One suggestion for your website is to accommodate heading on left half of the screen (desktop view) coz usually most of the people have a mental model of trying to find heading first and reading from L2R.
Sometimes I'd appreciate a larger font on mobile. I don't want larger margins!
At least I discovered many articles that way, lazily switching categories, which I'd have missed otherwise.
There are other HN-frontends which do similar things, but with the exception of [1] https://hckrnews.com/ none stuck with me so far.
This one I liked, bookmarked, and intend to use more often until further notice.
edit: What is missing for me is the ability of simple "click-through" to the original HN for voting/commenting without having to give my user/password to another site. That won't happen!
But good effort still.
I also appreciate lightweight,page-like nature of original version of HN.
I prefer reading the original HN site because it loads fast, allows you to quickly scan topic titles, doesnt waste space in the layout, and has no animated elements that detract from the content.
Function fore form, friend.
I've also observed that for those articles where the pictures haven't been found, a "random" picture is worse than no picture for me, confusing me.
(There are a lot of too harsh critiques here. I hope you aren't going to be demotivated, but just recognize that the expectations of different people are completely different).
IMHO, I don't think this is the case for HN users, but the the new layout would improve advertising accessibility for future revenue opportunities if someone was so inclined. However, I suspect the integration of graphical elements and advertising would NOT meet HN user needs having well established that HN users eschew exactly these elements of traditional web media.
But I don't get to decide, the market does. I get to watch, and tug at my beard and wonder at the results over time.