Best of 2026

The blog posts Hacker News loved most in 2026. 243 posts.

Web & Frontend
163

Snow Simulation Toy

One of the first significant things I ever coded in QBasic was a falling snow simulation- I think they're very soothing to watch, fun to customize, and there's lots of possibilities for extra little delight. Here's one I built on idle afternoons over the holidays this year at my parents. Enjoy!

170

The lost art of XML

There exists a peculiar amnesia in software engineering regarding XML. Mention it in most circles and you will receive knowing smiles, dismissive waves, the sort of patronizing acknowledgment reserved for technologies deemed passé. "Oh, XML," they say, as if the very syllables carry the weight of obsolescence. "We use…

173

The window chrome of our discontent

In a WWDC 2011 session, Dan Schimpf explained some of the goals of the refreshed design for Aqua in Mac OS X Lion were “meant to focus the user attention on the active window content”. This sentiment was echoed by John Siracusa in his review of Lion for Ars Technica: Apple says that its goal […]

178

The CMS is dead, long live the CMS

I saw a post on LinkedIn the other day from a self-proclaimed 20 year agency veteran of WordPress saying that was it, they’re moving the entire agency off of WordPress and onto AI. Now, because I, too, am a 20 year veteran of WordPress, this kind of story catches my attention. He posted that they […]