Products · Pattern or everyday thing
HTTP basic authentication
Raised as a usability problem by 13 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2010–2024), in 13 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
Browser-driven HTTP auth gives developers no simple logout buttonUnreviewed
20102026- No logout button, and the site cannot explain to the user why they are authenticating2024-12-27
- Browser-dependent login/logout UX is confusing for users2022-01-01
- Users can't log out of the site without closing the browser2021-08-06
Basic auth dialog has no forgot-password option, leaving users stuckUnreviewed
20102026- Password managers cannot autofill HTTP auth prompts, forcing manual entry2022-02-18
- Basic auth dialog has no forgot-password option, so users are stuck on errors2018-07-12
- Basic auth login prompt is hard to customize and logging out is awkward2018-06-13
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 13 complaints
- No logout button, and the site cannot explain to the user why they are authenticating2024-12-27
- Opening DevTools triggers a second credential prompt, and users cannot log out or theme the login form2023-07-22
- Password managers cannot autofill HTTP auth prompts, forcing manual entry2022-02-18
- Browser-dependent login/logout UX is confusing for users2022-01-01
- Users can't log out of the site without closing the browser2021-08-06
- HTTP login has no user-friendly way to log out2021-04-11
- Basic auth dialog has no forgot-password option, so users are stuck on errors2018-07-12
- Basic auth login prompt is hard to customize and logging out is awkward2018-06-13
- Browser auth flows have many bugs and per-browser quirks requiring workarounds2017-08-01
- Browsers don't reliably forget the login, requiring different workarounds per browser2017-05-26
- Browser auth dialog can't show remember-me, captcha, or forgot-password options, forcing extra steps2017-01-15
- Can't log out to switch accounts; must clear browser state instead2013-05-21
- Browser-driven HTTP auth gives app developers unreliable login control and no simple logout button2010-10-29