Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Websites that override keyboard shortcuts
Raised as a usability problem by 12 people on Hacker News over 13 years (2008–2020), in 11 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
Ctrl+F is overridden, so browser find-in-page stops workingUnreviewed
20082026- Ctrl+F opens the site's own weak search instead of the browser's find2020-02-19
- Sites override Ctrl+F, so the browser's find-in-page no longer works2019-09-13
- Site hijacks Ctrl-F so browser's native find doesn't work2019-07-09
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 12 complaints
- Hijacked back button and smooth scrolling confuse users and break navigation2020-05-29
- Ctrl+F opens the site's own weak search instead of the browser's find2020-02-19
- Sites override Ctrl+F, so the browser's find-in-page no longer works2019-09-13
- Site hijacks Ctrl-F so browser's native find doesn't work2019-07-09
- Sites hijacking / and ' keys makes browsing inconsistent and disorienting2017-07-27
- Page keyboard scrolling fails after load, forcing users to click the middle of the page2017-07-05
- Silently overriding keys leaves users unable to scroll, switch tabs, or go back2015-02-03
- Cmd-click on links opens the page in the current tab instead of a new one2014-12-16
- Page Down keys unexpectedly navigate articles instead of scrolling, so users can't rely on standard keys2014-04-03
- Javascript overrides standard keys, so low-vision user can't scroll zoomed pages2011-10-10
- Arrow keys do something else instead of scrolling, so users reach for the mouse2011-10-10
- Auto-focused text box captures keystrokes, so scrolling keys type into the field instead2008-12-16