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Standard accessibility disclaimer to people developing websites: please do not set "user-scalable=no" in the viewport meta tag, as this prevents users from pinc

Standard accessibility disclaimer to people developing websites: please do not set "user-scalable=no" in the viewport meta tag, as this prevents users from pinch-zooming the page. Many designers think "there's no need to allow zooming", but this is often coming from people who are blessed with youth and/or great eye-sight. A lot of people (especially as we get older) need to be able to zoom in to read things, or we just want to zoom in on images to be able to see more detail (especially graphics that have text in them). Fortunately, you don't need to set "user-scalable=no" in order to reap the benefits of the "no tap delay" (thank you to the webkit team for hearing people's feedback about this and changing course from their original plan which was to only disable tap delay when page wasn't scalable).

untog 11y ago
Most of the sites employing this are aiming at providing more "app-y" experiences, though - and apps don't allow you to zoom in that way. I'd love to see browsers allow you to tap into OS-level accessibility settings easily, and set the font size to match the OS, etc.
- moron4hire 11y ago
  That's weird. I could have sworn it should work to avoid setting an absolute font size, but trying it just now on my Android phone (kitkat, I think) and it didn't work. Is this something I'm misremembering? I thought you could do this on desktop, at least.
- micampe 11y ago
  iOS 9 added that https://webkit.org/blog/3709/using-the-system-font-in-web-content/ https://webkit.org/blog/3709/using-the-system-font-in-web-co...
  - untog 11y ago
    But not sizing specifically, right? It looks like I can use the system typeface but not my own typeface at system size.
    - potatolicious 11y ago
      It looks like it supports sizing: > "Going beyond the system font, iOS has dynamic type behavior, which can provide an additional level of fit and finish to your content. These text styles identify more than simply a particular font family; instead, they represent an entire style, including size and weight. " Note that "dynamic type" in Apple vernacular refers specifically to the variable-sizing accessibility feature, so I'm pretty sure this does what you'd want.
- draw_down 11y ago
  There is truth to that, but there are also publications and other sites who shouldn't be doing it. And they do it so they can put their stupid bar across the top of the page and crap like that.
CyberShadow 11y ago
> A lot of people (especially as we get older) need to be able to zoom in to read things, At least on Android, Chrome has an accessibility setting which forces pinch zooming to be always available. (Not arguing your point though.)
- giovannibajo1 11y ago
  That's not so useful per-se on iOS, as iOS has a full set of zooming features, that range from double-tap-with-three-fingers to activate zooming mode, to the always-on-top zoom controller that popups a menu with several options, including which filters to apply in the zooming window (eg: contrast, b&w). These features work across the whole operating system, so in all apps, not just the browser.
makecheck 11y ago
I don't even know why this is an option that web sites can control. I should be able to zoom anything I want, site "design" be damned. It actually ruined the iPad experience for me. Early on, when you could pan and resize any part of a page, it was great; then sites suddenly decided they should "help" me scroll, choose the text size, etc. and the iPad screen ended up feeling like a penalty box.
- james33 11y ago
  It is important for things like HTML5 games that essentially wouldn't work without this functionality.
  - makecheck 11y ago
    Then they should have had a big fat "begin playing game" button for the browser, and turned it off the rest of the time. The user should still be in control.
    - err4nt 11y ago
      You can easily write a bookmarklet which you can tap that would replace any viewport meta tag with a viewport tag that allowed zooming, but as has been mentioned in other thread where this topic comes up - almost invariably the mobile browser software _already has_ a convenient user override built in. Find it and toggle it.
  - username223 11y ago
    I understand "because games" (which are already a horrible abuse of what was initially intended as a way to display hyper-text), but far too often I wander onto some news site or blog that thinks it knows what size text I find most comfortable to read. Honestly, if you're trying to present text in the best way possible, make it easy for readers to choose both font size and column width. This lets readers adjust to suit their visual acuity and reading distance. A lot of sites seem to be designed to prevent both.
- interpol_p 11y ago
downandout 11y ago
>Standard accessibility disclaimer to people developing websites: please do not set "user-scalable=no" in the viewport meta tag, as this prevents users from pinch-zooming the page. 100% this. I immediately leave any site that I don't absolutely have to use if it doesn't allow me to pinch, and I'm not visually impaired. Part of the annoyance is knowing that they disabled it on purpose. I realize that there are design considerations that factor into it, but the fact that they designed the site in a way that disables such critical functionality makes me not want to stick around to find out whatever other annoyances it has in store for me.
- nailer 11y ago
  Do you stop using native apps that you can't zoom?
  - lucideer 11y ago
    While it is a shame native apps are so often much more limited in usability than webpages, the grandparent does point out that part of the annoyance is disabling it on purpose. Zoom in native would be great but it's something you have to implement, not a feature you get for free that you explicitly go out of your way to remove.
monochromatic 11y ago
I still have 20/20 vision, and I loathe websites that won't let me zoom.
rayiner 11y ago
What should be the standard disclaimer to all web developers: don't override any defaults. The iOS designers understand everything better than you and every time you disable zooming or change scrolling behavior an angel gets its wings clipped.

untog 11y ago

Most of the sites employing this are aiming at providing more "app-y" experiences, though - and apps don't allow you to zoom in that way. I'd love to see browsers allow you to tap into OS-level accessibility settings easily, and set the font size to match the OS, etc.

moron4hire 11y ago
That's weird. I could have sworn it should work to avoid setting an absolute font size, but trying it just now on my Android phone (kitkat, I think) and it didn't work. Is this something I'm misremembering? I thought you could do this on desktop, at least.
micampe 11y ago
iOS 9 added that https://webkit.org/blog/3709/using-the-system-font-in-web-content/ https://webkit.org/blog/3709/using-the-system-font-in-web-co...
- untog 11y ago
  But not sizing specifically, right? It looks like I can use the system typeface but not my own typeface at system size.
  - potatolicious 11y ago
    It looks like it supports sizing: > "Going beyond the system font, iOS has dynamic type behavior, which can provide an additional level of fit and finish to your content. These text styles identify more than simply a particular font family; instead, they represent an entire style, including size and weight. " Note that "dynamic type" in Apple vernacular refers specifically to the variable-sizing accessibility feature, so I'm pretty sure this does what you'd want.
draw_down 11y ago
There is truth to that, but there are also publications and other sites who shouldn't be doing it. And they do it so they can put their stupid bar across the top of the page and crap like that.

CyberShadow 11y ago

> A lot of people (especially as we get older) need to be able to zoom in to read things, At least on Android, Chrome has an accessibility setting which forces pinch zooming to be always available. (Not arguing your point though.)

giovannibajo1 11y ago
That's not so useful per-se on iOS, as iOS has a full set of zooming features, that range from double-tap-with-three-fingers to activate zooming mode, to the always-on-top zoom controller that popups a menu with several options, including which filters to apply in the zooming window (eg: contrast, b&w). These features work across the whole operating system, so in all apps, not just the browser.

makecheck 11y ago

I don't even know why this is an option that web sites can control. I should be able to zoom anything I want, site "design" be damned. It actually ruined the iPad experience for me. Early on, when you could pan and resize any part of a page, it was great; then sites suddenly decided they should "help" me scroll, choose the text size, etc. and the iPad screen ended up feeling like a penalty box.

james33 11y ago
It is important for things like HTML5 games that essentially wouldn't work without this functionality.
- makecheck 11y ago
  Then they should have had a big fat "begin playing game" button for the browser, and turned it off the rest of the time. The user should still be in control.
  - err4nt 11y ago
    You can easily write a bookmarklet which you can tap that would replace any viewport meta tag with a viewport tag that allowed zooming, but as has been mentioned in other thread where this topic comes up - almost invariably the mobile browser software _already has_ a convenient user override built in. Find it and toggle it.
- username223 11y ago
  I understand "because games" (which are already a horrible abuse of what was initially intended as a way to display hyper-text), but far too often I wander onto some news site or blog that thinks it knows what size text I find most comfortable to read. Honestly, if you're trying to present text in the best way possible, make it easy for readers to choose both font size and column width. This lets readers adjust to suit their visual acuity and reading distance. A lot of sites seem to be designed to prevent both.
interpol_p 11y ago

downandout 11y ago

>Standard accessibility disclaimer to people developing websites: please do not set "user-scalable=no" in the viewport meta tag, as this prevents users from pinch-zooming the page. 100% this. I immediately leave any site that I don't absolutely have to use if it doesn't allow me to pinch, and I'm not visually impaired. Part of the annoyance is knowing that they disabled it on purpose. I realize that there are design considerations that factor into it, but the fact that they designed the site in a way that disables such critical functionality makes me not want to stick around to find out whatever other annoyances it has in store for me.

nailer 11y ago
Do you stop using native apps that you can't zoom?
- lucideer 11y ago
  While it is a shame native apps are so often much more limited in usability than webpages, the grandparent does point out that part of the annoyance is disabling it on purpose. Zoom in native would be great but it's something you have to implement, not a feature you get for free that you explicitly go out of your way to remove.

monochromatic 11y ago

I still have 20/20 vision, and I loathe websites that won't let me zoom.

rayiner 11y ago

What should be the standard disclaimer to all web developers: don't override any defaults. The iOS designers understand everything better than you and every time you disable zooming or change scrolling behavior an angel gets its wings clipped.