Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Website navigation
Raised as a usability problem by 38 people on Hacker News over 16 years (2010–2025), in 35 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
Header reappears after scrolling and covers the textUnreviewed
20102026- Sticky header pops into view and covers text when scrolling up on mobile2023-08-10
- Header reappears after scrolling stops and covers the text being read2018-11-19
- Header flickers in and out with small trackpad scroll bounces2017-03-04
Content hides behind hover graphics and changes on accidental hoverUnreviewed
20102026- Mouse cursor disappears over the page, making the site nearly impossible to use2020-10-20
- Hover popups appear under the cursor while scrolling, forcing users to park the mouse in a safe spot2014-07-18
- Content hides behind hover graphics and changes on accidental mouse-over2010-12-03
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 38 complaints
- Menu sections lack landing pages, forcing users through marketing banners and calls to action2025-09-12
- Moving the cursor toward a menu item opens a different menu, so the intended item is hard to reach2025-04-16
- Too many nav options overwhelm users, who skim dropdowns for only seconds2024-03-11
- Must press right or left arrow several times to navigate, and a blue border appears if pressed too soon2023-09-19
- Sticky header pops into view and covers text when scrolling up on mobile2023-08-10
- On listing pages the footer can't be reached by scrolling2023-05-05
- Deeply nested hover menus disappear when the mouse slips, so items can't be reached2023-01-27
- Highlighted current section in table of contents is visually distracting while scrolling2023-01-27
- Refreshing the page loses state, and removing URL parameters to reset it is frustrating2022-05-12
- Dark nav bar blended with browser chrome, so user couldn't find logout2021-10-14
- Table of contents is distracting and hard to use2021-05-07
- Hover-opened menus are not discoverable and users can't tell whether clicks navigate or open a menu2021-04-22
- Mouse cursor disappears over the page, making the site nearly impossible to use2020-10-20
- Nonstandard site navigation forces users to relearn how each site works2020-07-04
- Forward slashes used as link separators look like breadcrumb paths and are confusing2020-02-10
- Website nav bars pop up and down randomly, stacking with browser bar, hard to use2019-12-06
- Header reappears after scrolling stops and covers the text being read2018-11-19
- Users repeatedly tap the laptop screen to navigate, expecting touch that isn't there2018-07-23
- Persistent menu and social bars cover reading area and can't be dismissed easily2017-10-05
- Header flickers in and out with small trackpad scroll bounces2017-03-04
- Site adds several history entries and arrow keys make navigation worse2017-01-29
- Links are clumped and too small, so tapping on mobile hits the wrong one2016-08-17
- Social media buttons cover the text, and zoom is disabled so it can't be read2016-03-30
- Bookmarks break when sites change file extensions like .asp or .php2016-01-14
- Navigation is hidden or obscured, so users can't easily find menu options2016-01-14
- Navigation bar keeps changing based on last item used, confusing users2015-08-10
- Drop shadow under the appearing header looks like an object hiding text, distracting2014-12-22
- Keyboard paging breaks because the always-present header forces manual repositioning on every page2014-09-10
- Hover popups appear under the cursor while scrolling, forcing users to park the mouse in a safe spot2014-07-18
- Can't tell which words are links without hovering over text2014-05-12
- Icon-only navbar buttons are ambiguous, forcing users to hover to learn what they do2013-03-12
- Users won't realize submenus exist without arrow indicators and give up2013-03-05
- Pressing back button does not return to the previous page in Chrome2013-01-18
- Floating buttons get in the way of reading the page2012-06-01
- Fixed header covers text and nav links overflow, distracting from reading content2011-03-28
- Must wait through slow animations and hover to reveal each menu item2010-12-03
- Navigation relies on mouseover and memorized hand gestures instead of clear, intuitive clicks2010-12-03
- Content hides behind hover graphics and changes on accidental mouse-over2010-12-03