HackerNoon Product-ivity Updates: Improved Machine Curation for Better Human Experiences

Please pardon the cliché but here at HackerNoon, we put the "product" in productivity.

There have been lots of notable updates made to the platform since our last product update on May 14th and we hope all of those interacting with our site bask in the excitement and cash in on the value.

To write is to think. And at HackerNoon, we empower thinkers from all around the world. 

To showcase our appreciation, we have updated the layout and features of the Writer Dashboard. All you have to do is sign up, log in, go to the writer tab, and enjoy the possibilities. 

In life, it's often best to keep a "hard copy" of your favorite works. Sometimes simply to have it to showcase in different types of portfolios, sometimes just in case your favorite website decides to go down for maintenance.

It's now possible to export all of your stories in a well-formatted PDF, or JSON file, if you are fancy. Just like that, you have a book of your published content ready to go. 

Head on over to the Writer tab, select published stories, and export your HackerNoon book today!

Improving our writers' experience is what we do, and we know how important it is to reduce distractions while you write mind-blowing articles. For that reason, we've made linking a whole lot easier. 

By selecting the add link option on HackerNoon's native editors, you can now link to a story, user, company, tag, or coin. Type your search term and witness as the system automatically pulls all published stories under that term. Add @ before your search term if you're looking for people and brands, # for tags, and $ for coins.

That's right! The one-stop-shop, all-inclusive HackerNoon storefront is here! HackerNoon is trusted by over 2000 brands worldwide - and now, we made it even easier for brands, current or prospective, to collaborate with us without leaving the site! Transparency ftw!

Check out all the juicy details right here.

Now available with that cool IceBreaker Popup.

At HackerNoon, we've published tens of thousands of stories about #blockchain, #bitcoin, and just about everything else surrounding #cryptocurrency since 2016. And now we're adding cryptocurrency price pages at hackernoon.com/coins and individual coin price pages like $BTC, $ETH, and $USDT. The coin price pages combine curated stories and timely data in order to form a qualitative and quantitate hub about each cryptocurrency.

In this section, you'll be able to check each coin individually, its price and market cap, as well as HackerNoon stories related to that coin. Learn more about coin pages here.

Don't judge a book by its cover...unless the cover is so great you can't help it!

On that front, we upgraded the design throughout the website with Top Nav as the main star, and we’re not afraid to show it.

On the back end, admins have a better, newer, easier-to-understand interface for uploading links.

On the front end, users now see a slicker design (font, box, color, etc.) and some animation when you hover over certain links.

But the update to the Top Nav wasn't just for your eyes only. As a leader, it is very important to question the wisdom of crowds. But you should still be aware of what's trending, be it stories or tech companies. Once again, HackerNoon has got you covered.

Under Tech Company Directory, readers can check out different categories of brands, divided into Top (ranked by pageviews), Trending (ranked by reader interest), and Startups (ranked by pageviews to startup pages).

Top Tech Companies and Trending Companies are updated daily thanks to HackerNoon's algorithm, which pulls data from the past seven days to give our readers the best information.

Scroll over to "Top Stories" on the nav bar and check out which stories are trending, also updated daily.

Moreover, new trophies are now showing on trending stories, further upholding the piece's top status.

Dedicated to keeping our readers updated on the current state of tech, we've added a page for trending tech companies where you'll be able to find the latest rank and interest rates of the biggest companies. This page comprises free and timely data-driven insight into which tech companies are rising and falling in the public consciousness week over week. HackerNoon's algorithm ranks interest based on people's consumption of every tech company news page over the last week. 

Inside each company page, you can find a graph on their stock prices and compare their evolution throughout a chosen period of time. At the bottom of every page, there's a list of story mentions on Hackernoon where you can expand your knowledge of each company's current events. Moreover, each page will feature a full-width video header, and you'll be able to enjoy a whole new set of badges.

You can also find our weekly tech companies briefs here, or get them delivered to your inbox by subscribing to the newsletter here.

Look I'm sure we've all heard of Ellon pulling out of Twitter but plenty of humans and bots are still there ready to socialize and share all of the content. 

At HackerNoon, we have made it so tweeting your content at the right people is easier than ever. All you do is head to the "Story Settings" and type the correct Twitter handles where it says: "Give [a] Shout Out to People on Twitter."

Another great news: our developers updated the Twitter bot to post your amazing stories within 2-3 days of publication! These tweets now get added directly to the around the web feature as backlinks.

Have you noticed how the site loads a lot faster lately? Yup - we've been improving site performance all around. Stories are now stored in plain HTML, with no more markdown editor being loaded, to improve performance.

Images are only as big as they have to be, most render as their native size and don't stretch to take up the entire screen, but are still zoomable via click. The image loading indicator has been added, while the cumulative layout shift has improved scores. Less cumulative layout shift means the pages move around less as the page loads.

Story pages also load at about twice the speed thanks to First and Largest Contentful Paint, which means you will see something show up on the page faster and the largest thing on the first load appears sooner.

See below the improvement in the past months.

In life, the search for the truth never stops. But it genuinely helps when there are fewer unnecessary obstacles in the way. You can now browse everything in the search bar while logged into hackernoon.com!

Comments are the life of the interwebs. Well, now you can easily tell which articles are the life of the party. Comment counts show up clear as day as you browse. 

Your poetic, conversationalist genius is officially captured in one place. Simply head over to your profile page and click on the "comments" tab. You will see all of your comments in their full glory.

This is a great way to build your profile page and reputation at HackerNoon.

In honor of celebrating pride month this year, we created an option for users to choose all of the colors of the rainbow simultaneously while deciding on the vibe of their user experience. Head over to your settings and select pride for the full experience. You can also set up this feature by clicking the paint icon in the upper left present on every page. 

While there, why not check out all the other #chooseyourcolor options we have to offer? 

Spoiler alert: there's a Noonies theme!

HackerNoon appreciates all the work and dedication you put into your stories. For that reason, we have added a Rewards Tab where you can check all the ways you can monetize your content and get prizes while doing what you love.

One of the options HackerNoon has to offer is small payments via coil. To earn Coil rewards, include the W3C standard web monetization tag to your content and see them fall right into your tab.

Writing contests are also a great way to attach prestige to your stories. With over $100k committed to writing contests this year, HackerNoon has partnered up with big names in the industry to bring you unmissable contests. To name a few, here are the currently ongoing contests sponsored by the best:

A few of our previous winners from The Decentralized Internet Writing Contest were:

A fun little function we have for you is... polls. This functionality is a part of a greater polls integration we have in store, aligned with our goal to give our community an active voice. It started with Noonies, and now we've made it an everyday present on our website. Every week HackerNoon will launch a new poll on an entertaining or relevant topic for discussion. May the wisest win!

HackerNoon's backups system has been refactored for better reliability, in that stories and users are backed up as soon as they are changed so that we always keep a safe copy of the latest version.

In addition, backups can now be easily restored individually by admin members of the HackerNoon staff. The system will receive further improvements in the months to come, to extend the same new functionality to the rest of our database.

We saved the best for last. Noonies will be taking over the galaxy this year! Currently, in its 4th edition, the internet's greenest awards anticipate a whole set of nominees and prizes. Sneak preview of the incredible noonies.tech layout and design, set to launch on August 15.

All about that StarTech baby. Live long and tech.

Thank you all for being a part of the HackerNoon community!