Story

Hey everyone! I've been working on a side project called UpVote – a clean, fast social news aggregator focused on quality content and simplicity.

What it does:

Submit links or text posts

Vote on content (upvotes only, no downvotes)

Comment with nested threading

Dark mode with pure black OLED-friendly theme

Mobile-optimized with floating action button

Vote points system for engagement

Tech stack:

PHP 8.3 + SQLite (keeping it simple)

Vanilla CSS with CSS variables for theming

No frameworks – just clean, fast HTML/CSS/JS

Responsive design with 640px breakpoint

Design philosophy:

Flat design, no shadows or gradients

Solid colors only for performance

Instant theme switching with localStorage

Cross-browser compatible (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge)

Current status:

Fully functional with ~8 users and 26 posts in first 24 hours

38% creator ratio (users actually posting, not just lurking)

Moderation dashboard for community management

I'm particularly proud of the dark mode implementation – it loads instantly without flash and uses transparent post backgrounds for a modern look.

Looking for feedback on:

Overall UX/UI impressions

Any bugs or issues you spot

Feature suggestions

Demo: upvote.social