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Comment by singiamtel | Hacker News Reader

I find that most datepickers are better than the browser's default. It's a shame that they can't be styled more

I agree with a caveat: Default date pickers on mobile devices are very good. But on desktop browsers they are terrible. They break design continuity in a very ugly way and have quirks between browsers and systems. And personally, the popup calendar they provide just too small. If the system took over the date picker on desktop like it does on mobile devices instead of forcing the browser to handle it, I feel like we could get somewhere better.

I just went and confirmed this because it’s not something I’ve really looked at and I agree. The date picker you get from a straight up <input type=“date”> on iOS webkit is pretty nice.

The one in webkit on macOS isn’t quite as good, but is better than the one in firefox if only because firefox closes the picker when you type a year in to move far through time. Good thing firefox is open source.

Yes, but having worked on the date picker at Airbnb I can assure you almost every custom implementation (probably ours too!) messes up date picking in some region in an important way

Except...?

There’s no except. They all suck in some specific way.

Just let me type the date in the user's local format and put in the dashes/slashes with a regex (and remove them again before applying insert/Backspace/Delete). Almost always this is so messed up and broken. And slow.

Sigh. You anonymous code authors are always working to bring the user down, even when there is a 1000000:1 ratio between them and you.

"Just"

Spoken like someone who's never had to work on a date picker.

I'm surprised no browser has a HTML based implementation which has been copied/extended in styling.

> I find that most datepickers are better than the browser's

You mean your browser's. There is no "the browser".

The Google Chrome team would like a word with you.

I agree.

The date range selector used in Google Flights is a near flawless control. The implementation can be done, it’s just hard.

From your perspective. Ask people using non-gregorian calendars.

The colonial powers have been saying that forever. You should simply use gregorian calendars. Then your date pocking starts to work.

Those people should set fire to all their digital devices, and be banned from everything digital.

The only countries which use non-gregorian in any official capacity are Ethiopia, Nepal, Iran, and Afghanistan, right?

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