[JoshTriplett]

If people could agree on what "look good" means, I don't think it'd be impossible to get the major browsers to update default styles. But every site seems to have a different idea of the look they want.

I'd be curious to see a somewhat-objective look at what's actually wrong with default browser styles, separating out well-established usability and design considerations from personal preferences and branding preferences. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are near-universal things wrong with the default styles, and those might be possible to change if they can be separated out.

[Swizec]

Based on my experience as a web developer working with many designers over some 20 years of design trends, here’s the problem:

Default styles aren’t pretty.

That’s it. They’re superior in every other way. You always know what to click, you always know what an element will do, how it behaves, the UX is consistent with your OS, etc. Default elements are fantastic.

[felixfbecker]

> the UX is consistent with your OS

Buttons in Chrome on macOS look completely different than in native apps. Buttons and context menu in Chrome's native <video> controls look yet again different, following Material Design. From the things one could argue are good about native browser styles "consistency with the OS" is definitely not one of them.

[markdown]

Not datepickers. The datepicker element is garbage.

[admax88q]

Too true