What recent UX changes make no sense to you?

Question

For me, it is the shift toward thin, auto-hiding scroll bars. I see it on macOS, Linux (Mint), mobile phones and probably Windows too (though i haven't used windows in a while).Is this a cleaner look? I have always loved visible scroll bars because they act as useful guides for where I am on a page and how much content remains and just easy to drag. Now you have to hover over it first.I am curious what UX changes have stood out to you lately, for better or worse.. Maybe some designers reading this forum will take notes.

DavidPiper · Accepted Answer

Liquid Glass is the obvious regression in the room for me.
Windows 11. The "EOL" of Windows 10 could also be considered a UX choice.
I also recently upgraded from an iPhone 13 mini to a 17, and I'm still not used to the larger screen size. Phones that can fit comfortably in your hand and pockets are in short supply.
AI-"enhanced" Autocorrect can be a nightmare, especially when you're talking about niche topics, or different languages.
Infinite scroll and addiction-as-product-design is a scourge on many.
Previously non-algorithmic news sources that now algorithmically feed you headlines.
Lots of websites have a slightly-but-noticeably degraded experience on Firefox.
The Internet at large without uBlock Origin.
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Most of these are not design "choices" though, they are profit motivated. Good and/or humanist design often tends to be at odds with profit these days because attention is currently primary vector of exploitation for companies.
"More Usage" != "Good Design", but people do like to be employed and receive a paycheck, myself included.

ano-ther · Answer

Fonts in low contrast colors and websites that stop me from pinch-zooming on the phone.Dumbed-down interfaces that deeply bury the interesting interactions (or not have them at all).

pedro_caetano · Answer

Not recent but the slow trend towards a complete loss of clickability in both desktop and mobile UX.I read text and sometimes I can interact and click/tap it for some action but other times it is just text. Not having a visual distintion between those two seems hostile. But maybe I'm just showing my age.

pier25 · Answer

Buttons with icons that force you to hover to understand what they do.

pxtail · Answer

Obsession with cli/TUI for LLMs interaction instead of proper IDEs

jrmg · Answer

My state&rsquo;s car registration renewal system is now a chatbot rather than a form.

austin-cheney · Answer

* touchscreens in cars* crippled features in iOS safari compared to desktop safari. I know why they do it, because they want people buying apps from the App Store. But it&rsquo;s still garbage

shawn_w · Answer

Those thin scrollbars are unusable, especially on touch screens.I'm still salty over flat design; I want buttons that look like buttons, dangit.

onetokeoverthe · Answer

thnx for the report.Still don't understand why most web pages (including with forms!) are not static like here on HN. But instead, reload every time one tabs back to it.The energy and time wasted...

wronex · Answer

All the extra empty space everywhere. Some websites are impossibly empty. They look zoomed in. This is super annoying.
The loss of a clear design language for desktop apps is also frustrating. Windows XP apps tended to use standard Windows controls, in more or less the same way. Modern apps though are all spaced out HTML/WPF CSS styled wannabe websites.
We cannot solve complexity with empty space and style sheets.
Also this glass thing on iOS. Definitely under cooked. The keyboard doesn’t even fill out the bottom corners of the screen.

tootie · Answer

Animations and transitions are out of control. I use 1password extensively on my phone and the process of loading and unlocking involves multiple superfluous animations for a task I'm trying to do quickly.

verdverm · Answer

super rounded corners, so annoying and unnecessary
developer platforms have been increasingly adopting large amounts of empty space like social media platforms
shoving in-platform Ai adverts to try and get me to use their shitty products (I use Ai in coding, but I don't want theirs in every single little place)

moomoo11 · Answer

using modals when pushing a new screen would have been far better

dlcarrier · Answer

The entire idea of a user experience makes no sense to me. A user interface is unnoticeable and forgettable, because it's a utilitarian functionality.
A user experience can only be an experience if it's notable and memorable, and the only way for that to happen is for it to get in the way. On top of that, everyone will eventually adjust to it, so to stay notable and memorable, it has to constantly change, so it can always get in the way.
Worse yet, if a project included research to optimize usability, that constant change will mean it is always departing further and further from peak usability.

mh2266 · Answer

the scrollbar change happened in 10.7 Lion. it was released in 2011. on mobile it was there since iPhone OS 1. it is not a recent change, macOS/OS X/Mac OS X has had these scrollbars for longer than it did not have them.you can disable them in the settings app, and have been able to since Lion...

drsalt · Answer

mac os getting rid of titlebars. i want to see the title of the windows i have open. i want to drag those around. i don't want "content" taking over my computer and my screen as a default. i want the mediated experience of a nice friendly operating system in between.

What recent UX changes make no sense to you?

Fonts in low contrast colors and websites that stop me from pinch-zooming on the phone.
Dumbed-down interfaces that deeply bury the interesting interactions (or not have them at all).

Buttons with icons that force you to hover to understand what they do.

Obsession with cli/TUI for LLMs interaction instead of proper IDEs

My state’s car registration renewal system is now a chatbot rather than a form.

* touchscreens in cars
* crippled features in iOS safari compared to desktop safari. I know why they do it, because they want people buying apps from the App Store. But it’s still garbage

Those thin scrollbars are unusable, especially on touch screens.
I'm still salty over flat design; I want buttons that look like buttons, dangit.

thnx for the report.
Still don't understand why most web pages (including with forms!) are not static like here on HN. But instead, reload every time one tabs back to it.
The energy and time wasted...

Animations and transitions are out of control. I use 1password extensively on my phone and the process of loading and unlocking involves multiple superfluous animations for a task I'm trying to do quickly.

using modals when pushing a new screen would have been far better

the scrollbar change happened in 10.7 Lion. it was released in 2011. on mobile it was there since iPhone OS 1. it is not a recent change, macOS/OS X/Mac OS X has had these scrollbars for longer than it did not have them.
you can disable them in the settings app, and have been able to since Lion...

mac os getting rid of titlebars. i want to see the title of the windows i have open. i want to drag those around. i don't want "content" taking over my computer and my screen as a default. i want the mediated experience of a nice friendly operating system in between.