from Hacker News

Ask HN: Does anyone use the next link on comments?

by whoisjohnkid on 2/14/22, 2:15 AM with 13 comments

I always accidentally click it instead of collapsing a thread. Does anyone find this useful? Am I just behind on the times?
  • by MerelyMortal on 2/14/22, 3:46 AM

    My habit is just to collapse the thread. Collapsing earlier threads makes it easier if I want to scroll up to read something in the comment chain.
  • by phendrenad2 on 2/14/22, 2:46 AM

    I also accidentally click it all the time. It's a bit bonkers because it's right next to the collapse thread arrow. And if you're collapsing threads to mark which comments you've read already, you definitely don't want to accidentally click "next", because you'll have to scroll back up to accomplish your goal.
  • by ffpip on 2/14/22, 5:11 AM

    It would be a lot more useful if it stayed at the same position on the screen. It keeps moving to the left or right with every comment, depending on the length of the username of the person who posted the comment.

    You could just keep clicking next without searching for it if it was at the same place above or beside a comment all the time.

  • by m348e912 on 2/14/22, 2:35 AM

    I sometimes upvote instead of collapsing the thread. HN's UI takes a little getting used to.
  • by notreallyserio on 2/14/22, 5:34 AM

    I use it all the time on mobile, along with parent and prev. I do wish the touch targets were a bit larger but I would miss the minimalist design if they were a lot larger.
  • by WalterGR on 2/14/22, 7:17 AM

    I mostly browse on mobile, so I avoid touching anything - next links, collapse links, whatever - as much as possible. They’re teeny tiny.
  • by taubek on 2/14/22, 1:07 PM

    No, I didn't notice that feature until now. And I thought that minus was some kind of downvote :)
  • by egfx on 2/14/22, 6:16 AM

    No I clicked on it for the first time just now. Didn’t even really notice the links were there.
  • by muzani on 2/14/22, 8:23 AM

    I only use it because I didn't know about collapsing threads.
  • by bbotond on 2/14/22, 6:13 AM

    I use it all the time
  • by dusted on 2/14/22, 7:25 AM

    Nope, but I also don't collapse threads.
  • by blondin on 2/14/22, 3:08 AM

    nope.

    they are a UX disaster on mobile.

  • by magn1fico on 2/14/22, 4:11 AM

    all the time