Picknplace.js
Ranked 2 of 24 JavaScript libraries by recommenders
Pick an item, scroll to move it, then place it; people like it for mobile and long lists. Critics say scroll-wheel steps are too coarse.
Pick an item, scroll to move it, then place it; people like it for mobile and long lists. Critics say scroll-wheel steps are too coarse.
84 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 58
- criticize it
- 26
- approval share
- 69%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not 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
- 58 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, 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
Works well on mobile touch
“it solves the problem of dragging mobile elements below the fold or off the visible screen view”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “This is really nice and a very original take. It feels good on mobile / other touch devices.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “Worked great for me on mobile. iOS , latest Safari. And I thought the UX was pretty good too”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” - Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop”
- Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop”
- Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop”
Novel take on drag and drop
“Brilliant! Its been a while since I've seen a brand new UX patten.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “a bit confusing, but lovely original idea, well made demo too”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “We need more experimenting with UX status quo.”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” - Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop”
Quick, one-handed, less frustrating
“it's very cool for eliminating the least productive/most frustrating stage of drag-drop interactions”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “wanted to do something that was easy with this and not so easy with traditional drag and drop”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “It took me less than 5 seconds to start using this one handed”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” Useful for long lists
“I could see this being really useful for editing lists that are longer than the page.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “Moving songs up/down in large playlists would be fun with this concept.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Placed item reverts or fails to place
“This doesn’t appear to always work? Sometimes the placed item gets sent back to the original position”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “The first time I tried it on my iPad, it didn’t place the item, but it did on subsequent uses.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “Doesnt work, place just reverts on mobile safari. Even if it worked this adds steps.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” List or page moves, disorienting
“it gets a bit disorienting, the whole list moves as it's anchored to the item you are moving”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “I was expecting that the line item would move with my mouse movement, not with my scroll.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “The whole page moves, so you have to continously scroll back up after placing something.”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” Scroll wheel moves too far
“Does not work with an indexed scrollwheel -- one click of the scroll wheel moves like 4 lines in your list”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “I have a regular scroll wheel and it moves two items each time. Totally unusable for me.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” Place button far from pick
“My biggest problem with the OP implementation is the “place” button can be far from the “pick” button.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop” “the "place" button is quite unintuitive and should be placed nearer to the pick-n-place container”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Picknplace.js, an alternative to drag-and-drop”
Other JavaScript libraries people recommend
The four most recommended other JavaScript libraries, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jQuery | 111 | 48 | 70% | 12 | 16 yrs8 owners | Approved |
| Picknplace.jsThis page | 58 | 26 | 69% | 1 | — | — |
| Alpine.js | 50 | 16 | 76% | 11 | 1 yr4 owners | Approved |
| Effect (TypeScript library) | 38 | 16 | 70% | 10 | 2 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Video.js | 24 | 6 | 80% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 85 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“We need more experimenting with UX status quo.”
“When it works well it is nice but I would be afraid to use something like this”
“Worked great for me on mobile. iOS , latest Safari. And I thought the UX was pretty good too”
“the "picked" state needs to be clearer that it's picked up”
“the "place" button is quite unintuitive and should be placed nearer to the pick-n-place container”
“I think this has potential for accessibility, just at the moment your demo page has issues in certain cases.”
“I hate it, but I love experimentation, and I love seeing new UI/UX concepts.”
“I have a regular scroll wheel and it moves two items each time. Totally unusable for me.”
“This is really nice and a very original take. It feels good on mobile / other touch devices.”
“relying on scroll as the positioning method means that if you don't have a fine-grained scroll method”
“this UX interaction could be quite an improvement in some cases”
“having it at a distance creates unnecessary cognitive burden”
“I was expecting that the line item would move with my mouse movement, not with my scroll.”
“Great, maybe highlight the item so we can distinguish the picked item from the others without scrolling.”
“wanted to do something that was easy with this and not so easy with traditional drag and drop”
“it's very cool for eliminating the least productive/most frustrating stage of drag-drop interactions”
“I especially love it because it leaves open the possibility of interacting with the rest of the screen while an element is picked.”
“My biggest problem with the OP implementation is the “place” button can be far from the “pick” button.”
“Brilliant! Its been a while since I've seen a brand new UX patten.”
“This experience worked great for me on mobile Safari with no instructions required.”
“Moving songs up/down in large playlists would be fun with this concept.”
“Doesnt work, place just reverts on mobile safari. Even if it worked this adds steps.”
“it solves the problem of dragging mobile elements below the fold or off the visible screen view”
“Ditch the scroll. Pick: all previous "Pick" buttons become "Place". You choose one.”
“Surely you're being hyperbolic. I've seen some atrocious UX before.”
“a bit confusing, but lovely original idea, well made demo too”
“It’s good, I like it. I think that it might become easier to use if”
“For mobile, this seems like a good, maybe even better solution than the status Quo.”
“The first time I tried it on my iPad, it didn’t place the item, but it did on subsequent uses.”
“I could see this being really useful for editing lists that are longer than the page.”
“Definitely see its potential for mobile pages.”
“really cool as something to test a new way”
“This doesn’t appear to always work? Sometimes the placed item gets sent back to the original position”
“kind of unintuitive to figure out without reading about it first”
“Does not work with an indexed scrollwheel -- one click of the scroll wheel moves like 4 lines in your list”
“it gets a bit disorienting, the whole list moves as it's anchored to the item you are moving”
“One technical note on your implementation: on certain mobile browsers, there is a glitch where the UI can jump around”
“It took me less than 5 seconds to start using this one handed”
“The whole page moves, so you have to continously scroll back up after placing something.”
“The keyboard arrows to move works nice, but pressing enter to place appears to cancel it.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.