PeriodicTableOfElements.org
Shares rank 11 of 31 interactive visualizations by recommenders
Praised as a beautiful, interactive periodic table that can be embedded in educational sites; the most common caveat is poor mobile usability.
Praised as a beautiful, interactive periodic table that can be embedded in educational sites; the most common caveat is poor mobile usability.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 62%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful for teaching and science
“Could see this being useful embedded in LMS platforms or educational sites via iframe.”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” “Oh perfect timing, my son was asking me what that table was”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” “Needs this! Highly relevant for us geochemists”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” Beautiful, clear visual design
“Beautiful. Another approach to visualizing the discovery of elements would be a "time travel" feature”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” “I like that you've chosen to use an actual element for the example / explainer.”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to use on mobile
“On mobile, it's quite hard to hit the X to close an element description.”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” “Tooltip positioning is poor. Also colours are hard to distinguish and layout of table could be better in mobile.”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” “Stupid bug on Android Firefox. Scrolling to the side opens description”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” - Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org”
Cluttered, worse than before
“Wasn't so cluttered before — the elements were squares (not tallcats).”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org” “you made it worse (visually)”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: PeriodicTableOfElements.org”
Other interactive visualizations people recommend
The four most recommended other interactive visualizations, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ciechanow.ski | 33 | 1 | 97% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Size of Life | 30 | 4 | 88% | 2 | — | — |
| PGSimCity | 27 | 3 | 90% | 1 | — | — |
| Ithihāsas | 18 | 3 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| PeriodicTableOfElements.orgThis page | 8 | 5 | 62% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“You've added something that dims elements in years before they were officially discovered”
“Oh perfect timing, my son was asking me what that table was”
“I like that you've chosen to use an actual element for the example / explainer.”
“Wasn't so cluttered before — the elements were squares (not tallcats).”
“you made it worse (visually)”
“This has (at least) one error: silver is not the most thermally-conductive element”
“Stupid bug on Android Firefox. Scrolling to the side opens description”
“the electrons in the configuration pane are orbiting off-centre”
“Beautiful. Another approach to visualizing the discovery of elements would be a "time travel" feature”
“On mobile, it's quite hard to hit the X to close an element description.”
“Could see this being useful embedded in LMS platforms or educational sites via iframe.”
“Tooltip positioning is poor. Also colours are hard to distinguish and layout of table could be better in mobile.”
“Did something like this exist before, with the same level of interactivity?”
“Needs this! Highly relevant for us geochemists”
“The tap interaction is a bit janky on mobile.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.