Products · Broad category
Website design
Raised as a usability problem by 31 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 31 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.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Styled sites are hard to read without switching to no-style viewUnreviewed
20092026- Site design is painful to look at, hurting the reader's eyes2026-07-22
- Site styling makes pages hard to read, so the user must strip CSS manually each time2017-05-16
- Styled sites are hard to read, so users must switch to no-style view2012-10-04
Huge images push text off-screen, forcing long scrollingUnreviewed
20092026- Text becomes hard to follow when lines are too long or walls of text2019-07-05
- Narrow text band with lots of blank space forces excessive scrolling2017-05-02
- Huge images leave only one line of text visible, forcing long scrolling to get information2014-04-11
Trendy layouts make skimming content slow and exhaustingUnreviewed
20092026- Desktop layout feels jarring, with narrow text column and distracting, disorienting header animations2026-01-02
- Crazy trendy layouts make skimming content slow and mentally exhausting2020-04-17
- Sites have nags, moving elements, and cluttered multi-column layouts that cause distraction2013-10-02
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 31 complaints
- Site design is painful to look at, hurting the reader's eyes2026-07-22
- Desktop layout feels jarring, with narrow text column and distracting, disorienting header animations2026-01-02
- Windows lag badly and eat screen space, hiding article text above the fold2025-09-12
- Many websites are slow, laggy or unreadable on mobile phones2025-08-11
- Autoplaying video and audio, infinite scrolling and slow loading get in the way of reading2024-09-07
- Users see the hero section and assume it is the whole page, never scrolling2023-10-27
- Designs change too often with fads, making the worst UX2022-05-30
- Page design is too hostile to read the content without reader mode2022-04-09
- Background image and sidebars draw the eye away from the article text2022-04-06
- Embedded code demo viewport is too small to see what it shows2022-03-17
- Can't scroll directly to the information; must wade through JavaScript-heavy page2022-02-11
- Crazy trendy layouts make skimming content slow and mentally exhausting2020-04-17
- Updates increase padding so a short list now needs scrolling to see2020-02-19
- A dim torch-like lighting effect makes the page hard to read2019-08-28
- Text becomes hard to follow when lines are too long or walls of text2019-07-05
- Designs look cluttered and unusable for simple text-heavy blogs2019-03-06
- Scrollbar hidden until after slideshow; scrolling feels laggy and unresponsive, page scrolls unexpectedly2018-01-16
- Users must re-learn how to use software after unnecessary redesigns2017-07-20
- Site styling makes pages hard to read, so the user must strip CSS manually each time2017-05-16
- Narrow text band with lots of blank space forces excessive scrolling2017-05-02
- Image overlay makes text unreadable and the site unusable across the whole site2016-03-02
- Sites leave half the window blank even when already narrow, making text hard to read2016-01-01
- Skinny low-contrast text and fixed gradient background are distracting while reading2015-05-20
- Clients remove link underlines and match link color to body text, so users can't tell what to click2015-02-12
- Huge images leave only one line of text visible, forcing long scrolling to get information2014-04-11
- Sites have nags, moving elements, and cluttered multi-column layouts that cause distraction2013-10-02
- Busy colors, transparencies and unclear link styling make the article hard to read and navigate2012-12-16
- Styled sites are hard to read, so users must switch to no-style view2012-10-04
- Can't find what they want and can't make sites do what they need2012-02-19
- Giant fixed background image makes scrolling choppy and unusable2010-08-05
- Commenter says some sites look nice but are hard to use, and cites finding a link to the site as a problem2009-07-19