Products · Broad category
Search tools
Raised as a usability problem by 13 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2010–2026), in 10 threads.
This is a broad category rather than one product, so its issues aren't ranked on the home page.
People raised many different problems with Search tools, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.
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
- Search was so slow users dropped off while waiting2026-09-25
- Won't search for the exact term typed because it substitutes what it thinks was meant2025-09-24
- Each filter click reloads the whole results page, forcing waits and repeated clicks2023-08-27
- Specific search terms get ignored even in quotes, requiring a manual 'search for real' click2022-12-21
- Typing a wrong first letter, e.g. Turkish i/I, makes desired results impossible to find2022-12-21
- Search tools work well on macOS but fall flat on Windows2021-11-11
- Invoking search moves focus away to a separate widget and often requires confirmation2020-01-16
- Relevant results land on page five, so users must dig to find them2018-01-06
- Search options open a separate page with several group boxes, making the search setup laborious2017-10-28
- Half-second wait for hover expand feels slow and frustrating2015-02-19
- Commenter couldn't tell how to use it; had to search first, then pick a portal2010-01-31
- Users must click extra times before reaching search results2010-01-31
- Users are confused about needing to click links below the search box2010-01-31