HACKER Q&A
📣 _448

What is the best way to display nested comments on mobile devices?


I am developing a responsive web app that has a commenting system. And I want to provide similar experience both to mobile and desktop users. So I was thinking of developing a commenting system where next level of comments are reached by clicking on a comment at current level. Something like the following:

    [content]
    
    [comment #0]
    [comment #1]
    :
    :
    [comment #N]
When a user clicks on one of the comments, say "comment #1" then the next level of comments(i.e child comments of comment #1) are displayed as follows:

    [content]
    [comment #1]
    
    [comment #10]
    [comment #11]
    :
    :
    [comment #1N]
Do you see any problem with this approach? Is there a better way to display nested comments in a responsive web app that works both on desktop and mobile?

  👤 dalmo3 Accepted Answer ✓
I really like how Premii[0] does it: minimal indentation, visual cues for thread depth, and ability to collapse current thread to any arbitrary level from any comment. The smooth scrolling is awful though.

[0] https://hn.premii.com/#/comments/28385024

👤 imhoguy
The best way is the HN way ;)

Reading and writing comments here, everyday for years, addicted me so much that I forgot this site UX is not perfect.

KISS for v1 and first make sure the comment section content becomes valuable for your app users.

👤 approxim8ion
Have a look at some third party Reddit clients like Slide or Sync.

I like the idea of all comments being expanded, but tapping or clicking on a particular comment to collapse its children.