HN Microfix

About

HN Microfix enhances your reading experience on Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com) with small, focused UI improvements that make it faster to scan stories, navigate deep discussions, and spot key controls — without changing how Hacker News works.

Discussion-first browsing
On story listing pages, HN Microfix makes the most common workflow effortless:
• Click the story title to open the Hacker News discussion page (item?id=...)
• Click the domain/site link next to the title to open the actual article destination
This keeps you in the conversation by default while still giving you a clean, reliable way to open the external link.

Cleaner links (less visual noise):
• The domain/site link next to titles becomes a normal, useful link to the real destination
• Extra punctuation around that link (parentheses/brackets) is removed for a cleaner look
• No more accidentally triggering the from?site= search flow when you meant to open the article

Better comment navigation: tree lines you can click
• Hacker News threads get long. HN Microfix replaces the tiny [-] collapse control with a more natural interaction:
• Tree lines on the left show comment hierarchy
• Click the tree gutter to collapse/expand a comment thread
• Hover highlights the full subtree so you can see what will collapse before you click
This makes it much easier to skim, reduce clutter, and keep your place in big discussions.

Voting controls where your eyes already are:
• HN Microfix moves comment vote arrows so they’re easier to find:
• Vote arrows appear next to the commenter name
• Larger, clearer click targets for quicker voting
• If a downvote arrow is available to your account (HN rules apply), it appears stacked under the upvote

Simple on/off toggle:
• One click to enable/disable from the extension popup
• Your setting is remembered (and can sync via Chrome Sync)
• Privacy-first by design

HN Microfix does not collect analytics, track you, or send your data anywhere. Everything runs locally in your browser and only on Hacker News.

Not affiliated:
HN Microfix is an independent project and is not affiliated with Y Combinator or Hacker News.
If you spend time on Hacker News and want cleaner navigation and faster thread control, HN Microfix is a lightweight upgrade that stays out of your way.