alt.hn

2/14/2026 at 1:03:28 AM

Discord: A case study in performance optimization

 https://newsletter.fullstack.zip/p/discord-a-case-study-in-performance

by tylerdane

2/14/2026 at 10:33:36 PM

I find it funny that backend devs will do all this infrastructure work to support billions of real time messages and then frontend devs stomp all over it by making the app take 500MB of RAM and hundreds of ms to take basic actions.

by nmilo

2/14/2026 at 10:36:31 PM

One runs on machines we pay for (= costs us money). Another runs on end users' machines (= costs them money).

by ronsor

2/14/2026 at 9:20:45 PM

Couldn't they focus some of their creativity on making the UI look less like the inside of a middle schooler's brain?

by jimmiles

2/14/2026 at 9:33:24 PM

In what ways does it look that way, if you recall?

I hear this semi-often, but I don't really get it. The base UI of Discord is pretty normal / looks just like every other chat app out there. Is it the ads for nitro and stuff like that were the issue?

by ipdashc

2/14/2026 at 9:37:06 PM

I think the base UI of Discord is fine, but having used it for almost a decade at this point, the UI has gotten worse. Besides the ads you've mentioned, they've added a lot more clutter (random icons, rarely used features, hidden menus, etc.). When I look at screenshots from 2019, I weep.

by ronsor

2/14/2026 at 10:02:44 PM

Animated server logos, colorful /gradient and tonally-varied usernames & avatars, the super emoji or whatever they're called, etc all feel like they're pushing more towards Twitch chat than anything else. Which as another commenter remarked, is essentially aligned with their original and biggest target demographic.

by mtndew4brkfst

2/14/2026 at 9:24:10 PM

Why would they make their UI less familiar to their target audience?

by ronsor