COSMIC desktop

Raised as a usability problem by 24 people on Hacker News over 5 years (2022–2026), in 12 threads.

People raised many different problems with COSMIC desktop, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.

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 25 complaints

Modal dialogs lose focus or get covered by their base window2026-03-20
Taskbar and launchpad feel awkwardly shaped; keyboard navigation sometimes wonky2026-01-05
Overview mixes launcher, workspaces, windows and dock; animations fly everywhere on every action2025-12-11
Dynamic workspaces mean windows don't stay on the workspace number the user chose2024-08-28
Accessibility is poor, and basic interactions like triple-click selection and context menus are missing2024-08-28
Ctrl used for both UI and terminal shortcuts, making the desktop hard to use2024-08-28
After desktop broke, no obvious way to recover or reset settings2024-08-28
Can't figure out how to add launcher buttons to the panel2024-08-28
Design choices are baffling at every turn, making the interface hard to use2024-08-08
Scrollbars are invisible and buttons are hard to tell apart from non-buttons2024-08-08
Can't find a setting to enable the Places menu item in the top bar2024-08-08
Bluetooth and volume controls split apart, so switching audio devices means jumping between corners2024-07-12
Keystrokes go to a background app instead of the password field2024-06-29
Low information density and superfluous animations make the interface harder to use2024-04-18
No touch equivalent for resizing windows, so tablet use is a downgrade2024-04-18
Basic functions hidden behind hamburger menus and unlabeled icons that are hard to decipher2024-04-18
Clicking near screen edges on maximized windows triggers resize instead of scrollbar or exit button2024-04-18
Desktop environments are too buggy and janky to use comfortably2023-10-22
Settings list is a sea of text with small, barely useful icons, slowing comprehension2023-02-01
Two-finger left/right swipe fails to trigger browser back and forward in most browsers2023-01-31
Scrolling past the end of a scroll area unexpectedly triggers navigation instead2023-01-31
UI changed and the whole experience changed, adding bugs that disrupt daily use2022-10-22
Low contrast on selected items makes them hard to see, especially with blurred vision2022-01-14
Forces the user to change their workflow again for no clear benefit2022-01-13
Super key behavior changed unexpectedly, breaking the user's workflow2022-01-13