Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Menu bars
Raised as a usability problem by 4 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2013–2026), in 4 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
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 4 complaints
- Icons are not universally understood, so users must memorize inconsistent iconography across software2026-06-11
- App menus crowd out utility icons on laptop notch screens, forcing switches to Finder2026-01-17
- Menu bars are implemented inconsistently, and some apps hide them behind hamburger menus2023-05-18
- Too many menu bar status apps crowd out the critical icons2013-12-01