Hacker News

Favorites Setup
☰
Comment by peesem | original | HTML Can Do That
[−]peesem · 2026-08-20 Thu 18:32 UTC · link
once again, i will ask: why do people care so much about only having one <details> element open at a time? let me see what i want to see!
[−]abanana · 2026-08-20 Thu 21:49 UTC · link
Yes, absolutely, and UX experts such as those at the Nielsen-Norman group have for years been advising against auto-closing the already-opened options when opening another. For good reason - user frustration in their research.

If I clicked it to open it, then if I want to close it, I'll click it again. Don't hide content I might still be reading!

[−]asdfsa32 · 2026-08-21 Fri 02:55 UTC · link
Skimming/scanning. For a couple of items, it is not an issue, but say for a long list of FAQ, being able to scroll past fast is nice.
[−]peesem · 2026-08-21 Fri 03:03 UTC · link
but then just close the elements yourself if you need that? don't force one behavior onto everyone
[−]asdfsa32 · 2026-08-21 Fri 04:00 UTC · link
Most people are lazy, so it is designed for most, including myself.
[−]ptx · 2026-08-21 Fri 13:55 UTC · link
When a form has two sets of mutually exclusive options it might be appropriate? But I find the user experience confusing. It's hard to tell what happened when all the elements moved around, at least without animations.