Compactness and bracing provisions for the design of steel beams are formulated so as to ensure that the resulting beam exhibits adequate structural ductility. The specification of such compactness and bracing requirements involve assumptions about the constitutive nature of the structural steel being used. Such material response assumptions are valid in designs involving most structural steel grades. However, it appears from the current research that these same assumptions are not valid when used to predict the ductility of wide flange beams made from the high performance steel grade HSLA80. HSLA80 wide flange beams subjected to moment gradient loading display inelastic modes of failure, which do not lend themselves to a notional de-coupling of so-called local buckling and lateral-torsional buckling phenomena. Rather, the inelastic modes of failure of the HSLA80 beams tested herein display two distinct inelastic buckling patterns at failure, both of which exhibit localized and global buckling components. The structural ductility of the beams is very much dependent upon which of the two mode shapes govern at failure. Cross-sectional proportions, bracing configuration, and geometric imperfections all play a role in influencing which mode governs in the beam at failure. Currently held views as to the impact of cross-sectional compactness and bracing on structural ductility may not apply to HSLA80 beams.