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Why isn't it nasty that you can't pinch to zoom in all apps? What makes web sites which declare they have been laid out for a small screen just like an app diff

Why isn't it nasty that you can't pinch to zoom in all apps? What makes web sites which declare they have been laid out for a small screen just like an app different?

millstone 10y ago
Part of the answer is that the App Store review process checks for sufficient text size. Web pages aren't subject to this process, and so are more likely to have overly small text. Certainly that's been my experience as a user.
MBCook 10y ago
I'm with millstone. I've never had that issue with an actual app. Maybe that's because of app review, maybe it's the system defaults, it just isn't an issue. I don't think I ever had an issue with a webpage that seemed purposful. It always seemed to be something they were trying to do for the desktop (perhaps not a great idea there) that was a disaster on mobile. Or maybe they tested on an iPad and when the screen is 4" instead of 10" it's unusable.
- Tiksi 10y ago
  Heh, I've had the opposite experience. Generally sites that completely ignore mobile are manageable on the phone, maybe I have to scroll around a bit but its not a big deal. Mobile specific sites however seem to "break" (or at least annoy me) spectacularly and frequently. If I press the menu and your menu takes over the entire screen, seemingly like a new page, the back button should close the menu, not navigate off your site, especially if there's no way to close the menu other than navigating to a link. Floating elements that take up 20% of an already small screen with absolutely nothing useful on them and no way to get rid of them are broken. Redirecting a non-mobile link to the home page of your mobile site instead of to the content the link actually points to is pretty common too.
  - MBCook 10y ago
    In general I HATE mobile sites because they're usually less useful than the real desktop site or break things like reader mode. I'm especially FOND of sites that try to implement their own gestures thus messing up scrolling or the system gestures. That means YOU imgur. But I've never seen an app present me with the equivalent of 3pt text by default.
  - Macha 10y ago
    Blogger is the worst example. I'm basically unable to scroll an article without it interpreting it as a swipe, sending me to a different page, and losing my progress.
izacus 10y ago
You can increase the text size in accessibility settings.
Tiksi 10y ago
Because it's an expected feature of the web that has been in every browser since at least IE 3. If anything it is nasty that you can't pinch and zoom in apps, because there's no really good reason not to have it. That said I prefer my text smaller, have my phone at the smallest font size and rarely zoom in on text. I also wish there was a "remove the pointless whitespace" option and that other ui elements got smaller along with the text, but I'm rambling.
esrauch 10y ago
You can actually adjust the font size on Android now, and it affects pretty much all apps.

Why isn't it nasty that you can't pinch to zoom in all apps? What makes web sites which declare they have been laid out for a small screen just like an app different?

millstone 10y ago

Part of the answer is that the App Store review process checks for sufficient text size. Web pages aren't subject to this process, and so are more likely to have overly small text. Certainly that's been my experience as a user.

MBCook 10y ago

I'm with millstone. I've never had that issue with an actual app. Maybe that's because of app review, maybe it's the system defaults, it just isn't an issue. I don't think I ever had an issue with a webpage that seemed purposful. It always seemed to be something they were trying to do for the desktop (perhaps not a great idea there) that was a disaster on mobile. Or maybe they tested on an iPad and when the screen is 4" instead of 10" it's unusable.

Tiksi 10y ago
Heh, I've had the opposite experience. Generally sites that completely ignore mobile are manageable on the phone, maybe I have to scroll around a bit but its not a big deal. Mobile specific sites however seem to "break" (or at least annoy me) spectacularly and frequently. If I press the menu and your menu takes over the entire screen, seemingly like a new page, the back button should close the menu, not navigate off your site, especially if there's no way to close the menu other than navigating to a link. Floating elements that take up 20% of an already small screen with absolutely nothing useful on them and no way to get rid of them are broken. Redirecting a non-mobile link to the home page of your mobile site instead of to the content the link actually points to is pretty common too.
- MBCook 10y ago
  In general I HATE mobile sites because they're usually less useful than the real desktop site or break things like reader mode. I'm especially FOND of sites that try to implement their own gestures thus messing up scrolling or the system gestures. That means YOU imgur. But I've never seen an app present me with the equivalent of 3pt text by default.
- Macha 10y ago
  Blogger is the worst example. I'm basically unable to scroll an article without it interpreting it as a swipe, sending me to a different page, and losing my progress.

izacus 10y ago

You can increase the text size in accessibility settings.

Tiksi 10y ago

Because it's an expected feature of the web that has been in every browser since at least IE 3. If anything it is nasty that you can't pinch and zoom in apps, because there's no really good reason not to have it. That said I prefer my text smaller, have my phone at the smallest font size and rarely zoom in on text. I also wish there was a "remove the pointless whitespace" option and that other ui elements got smaller along with the text, but I'm rambling.

esrauch 10y ago

You can actually adjust the font size on Android now, and it affects pretty much all apps.