Comment by walnut-tree

I really like your discussion system - some great thinking here! The arrows are surprisingly clear in directing you to posts and indicating hierarchy. Also, the comments just feel more visible in this layout; it feels quicker to glance through a discussion.

Is it possible for you to import comments from some popular discussion sites to get a sense of what the layout will look like with different numbers of comments? This might be a good way of "stress testing" the layout to see if, under certain circumstances, the design needs tweaking.

I've always assumed that most users treat page after page of comments a bit like search results: they'll look at page one or page two of the comments and then stop (because there are just too many to wade through). Inevitably some of the interesting comments will get buried or overlooked ("Upvoting" and "editor's pick" are two approaches to remedying this). I like many of your suggestions around trying to make it easier to explore discussions.

Here are some questions that came to mind when I looked at your discussion system (I don't have answers to these questions, they're just food for thought :-)

- Horizontal scrolling: this might work well on a tablet (swiping horizontally), but will it feel awkward on a desktop if the layout stretches quite long?

- Will this comment system work equally well with a few comments as well as a few hundred? How long might the horizontal layout become if you have hundreds of comments?

- What might the layout look like if you have mainly single comments (i.e. no threaded replies)? Will a single horizontal line of comments look awkward? (It may well look fine.)

- I notice that each column is of uniform width (which makes perfect sense), but what happens when some comments get lots of replies? As you begin to indent each reply, is there a point where the indentation becomes a problem? (To be honest this is true of all threaded comment systems, but you're working with a much narrower width to begin with.)

- Many blogs sit within a fixed page width rather than stretch to fill the whole browser window. Can this comment system sit well within this type of design? Will it look awkward if it stretches outside the page width? It may be that this design works well for discussion sites and doesn't need to be a one-size-fits-all for every kind of site.

I hope these thoughts don't sound too negative. Commenting feels ripe for more exploration. There is so much commenting on the web, yet not much has changed in the way discussions are displayed. Could interesting visualisations help (or hinder) the way we read discussions? For example, a colour bar or timeline that charts whether comments expressed are negative or positive (would obviously only work for certain types of comment).

I'm impressed by what you've started so far and hope you continue to explore. Good luck :-)