Products · Broad category
GUI programs
Raised as a usability problem by 60 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 61 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
Toolkits have too many abstraction layers and poor documentationUnreviewed
20082026- GUI CAD programs are very unintuitive until you have spent a long time learning them2026-10-10
- Modern GUI toolkits have too many abstraction layers and poor documentation, so learning them is hard2022-10-31
- Modern GUI toolkits have too many abstraction layers, complexity and poor docs to build simple programs2022-10-31
Keyboard use is an afterthought, making mouse-dependent workflows slowUnreviewed
20082026- Keyboard use is an afterthought, so mouse-dependent workflows are slow and awkward2025-10-03
- Flipping between mouse and keyboard was awful and slowed experienced users' data entry2022-04-25
- Forces switching between mouse and keyboard, breaking typing flow and concentration2021-11-25
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 50 complaints
- GUI CAD programs are very unintuitive until you have spent a long time learning them2026-10-10
- Settings are buried in arcane menu paths that change, forcing video or search hunts2026-09-23
- Splitting the window to view multiple parts of text is cumbersome in GUI editors2026-03-29
- Finding the matching bracket with the mouse is often hard and frustrating2025-12-07
- Modal windows and focus-stealing popups interrupt keyboard-driven editing flow2025-10-11
- Can't see the real GUI until compiled; alignment and button behaviour are guesswork2025-10-10
- Keyboard use is an afterthought, so mouse-dependent workflows are slow and awkward2025-10-03
- Labels and error messages in GUI programs often can't be selected or copied2025-09-24
- Many apps don't respond to Enter for dialogs, so some things can't be operated without a mouse2025-06-22
- GUI hides how git works, so newcomers break things and cannot fix them2025-01-17
- Mainstream video editors have incomprehensible, bloated interfaces2024-05-19
- Greyed-out buttons appear when they shouldn't, and fumbling to find named files2024-05-11
- Box layouts can't handle responsive sidebars, making reflow and relayout almost impossible to implement2023-12-24
- Tools are hidden behind dropdowns and can't be searched, so users must dig several levels deep2023-12-09
- Recent GUI design changes make workflows inscrutable for non-expert users, adding friction to everyday tasks2023-11-16
- GUI designers randomly place texts, buttons, and inputs with no coherent design2023-05-22
- Popups on every launch for updates, account sign-up and tips2023-03-17
- GUI apps lack shortcuts for power users and waste screen space with low-contrast design2023-03-12
- Modern GUI toolkits have too many abstraction layers and poor documentation, so learning them is hard2022-10-31
- Modern GUI toolkits have too many abstraction layers, complexity and poor docs to build simple programs2022-10-31
- Keyboard tab order is ignored, making GUI apps very difficult to use without a mouse2022-10-13
- Flipping between mouse and keyboard was awful and slowed experienced users' data entry2022-04-25
- UI automation scripts break easily and the workflow stays awkward even with tricks2022-03-21
- GUI shortcuts are inconsistent, not customizable, and users cannot create their own2022-03-17
- Switching displays, sound and subtitles requires navigating menus with a pointer2022-01-10
- Forces switching between mouse and keyboard, breaking typing flow and concentration2021-11-25
- Options take multiple long mouse trips through 3+ nested menu levels with no shortcut2021-09-02
- Bindings documentation is insufficient, forcing trial and error translating from C++2021-05-18
- Many features are hard to discover in dense graphical interfaces2021-05-05
- Confusing icons and multi-click processes with no way to go back, causing repeated mistakes2021-04-09
- Can't find keyboard commands to manage tabs and splits in GUI editors2021-04-02
- Must keep attention on screen and wait repeatedly between each click2021-01-29
- Dialog text areas are microscopic and cannot be resized because of fixed positioning2021-01-24
- Mouse and touchscreen can't twist knobs, so precise adjustment is awkward and inefficient2020-11-12
- Ribbons of rarely used clickable options clutter the screen2020-10-25
- GUI how-to instructions with dropdown screenshots break when the interface changes2020-05-27
- Font settings are hard to reach and scattered across changing third-party configuration tools2019-09-08
- Many GUI settings dialogs don't explain things well and aren't searchable2019-05-18
- Can't script actions on breakpoints, and debugging async callbacks is hard because paused requests keep running2019-04-22
- GUI apps become unusable on slow links because they wait for UI items to appear before accepting clicks2018-11-20
- Big GUI toolkits give no high-level explanation, so users pick the wrong widget2018-08-24
- Nested GUI settings menus are labyrinthine, may not contain the needed option, and lack comments2018-08-12
- Help search box returns useless results; help is a book rather than quick guidance2018-08-05
- Mother must read every context menu option to find how to save an attachment2018-08-01
- Simpler GUI window managers can't set window sizes explicitly in pixels, forcing scripting workarounds2018-04-09
- Third-party plugins in GUI IDEs often lack comprehensive keyboard interfaces2018-03-29
- Developers must remember manual drag-click and XML steps to build accessible interfaces2017-11-23
- GUI tools add complexity and confusion, producing tangled spaghetti code2017-07-28
- Selecting and pasting lines by mouse is error-prone; easy to get start, end, or paste position wrong2017-02-21
- Rough edges, confusing patterns and a horribly steep learning curve in GUI IDEs2016-12-13