December 18, 2025
Drag drama, pick fights
Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop
Tap-to-pick, tap-to-place: mobile miracle or design disaster
TLDR: A new demo, picknplace.js, swaps drag-and-drop for a pick-then-place flow to make mobile reordering easier. The community split immediately: some slammed the mobile behavior and confusion, while others loved it (one even mid-urinal), proving that tiny UI changes can ignite big debates.
A front-end designer dropped a spicy demo called picknplace.js, a “pick, then place” riff on clumsy drag-and-drop meant to save your thumbs on mobile. It’s just a proof-of-concept, not a full tool, but it sparked instant drama. One user flagged a broken link to the repo, another said keyboard “Enter” mysteriously cancels placement, and a pile-on started over the mobile experience. The harshest camp screamed “worst user experience I’ve ever seen”, complaining the whole page scrolls during “pick mode,” forcing a constant scroll-back. Others griped that if you need instructions to use it, “it’s a no-go.”
Then came the counterpunch: a gleeful defender bragged they mastered it one-handed at a urinal and called complainers “obtuse.” Cue popcorn. Some asked for a simple fix—only scroll the list while picking—while others argued that learning a new interface is the point. Meanwhile, the creator reminds it’s a demo: you pick an item, a duplicate animated list appears on top, you scroll, place, then confirm or cancel—no strings attached.
So is picknplace.js a mobile sanity saver or chaos machine? The crowd can’t agree, but they’re absolutely entertained. And if nothing else, it proved the internet will fight about literally anything, including how to move a list item.
Key Points
- •Picknplace.js is presented as an alternative to drag-and-drop, focusing on mobile usability.
- •It uses a two-step process: pick an item, then place it.
- •When picking, a duplicate interactive list overlays the original and updates with scroll position.
- •Users can confirm or cancel changes at the end of the operation.
- •The project is a proof of concept with source code available for inspiration, not a full library.