from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why is there sometimes a black line at the top of HN?

by sambroner on 4/24/21, 9:18 PM with 6 comments

Every few months, there's a black line across the top of hackernews. It's a <td> with a static black gif ("s.gif") in it. It's typically there for a few hours or days before disappearing.

What's up with that?

Example: https://imgur.com/KOy428e

  • by gregjor on 4/24/21, 9:25 PM

    https://www.google.com/search?q=hacker+news+black+line

    Mourning band, I assume for Dan Kaminsky.

  • by sethammons on 4/25/21, 3:05 AM

    Each time the mourning band comes up, a post like this shows up. This should spark a design improvement for hn: first thought is a clickable black bar that goes to the wiki entry for the recently diseased or the relevant submitted post.

  • by simonblack on 4/25/21, 1:07 AM

    When Google has a new image on its search page, a quick hover will display a tooltip which explains what the new image is about.

    It would be similarly helpful to have information displayed when hovering on the black bar at the top of the HN page.

    While most of us know that it signifies that somebody important in the tech world has died, we don't have any specific information who has died.

    I sometimes find some tech person who has died in the news, only to find that the black bar was intended for remembrance of somebody else.

  • by sethammons on 4/25/21, 3:04 AM

    Each time the mourning band comes up, a post like this shows up. This should spark a design improvement for hn: first thought is a clickable black bar that goes to the wiki entry for the recently diseased.