Products · Product
HTML
Raised as a usability problem by 239 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 206 threads.
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- 3Multi-select list box is horrible to useUnreviewed
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- 3Multi-select list box is horrible to useUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Centering elements needs long, hacky workarounds that are hard to understandUnreviewed
20082026- Finds it frustrating to get HTML elements to align and lay out as wanted2023-07-20
- Laying out content in HTML is awkward, tedious, and inconsistent across browsers2022-10-29
- Layout surprises people unless they understand the layout algorithm2022-05-09
Datalist cannot restrict input to listed values, and autocomplete differs by browserUnreviewed
20082026- Datalist cannot restrict input to listed values; autocomplete differs across browsers2026-10-05
- Browser support for datalist is spotty and buggy, making it essentially unusable2026-08-20
- Datalist suggestions appear as useless scrollable row or popup and ignore typed input across browsers2026-07-17
Multi-select list box is horrible to useUnreviewed
20082026- Long multi-select lists are hard to use, while many checkboxes are awful2024-10-15
- The multi-select input is hard to use with its default styling2024-03-13
- Multiselect requires shift/control-click for multiple selections, a poor UX that can't be changed2023-11-12
Non-modal dialogs cannot be dismissed by clicking away or pressing EscapeUnreviewed
20082026- Clicking the backdrop doesn't dismiss the dialog by default, needing hacky workarounds2026-10-04
- Dialog can't close on outside click in Safari and backdrop styling breaks on iOS2026-04-22
- Hard to style the dialog backdrop and transitions2025-05-14
Number inputs have browser bugs, forcing developers into workaroundsUnreviewed
20082026- Number inputs accept non-numeric text, forcing developers to add JavaScript workarounds2024-10-29
- Browser UX for number inputs is terrible across many devices2023-08-31
- Ambiguous 'number' input name leads developers to pick the wrong type and get bad results2022-09-15
Checkbox background colour can't be changed without hiding the inputUnreviewed
20082026- Checkboxes can't be styled, and select menus are hard to style and use, forcing workarounds2024-08-24
- Restyling a checkbox requires hiding the native element and reimplementing its behaviour2023-12-02
- Styling form controls requires hidden checkboxes inside labels, an ugly hack that is hard to get right2022-04-05
Breaks linear page flow, making content hard to follow for screen reader usersUnreviewed
20082026- Screen readers handled details/summary inconsistently, and it's unclear whether it's fixed2026-05-17
- Semantic tags are often broken, so screen readers convey the page's structure poorly2021-01-05
- Breaks linear page flow, making content hard to understand for screen reader users2008-03-05
Pressing back undoes only one frame, leaving the app inconsistentUnreviewed
20082026- Pressing back only undoes one frame, leaving the app inconsistent2025-05-03
- Back, forward and reload behave confusingly across frames, and messed-up states are hard to escape2023-08-13
- Back button undoes edits instead of navigating back, forcing many clicks to leave2010-10-05
Business logic is hard to spot among markup and contentUnreviewed
20082026- Business logic is hard to spot among markup and content2022-11-23
- Hard to know whether semantic markup choices are correct; spec cases don't match real problems2020-08-31
- Markup is verbose, and nesting items makes code logic and CSS queries hard2019-01-03
New native HTML inputs are ugly and hard to style or themeUnreviewed
20082026- New native HTML inputs are ugly and hard to style or theme2025-05-03
- Standard HTML inputs lack basic widgets, forcing developers to build poor custom ones2023-02-07
- Non-technical people find HTML non-intuitive and make messy style attribute hacks2018-06-14
Nested table layouts are hard to maintain and cells need extra spansUnreviewed
20082026- Nested table markup is hard to maintain and understand, requiring trial-and-error edits2024-01-25
- Tables are hard to style; developers don't understand display: table-cell2020-08-16
- Nested table layouts become very hard to maintain, and cells need extra spans to behave2011-05-07
Custom web dropdowns lack keyboard and accessibility supportUnreviewed
20082026- Native HTML can't build an autocomplete dropdown, so developers must use JavaScript2026-07-30
- Custom dropdowns are hard to build properly and keyboard-accessible; most attempts are poor2021-12-04
- Custom-built web dropdowns have bugs and lack keyboard and accessibility support2020-11-17
Custom div-built slide toggles lag in long scrollable listsUnreviewed
20082026- Tiny scroll window makes it hard to find options in long lists2024-10-15
- Datalist lags on scroll with around 100 items, forcing custom replacements2022-09-01
- Custom slide toggles built from divs are laggy in long scrollable lists2022-03-01
Drag start behaviour differs across browsers, making drag and drop unusableUnreviewed
20082026- Drag and drop spec is broken in browsers and complicated and confusing to use2014-07-29
- Drag start behavior differs across browsers, making drag and drop nearly unusable for developers2009-12-21
- Dragging over a page selects text unexpectedly, and drag handlers break keyboard shift-arrow selection2009-09-21
Pages reflow poorly, making complex technical documents hard to navigate on phonesUnreviewed
20082026- Page is hard to read when browsed on a mobile phone2022-09-25
- HTML pages reflow poorly and make navigating complex technical documents difficult on phones2020-12-08
- Average users can't easily save an HTML page with its linked material on a phone2020-07-18
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
- Screen readers announce layout tables confusingly, adding stray headings and numbers for orientation2026-10-22
- Datalist cannot restrict input to listed values; autocomplete differs across browsers2026-10-05
- Dialog element can be abused to make the browser unusable, unresolved2026-10-04
- Dialogs disappear when morphdom replaces their DOM nodes, forcing workarounds2026-10-04
- Clicking the backdrop doesn't dismiss the dialog by default, needing hacky workarounds2026-10-04
- Select element can't be styled to match designer mockups2026-10-04
- Hard to tell what happened when elements moved around without animations2026-08-21
- System date picker too limited; can't do ranges or highlights sites need2026-08-20
- Page loads so slowly it doesn't work for the reader2026-08-20
- Browser support for datalist is spotty and buggy, making it essentially unusable2026-08-20
- Native HTML can't build an autocomplete dropdown, so developers must use JavaScript2026-07-30
- Datalist suggestions appear as useless scrollable row or popup and ignore typed input across browsers2026-07-17
- HTML-built interfaces feel less pleasant to use than native UIs2026-06-13
- Generic div-heavy markup makes it hard to build accessible, semantically meaningful interfaces2026-05-30
- Native select controls took too long to become customizable, forcing developers to build workarounds2026-05-25
- Screen readers handled details/summary inconsistently, and it's unclear whether it's fixed2026-05-17
- The input plus datalist combo is seen as a poor, hard-to-use interface element2026-05-16
- Datalist is hard to use because users cannot see the available options2026-05-16
- Browsers struggle with multi-thousand page HTML documents and their search is poor2026-05-08
- Dialog can't close on outside click in Safari and backdrop styling breaks on iOS2026-04-22
- Obfuscated text is read word by word or character by character by screen readers2026-03-12
- Datalist suggestions can't match mid-string terms or tolerate typos like search autocomplete2025-12-28
- Default styling gives no clue the disclosure toggle is clickable; arrow and nesting confuse users2025-12-28
- Clickable summary gives no pointer cue, so users may not realise it can be clicked2025-12-28
- Even with XHR and options added, the datalist still has terrible user experience2025-12-28
- Div-based data tables won't sort, copy, search or resize columns2025-12-28
- Selecting a datalist option only fills the input, requiring an extra form submit to load the resource2025-12-18
- Datalist autocomplete has really bad UX and behaves inconsistently across browsers2025-12-18
- Browsers render tables with millions of cells extremely slowly, forcing developers into workarounds2025-12-11
- HTML is not really suited to building application interfaces people use for work2025-10-18
- Newly opened toast is hidden under an existing dialog2025-08-08
- Clicking a hint popover unexpectedly closes the auto popover, confusing what it does2025-08-08
- Darkening an image requires adding an extra overlay element, which feels counter-intuitive2025-07-22
- Layout shifts from inconsistent text size make clicking direction buttons annoying2025-07-17
- Links cannot carry alt text, so screen reader users and sighted users get confusing link labels2025-07-02
- Hard to style the dialog backdrop and transitions2025-05-14
- Manually typing and reading littered HTML tags clutters writing and makes text harder to work with2025-05-05
- Pressing back only undoes one frame, leaving the app inconsistent2025-05-03
- New native HTML inputs are ugly and hard to style or theme2025-05-03
- Can't open or close a dialog without JavaScript, which is hard to understand2025-03-31
- Can't show a different label in the open dropdown than the closed control, so the select takes too much space2025-03-31
- Background content still scrolls and tab can escape the modal, hurting keyboard and screen reader users2025-03-16
- Confusing that dialog modal and non-modal behaviour differ subtly and are hard to tell apart2025-03-16
- Keyboard users cannot toggle the popup because the label is not focusable2025-03-08
- The term "light dismiss" is unintuitive, so readers can't tell what it means2025-03-07
- Browser autocomplete is overly clever and misbehaves, making forms hard to fill correctly2025-02-20
- Autocomplete directives are not respected, so developers must rename fields to stop saved passwords filling registration forms2025-02-20
- Users don't know how to select multiple entries and keep emailing for help2025-02-20
- Cannot select more than one option on a touch screen2025-02-20
- Native select multiple is nearly unusable on desktop2025-02-20