'm pretty sure that will never happen, as it would've happened already by now. People can and do already use custom CSS or Dark Reader for dark mode.
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latchkey
4 minutes ago
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Or you can just use my extension, heh.
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tomComb
21 minutes ago
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That would be great! Please do.
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latchkey
25 minutes ago
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Thanks! A lot of it is AI with my own input, but I think it did a great job.

The code is all open source and people can do with it what they want. It is GPLv3, but I'd special license it to them as MIT without question.

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altairprime
13 minutes ago
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Ah, oh well. Thanks!
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wesz
14 minutes ago
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The improvements are nice, that's for sure. But i checked out github and it looks like overengineered ai slop, you could implement all the features with 1/10 of the code. But again, nobody cares nowadays which makes me sad. You even generated chrome/firefox logos using ai...
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latchkey
13 minutes ago
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How is it over-engineered slop? Happy to improve things, but I thought it was pretty clean.
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greenpizza13
30 minutes ago
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I can't figure out how to toggle to Light Mode (maybe it uses the system setting?). HN is something I prefer to be in Light Mode but everything else in dark. Gonna remove until this is configurable.
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latchkey
23 minutes ago
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Defaults to system. The toggle is in the top right corner of the navbar next to your karma.
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xydac
35 minutes ago
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its funny how us developers build varied UX, but nothing beats the simplicity of HN's default experience. quick and bloat free.
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latchkey
31 minutes ago
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That's the beauty of this extension, it keeps things simple.
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Imustaskforhelp
1 hour ago
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I use refined Hacker news Extension.

https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news#highlights

It might be beneficial to tell me what the difference between these two can be? A lot of the features from my first glance (I can be totally wrong though) are within HN refined.

I would really appreciate a short summary of differences. Personally I am really happy by HN refined though so kudos to @plibither8

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latchkey
36 minutes ago
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Refined hasn't received an update in 4 years.

https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news/issues/135...

I used refined for years as well. Great product, but the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it. If you're using refined today, you're experiencing a lot of bugs as the HN DOM has changed over time.

I maintained my own fork for a long time but finally motivated myself to try out AI assisted coding and this is what came out of it. It isn't a port, it is a clean rewrite from the ground up.

I took every feature that I enjoyed from refined, re-implemented it from scratch, with a totally different architecture that allows much more control over the DOM and runs a whole lot faster.

I had AI write hundreds of of unit tests, so that we can make sure that bugs don't appear in the future. I also fixed a whole ton of edge cases along the way.

The entire deployment, all the way to the browser stores, is fully automated with CI/CD, so that we know that the supply chain is safe.

In other words, you might as well migrate. If there is something missing that you enjoyed, file an issue, or even better... a PR.

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Isolated_Routes
42 minutes ago
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This is helpful! Thank you
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latchkey
31 minutes ago
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:heart:
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