Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Hierarchical filesystems
Raised as a usability problem by 7 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2011–2025), in 7 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
People can't find files in folder hierarchies they don't understandUnreviewed
20112026- Hierarchical folder sorting makes it hard to find files later2018-09-14
- Files end up buried in nested folders that are hard to find again2014-09-02
- People can't find files in folder hierarchies they don't understand2013-10-22
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 7 complaints
- Items with multiple contexts don't fit hierarchy; can't recall the URL or path and search fails2025-02-22
- Hard to categorize files in an elegant, intuitive way2024-04-19
- Hierarchical folder sorting makes it hard to find files later2018-09-14
- Forced to pick a filename and folder location when saving, and related files are hard to find2016-05-10
- Files end up buried in nested folders that are hard to find again2014-09-02
- People can't find files in folder hierarchies they don't understand2013-10-22
- Non-programmers find hierarchical folders unintuitive and confusing to understand2011-03-09