Products · Broad category
Browser-based apps
Raised as a usability problem by 35 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 34 threads.
This is a broad category rather than one product, so its issues aren't ranked on the home page.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Browser editors lack proper key mapping, debuggers and CLI accessUnreviewed
20092026- Browser editors lack proper key mapping, debuggers, CLI access, and suffer latency2026-06-09
- Browser text editors are laggy and their shortcuts clash with muscle memory, causing accidental deletions2023-12-03
- Browser WYSIWYG editors are frustrating to use2022-10-28
Browser interfaces lag too much for fast data entryUnreviewed
20092026- Browser interfaces lag too much for fast data entry, so experienced users lose efficiency2025-11-05
- Early web interfaces reloaded the whole page on every change, making them slow to interact with2019-02-28
- Browser-based UIs are slow and bloated compared to native interfaces2018-12-26
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 35 complaints
- Browser editors lack proper key mapping, debuggers, CLI access, and suffer latency2026-06-09
- UI feels confusing to the person trying it2026-03-22
- Browser interfaces lag too much for fast data entry, so experienced users lose efficiency2025-11-05
- Buttons do nothing when clicked and scrolling shows unpopulated areas2025-10-10
- Typing numbers on the keyboard does nothing; must click on-screen number buttons2025-07-11
- DOM is slow and awkward to use for building reactive user interfaces2025-03-25
- Users accidentally select button text when holding buttons, expecting an action to occur2024-12-26
- Many menu items do nothing when clicked or open dialogs with everything greyed out2024-11-11
- Web apps in the browser cause mistakes like pushing back or refresh by accident, and clash with tabs and address bar2024-11-11
- Browser apps can't overwrite on Save, so users must Save As with an overwrite prompt every time2024-08-07
- About 60% of clicks go unnoticed, forcing repeated clicking to get a response2024-06-29
- Implicit large downloads are bad UX; downloads often can't resume or validate2024-04-11
- Browser-only file storage interfaces are unusable compared to installed sync clients2024-01-25
- Browser text editors are laggy and their shortcuts clash with muscle memory, causing accidental deletions2023-12-03
- Browser WYSIWYG editors are frustrating to use2022-10-28
- Switches only look like switches on hover, otherwise confusing small circles2022-07-20
- Unpredictable latency means users can't tell if keypresses registered, slowing them down2022-05-25
- Operators found the browser-based interface clumsy compared with the keyboard-driven DOS-like one they knew2021-12-27
- Most browser-based apps don't get basic keyboard shortcuts right, so they are hard to use2021-11-11
- Clickable buttons bunched together, making UI components hard to interact with2020-12-31
- Browser key generation APIs are flaky and confusing for average users2020-11-16
- Users get confusing camera permission prompts and microphone choices they don't understand2020-06-25
- SPAs don't offer native-feeling user experience and are harder to make usable across platforms2020-04-29
- Browser apps lack basic UI affordances and are stuffed with upsell ads2019-05-09
- Early web interfaces reloaded the whole page on every change, making them slow to interact with2019-02-28
- Browser-based UIs are slow and bloated compared to native interfaces2018-12-26
- Browser captures shortcuts like CTRL-W, surprising users during remote sessions2017-10-03
- Browser editor shortcuts like ctrl+w close the tab, causing accidental loss of work2017-09-03
- Filesystem access in browser editors is a headache; saving and reloading local files is hard2016-12-29
- Toolbar buttons respond slowly on hover, feeling sluggish and laggy2012-10-17
- Automatic recompiling interrupts writing with errors while editing macros2012-08-15
- Starting from amateur designs or blank templates hides the grids and guides that define web layout2012-08-07
- Browser-based tools are horrible to work with, slow, and often don't work2012-02-24
- Pop-up appears on first typing and needs a small cross click to dismiss2011-05-05
- Continuous problems simplifying the UI enough that the founder would want to use it2009-01-09