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Xfce
Raised as a usability problem by 77 people on Hacker News over 16 years (2011–2026), in 59 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Window resize border is too small to grab easilyUnreviewed
20112026- Window resize grab area is too tiny to hit reliably2026-01-12
- Window maximize buttons are hard to tell apart and window resize handles are hard to find2026-01-12
- Window resize border is too tiny to grab easily2026-01-12
DPI applies to the whole desktop, forcing manual adjustment on mixed screensUnreviewed
20112026- Borderline unusable with high DPI monitors and mismatched dual monitor setups2026-01-12
- Text and UI are too small to use on a 4K screen without good eyesight2026-01-04
- 1 pixel window border is impossible to click on high DPI displays2022-12-12
Panel selector is hard to use and automatic setup is confusingUnreviewed
20112026- Panel launchers cannot be configured properly in a simple way2022-02-17
- Panel selector is hard to use and automatic setup doesn't make sense2014-09-24
- Panel doesn't group windows well and is harder to configure than GNOME 22011-11-12
Alt-tab can't tell apart multiple windows of the same programUnreviewed
20112026- Alt+F3 finder is unusable because too many tabs are needed to select an application2020-04-14
- Alt-tab can't tell apart multiple windows of the same program quickly2013-11-06
- Alt-tab cycling without visible window contents makes it hard to find the window wanted2011-11-14
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
- Desktop icons reset to default grid on reboot or resume, losing user-chosen positions2026-07-02
- Adding an app to the taskbar is hard; the icon shows as an invisible square and breaks after updates2026-04-11
- Windows don't reopen in the positions they had when closed before reboot2026-02-01
- Input takes a long time to appear on screen, making the interface feel laggy2026-01-27
- Virtual-desktop switcher spread across several places, making it confusing to configure2026-01-23
- Most customisation options are confusing to use and poorly thought out2026-01-22
- Window resize grab area is too tiny to hit reliably2026-01-12
- Switching from Wayland to X11 on new installs is manual and not reliably straightforward2026-01-12
- Windows vanish when the mouse moves to another virtual desktop, confusing non-tech-savvy users2026-01-12
- Settings feel like editing a config file, hard to use for newcomers2026-01-12
- Compositor must be manually enabled and auto-detection of fullscreen windows is unreliable2026-01-12
- Window maximize buttons are hard to tell apart and window resize handles are hard to find2026-01-12
- Window resize border is too tiny to grab easily2026-01-12
- Users would have to manually modify the OS to get a usable default setup2026-01-12
- Borderline unusable with high DPI monitors and mismatched dual monitor setups2026-01-12
- Text and UI are too small to use on a 4K screen without good eyesight2026-01-04
- Typing a filename switches to search bar instead of selecting the file, which is frustrating2025-09-18
- Window border grab area is only about 1 pixel, hard to hit for resizing2025-01-29
- Workspace rows and columns are set in separate places, which is awkward2024-12-22
- Video lags on one window while compiling in a terminal on another2024-10-06
- Window controls and borders drawn by applications cause UX problems when handled incorrectly2024-10-06
- Default 100% scaling made everything too small; fractional scaling needed to fix it2023-11-15
- GTK file dialog lacks thumbnails, making it hard to find images visually2023-10-13
- Display app fails to reset external monitors; must use a second app to recover2023-09-02
- 1px window edges make resizing hard, and the fix resets after updates2023-07-05
- Screen resolution changes every time the screen wakes from sleep2023-07-05
- Launcher management is clumsy, wastes space, and makes it easy to break things2023-07-05
- Could never make the desktop look exactly as wanted; minor GUI bugs and GTK2/GTK3 inconsistencies2023-02-21
- Could never make the desktop look as wanted; GTK2 and GTK3 apps look inconsistent2023-02-20
- Very slim window borders are almost impossible to grab to resize2023-01-25
- Custom keybindings have a bug that makes them hard to get working2022-12-15
- Starting programs requires going through menu or switching to terminal2022-12-15
- Super key opens the app menu even when used in other Super+key shortcuts2022-12-15
- Super key opens whisker menu, interfering with other Super shortcuts2022-12-15
- Clicking the system tray registers as a click on a menu item, closing the app2022-12-15
- Default application feature was difficult to use before2022-12-15
- Windows end up in the wrong place when external monitors are connected or disconnected2022-12-12
- 1 pixel window border is impossible to click on high DPI displays2022-12-12
- Window resize border is 1px wide, so it is hard to grab; only workaround is two-handed Alt-drag2022-09-18
- No Cancel button and no record of prior settings, so reverting changes is hard2022-06-14
- Menus are nested so deeply they are awkward to navigate2022-04-18
- Network applet requires logging in as root to configure networking2022-02-26
- Panel launchers cannot be configured properly in a simple way2022-02-17
- Typing in save dialog filters files instead of entering filename, and it's hard to change2021-11-06
- Scaling value is backwards: 2x makes things smaller and 0.5 larger, and output is blurry2021-04-22
- Window snapping on a laptop is painful to do with a trackpad2021-04-13
- Can't keep a workspace fixed on a secondary display, so it switches with the primary2020-12-23
- Middle-clicking the title bar pushes windows back, tripping users up when closing browser tabs2020-09-14
- No visible cursor change or handle at window edges, so resizing is hidden2020-08-27
- Desktop still feels laggy and slow to respond compared to older systems2020-07-04