Products · Broad category
modern software interfaces
Raised as a usability problem by 305 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2010–2026), in 296 threads.
This is a broad category rather than one product, so its issues aren't ranked on the home page.
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- 5UI is slow to respond on heavy sitesUnreviewed
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- 3UI is slow to respond on heavy sitesUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Car touch screens distract drivers and are hard to operateUnreviewed
20102026- Touchscreen controls force drivers to look away from the road to operate2024-11-21
- Functions moved to touchscreen cause distraction and make drivers flustered2024-06-23
- Touch screens force drivers to take eyes off the road to adjust settings2024-04-28
UI is slow to respond on heavy sitesUnreviewed
20102026- Websites built with modern JS frameworks feel laggy, slow and drain battery2023-08-03
- Modern sites are heavy and their UI feels unnecessarily slow to respond2023-02-17
- JavaScript-heavy sites feel slower to use than promised, even on modern hardware2022-01-26
Flat styling makes interface elements hard to tell apartUnreviewed
20102026- Hard to visually parse modern flat UI with little visual redundancy2026-10-21
- Excess empty space and flat styling make interfaces harder to scan and navigate2026-01-28
- Flat design makes it impossible to tell which elements are clickable2023-07-11
Display input lag makes timing games nearly impossibleUnreviewed
20102026- Controls feel spongy and delayed compared to older games2024-10-09
- Fast-paced retro games feel unplayable due to input lag2024-04-17
- Interface feels laggy, with choppy input and weird waits when clicking2024-03-11
Word processors have input lag and unclear iconsUnreviewed
20102026- Modern text processors' many tiny icons and bars are not helpful for usability2021-06-08
- Modern word processors have input lag and cluttered buttons with unclear icons2021-04-05
- Text editing feels laggier and less responsive than on old machines2020-05-10
Slow animations delay interaction and turning them off takes many stepsUnreviewed
20102026- Animations are hard to disable and cannot be skipped, slowing interaction2025-07-26
- Slow animations delay interaction, and turning them off takes many steps2025-04-22
- Deliberate animations make characters and UI feel sluggish to respond2024-10-10
Inconsistent, non-customizable interfaces across appsUnreviewed
20102026- Interfaces inconsistent across apps and removal of visual cues makes things hard to find and use2022-05-03
- Navigation app UI is still surprisingly bad despite years of competition2018-06-17
- Modern software UIs are inconsistent, non-customizable and cluttered, breaking user experience across apps2013-06-12
Heavy apps and websites slow phones down over timeUnreviewed
20102026- Apps and websites get too resource-heavy, making the phone slow and eventually unusable2023-07-17
- Bloated web apps are inaccessible where connectivity is poor2019-07-26
- Bloated apps swap heavily on cheap machines, so everyday tasks become slow and frustrating2017-04-19
Touch screens are hard to use in the darkUnreviewed
20102026- Touch screens are hard to use in the dark, with eyes adjusting to brightness2025-03-16
- Glossy screen reflects the room, so dark scenes are hard to see in lit rooms2023-04-01
- Modern interfaces are mostly bright or dark, causing eye strain2019-11-26
Interfaces need too much learning before useUnreviewed
20102026- AI-generated interfaces are practically unusable from a UI/UX perspective2026-09-27
- Current interfaces are a limitation; powerful hardware has no good way to be used2021-03-09
- Most current interfaces require too much learning and cognitive load2018-07-12
Arrow keys are hard to tell apart by touchUnreviewed
20102026- Ctrl and Alt keys are small and placed awkwardly, hard to hit without looking2024-04-01
- Can't find home row or function keys by touch, so typing requires looking at the keyboard2017-11-03
- Arrow keys are hard to tell apart by touch without looking2017-01-24
Apps save state inconsistently, requiring trial and errorUnreviewed
20102026- Interactive elements are inconsistent and not obvious, so learned behaviour doesn't transfer between apps2023-12-29
- Inconsistent app state saving forces users to learn each app by trial and error2023-07-05
- Apps dictate their own inconsistent looks, so the same functions like saving are hard to find and learn2022-10-25
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
- Monochrome icons have unclear meanings and often lack tooltips, risking destructive clicks2026-10-22
- Hard to visually parse modern flat UI with little visual redundancy2026-10-21
- Minimalist interfaces hide choices behind unlabeled icons, swipes and hover, so people can't find exits2026-10-04
- Disappearing scrollbars and three-dot menus make it hard to know how to navigate2026-10-01
- AI-generated interfaces are practically unusable from a UI/UX perspective2026-09-27
- Icons are so unrecognisable that people must guess or tap everywhere to find functions2026-09-25
- Many modern apps lack keyboard navigation that older Windows programs had for free2026-08-29
- Can't reliably find which script to block without digging through the dev console2026-08-28
- Documents and apps take long to open, with splash screens, update checks and layout flicker2026-08-25
- Scroll bars disappear and clickable text looks identical to non-clickable text2026-08-25
- Office decor, lighting, acoustics and layout make work hard to focus in2026-07-12
- Modern computing has noticeable stuttering and lag during use2026-06-15
- Error messages are incomprehensible to users and feel meaningless, so they skip copying them2026-06-13
- Simple dropdowns show loaders and fire many unnecessary requests, slowing interaction2026-05-31
- Modern flat interfaces are hard to operate and tiring to use2026-05-19
- Deep navigation in low-density interfaces makes mouse targeting and finding things hard2026-05-13
- Modern interface designers lack desktop conventions, producing interfaces that are hard to use2026-05-12
- Save requires a modal dialog instead of using the file manager, which the commenter finds frustrating2026-05-09
- Whole prompt redrawn on every keystroke, so screen readers re-announce it2026-05-04
- Modern chat programs feel slow and clunky to use compared to old instant messengers2026-04-16
- Inconsistent, ever-changing buttons and settings are confusing and need reaction-time-based navigation2026-04-15
- Users can't find anything because files are scattered and locations keep shifting2026-03-03
- Skeuomorphic, glass and shadow-heavy visuals impose high cognitive load for some users2026-02-27
- Modern interfaces have unclear icons, missing text labels and hard-to-distinguish checkboxes2026-02-22
- Flat buttons, links and hidden scrollbars no longer signal what can be clicked2026-02-17
- Websites require JS runtimes and opaque minified payloads just to show content2026-02-17
- Buttons look like links, scrollbars vanish, and gestures are not discoverable2026-02-17
- Manually copy-pasting photos and messages into an LLM to set invites is tedious2026-02-02
- Button presses register slowly, so controls feel floaty and laggy2026-01-30
- Messaging apps block interoperability and end-user automation, trapping users in silos2026-01-30
- Excess empty space and flat styling make interfaces harder to scan and navigate2026-01-28
- Identical rows of buttons make it hard to tell controls apart by feel while driving2026-01-06
- Bespoke web interfaces waste attention and are slower and less usable than terminal UIs2026-01-05
- Modern games and software are harder to learn than older ones despite more tutorials2025-12-09
- Modern ThinkPad keyboards and low-profile trackpoint are hard to use2025-12-07
- Developers override user choices and ship interfaces that are worse than older software2025-12-04
- Software feels bloated, cluttered with distractions, buggy and slow to use2025-11-17
- Can't tell which element is a button or where the scrollbar is2025-11-05
- Content fills only about 20% of a large screen, forcing the reader to zoom in2025-10-27
- Long lines and nested quotations display badly, with horizontal scrollbars and no proper wrapping2025-10-24
- Current browsers' bookmark managers are not properly usable2025-10-22
- Modern GUIs have poor layouts, unclear control styling and slow-updating screens, making them hard to scan2025-10-18
- Inconsistent command lists, hidden menus and buttons that reorder themselves make apps hard to navigate2025-10-17
- Simple product information takes too long to extract because pages are immersive, not direct2025-09-13
- Web and mobile design tropes make desktop apps less usable and harder to discover things in2025-09-12
- Touch terminals need concentration and feel sluggish compared to keyboard-driven menus2025-07-31
- Modern interfaces are flat, minimalist and hard for people to operate2025-07-27
- Animations are hard to disable and cannot be skipped, slowing interaction2025-07-26
- Huge fonts and sparse layouts force excessive scrolling, tiring eyes and fingers2025-06-21
- Tables can't be sorted, copied, pasted or resized, and show unsorted data requiring scrolling2025-06-08