Products · Broad category
IDEs
Raised as a usability problem by 253 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 218 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.
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- 1IDEs are painfully slow to work withUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
IDEs are painfully slow to work withUnreviewed
20082026- IDEs have become painfully slow to work with2026-07-10
- IDEs are awfully slow and unstable when working in them2025-02-16
- IDEs take longer to set up and users get lost without them2023-09-11
Autocomplete pops up unprompted and changes what keys doUnreviewed
20082026- Suggestions interrupt typing and keep reappearing after being rejected2025-06-18
- Autocomplete popups interrupt the commenter's flow and slow their typing2024-12-24
- Autocomplete popups hide code, auto-typed brackets trap the cursor, and premature warnings disrupt typing flow2024-12-24
Toolbars shrink the code area, leaving editor crampedUnreviewed
20082026- IDE screens cluttered with panels, leaving little room for code; Vim emulation incomplete2026-02-10
- Too many windows and toolbars obscure the small code area and slow each action2023-06-05
- Too many windows and panes, plus slow interaction, cluttered by default2022-12-14
Slow compilation forces waiting and captures attentionUnreviewed
20082026- IDE tooling randomly breaks and freezes while editing template-heavy C++2022-12-13
- IDE code-completion popups randomly freeze and slow down the editor2022-07-07
- Typing into the IDE feels laggy, frustrating people2020-10-12
Constant switching between typing and mouse feels clunkyUnreviewed
20082026- Constantly switching to the mouse breaks concentration and feels uncomfortable2025-01-01
- Switching to the mouse and handling many windows is slow and annoying2022-04-12
- Editor keeps losing focus, forcing users to click into it; navigation assumes a mouse2021-11-25
Programmers skip IDE features because setup is too much effortUnreviewed
20082026- IDE tooling for some languages is too bloated and slow to use2025-02-07
- Programmers skip IDE features because learning and setting them up is too much effort2022-11-21
- IDE project management is mandatory and wastes a lot of time2021-08-21
Each IDE has different shortcuts, requiring relearning basic commandsUnreviewed
20082026- Hotkeys and interface differ from VS Code, making the learning curve brutal2025-09-18
- Code changes need too many keystrokes, so people skip ones they know how to make2025-05-06
- Each IDE has different shortcuts, so switching between IDEs means relearning basic commands2019-02-28
IDE configuration is opaque and the GUI confusingUnreviewed
20082026- Internal web-hosted VSCode-based IDE experience is described as horrible2026-05-13
- Each IDE has its own customisation method, keybindings and config storage, hard to version control2018-07-09
- IDE configuration is opaque and the GUI is confusing and complicated2018-02-16
Clicking a method jumps to interface, forcing tracing to find implementationUnreviewed
20082026- Ctrl-click lands on the interface, needing an extra slow step to find the implementation2025-05-25
- Clicking a type opens the interface stub instead of the concrete implementation being executed2023-05-29
- Clicking a method jumps to interface definition, forcing tracing through files to find implementation2019-07-09
IDEs are large and complex, draining energy from learningUnreviewed
20082026- IDEs get in the way and confuse learners who just want to type examples2023-11-22
- IDEs are mouse-driven, interrupting keyboard flow for work2022-12-13
- IDEs bring so much mental baggage that new users get overwhelmed2018-02-16
IDE forgets which files are modified, sometimes needing restartUnreviewed
20082026- IDE showing the agent's working files causes the user to forget changes and make mistakes2025-09-03
- IDE forgets which files are modified, sometimes needing a restart2022-07-17
- IDE does unintended things, and accidental mode switches leave users unable to tell what happened or undo it2014-01-08
Opening a file takes several seconds and many mouse clicksUnreviewed
20082026- Going through menus and GUI windows to find actions is time consuming2019-03-30
- Basic actions like navigating to or opening a file take several seconds and many mouse clicks2017-01-12
- Takes 14 seconds to open the editor after clicking a file2011-03-14
Typos and syntax errors not highlighted as typedUnreviewed
20082026- Mistyped characters leave the editor in a state that is hard to recover from2018-11-01
- Novice editors let typos and syntax errors through without highlighting them as typed2016-07-04
- Small mistakes like a dropped semicolon light up whole files with errors, which is distracting2013-04-06
IDE debuggers hide information and make scripting convolutedUnreviewed
20082026- IDE debuggers hide information and make scripting painfully convoluted2022-10-27
- IDE hides what commands actually do behind layers of arbitrary UI2016-06-01
- Hard to observe program runtime behavior; IDEs too insufficient for seeing what code does2010-03-11
Must memorize many cryptic keyboard shortcuts for basic functionsUnreviewed
20082026- Shortcuts are hard to explore and counter-intuitive2021-11-25
- Inconsistent shortcut key scheme makes commands hard to remember and predict2017-02-14
- Must memorize many cryptic keyboard shortcuts to get basic functionality2015-02-11
Confusing error messages appear early, unfriendly for beginnersUnreviewed
20082026- Confusing error messages appear early, making programming environments unfriendly for beginners2024-02-18
- Beginners struggle to know where to write code, how to run it, and read errors2023-03-25
- Setting up a beginner programming environment is a horrific, difficult process2022-01-09
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
- AI-enabled editors feel like a cluttered mix of UI and interactions2026-08-13
- IDEs have become painfully slow to work with2026-07-10
- Language server lag makes inserted parens and newlines race with typing, and text is cramped in sidebars2026-07-02
- Internal web-hosted VSCode-based IDE experience is described as horrible2026-05-13
- Hard to tell the real characters in code because of cursive font and ligatures2026-04-04
- Must hover or command-click each unknown name to learn what it is, rather than seeing it at a glance2026-03-03
- IDE screens cluttered with panels, leaving little room for code; Vim emulation incomplete2026-02-10
- Built-in editor git interfaces hide details, so users must relearn them from scratch2025-10-21
- Modern IDEs respond with more latency than they should2025-10-18
- Hotkeys and interface differ from VS Code, making the learning curve brutal2025-09-18
- IDE showing the agent's working files causes the user to forget changes and make mistakes2025-09-03
- Autogeneration is buried in deep menus and needs settings changes to enable2025-07-03
- Suggestions interrupt typing and keep reappearing after being rejected2025-06-18
- Can't see previous variable values because debuggers can't step backwards in time2025-06-18
- Stripped-down interfaces hide functionality professionals need for complex multi-file work2025-05-25
- Ctrl-click lands on the interface, needing an extra slow step to find the implementation2025-05-25
- Code changes need too many keystrokes, so people skip ones they know how to make2025-05-06
- IDEs keep showing pop-ups nagging about configuration, extensions and feedback2025-04-24
- Popups interrupt coding flow and must be switched to manual mode2025-04-22
- Screen reader reads menu icon as 'triple bar' or 'trigram', giving no useful meaning2025-02-18
- IDEs are awfully slow and unstable when working in them2025-02-16
- IDE tooling for some languages is too bloated and slow to use2025-02-07
- Other editors throw everything in your face, making them a battle to configure2025-01-29
- Small delays make editing feel like requesting a service rather than direct interaction2025-01-29
- Build configuration and process are too opaque for anyone to understand2025-01-23
- Typing code on a tablet keyboard is too slow and awkward for rapid access to concepts2025-01-03
- Constantly switching to the mouse breaks concentration and feels uncomfortable2025-01-01
- Unlabeled icons force users to guess which button does what2024-12-26
- Auto-inserted closing quote lands in wrong place, forcing corrections every time2024-12-24
- Autocomplete popups interrupt the commenter's flow and slow their typing2024-12-24
- Code bounces around and is obscured by pop-ups, causing distraction and eyestrain2024-12-24
- Autocomplete popups hide code, auto-typed brackets trap the cursor, and premature warnings disrupt typing flow2024-12-24
- Suggestions hijack Enter and arrow keys, and auto-pairing and auto-insertion interfere with typing2024-12-20
- UI doesn't make clear what a git operation will do, risking data loss2024-11-25
- Slow, clunky, intellisense unreliable, templating spits out awful code2024-10-02
- IDE keeps showing red error underlines on pristine code, forcing close, cleanup and reopen2024-09-12
- Development app needs 45-minute startup and proprietary IDE plugins to run2024-08-09
- Automatic reformatting moves code around while the user is editing, breaking their flow2024-08-09
- Expensive embedded IDE is slow, crashes often, and has horrible SDK design2024-07-21
- Inspecting execution requires placing breakpoints, stepping, and restarting when something was missed2024-07-19
- Confusing error messages appear early, making programming environments unfriendly for beginners2024-02-18
- IDEs get in the way and confuse learners who just want to type examples2023-11-22
- Autocomplete suggestions appear with noticeable delays, slowing typing2023-11-10
- IDEs take longer to set up and users get lost without them2023-09-11
- IDEs silently change whitespace, so engineers don't understand what their commits contain2023-08-28
- Busy UI makes IDEs feel cluttered and heavyweight2023-08-28
- Constant pop-ups and premature red error marks distract and break typing flow2023-08-27
- Kitchen sink apps force awkward invented tiling and blocking floating windows needing copy-pasted data2023-07-26
- Constant waiting and syncing while the async tooling catches up slows down editing2023-07-17
- IDE's Vim plugin comes with distracting, overloaded UI and infuriating popups2023-07-17