5 ms·

Developers, please stop blocking zooming on mobile Web pages via meta tags.

anoncake 7y ago
Browser developers, please stop honoring these meta tags. And generally stop giving web designers toys they can't handle responsibly.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  There are limited situations where I as a user really do want pinch-to-zoom disabled. Primary example would be browser-based games. Depending on what gestures the game uses, I sometimes end up zooming accidentally on mobile, which is super annoying.
  - basch 7y ago
    Id prefer a "lock zoom" button in the browser, but I understand that may not benefit someone who never opens a browser menu and just wants a website to work.
    - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
      The problem with adding buttons is that you end up with a lot of buttons. Which is then a cause of people not opening browser menus. Separately, it makes more sense to me for websites to set the default they think is best, and then let users override it. This can be done today in any browser with a bookmarklet. (None of this is to excuse websites which abuse their power. I just don't think removing that power is the right solution, at least not here.)
  - anoncake 7y ago
    Yet another reason why abusing a document format to make applications is a bad idea.
jraph 7y ago
I never notice this. On Firefox mobile there is an option to always allow zooming and it works well. I agree with you though. Using such an option should not be needed.
- underyx 7y ago
  The same option exists in Chrome and Chrome-likes such as Brave. You can find it in the Accessibility page in Settings.
marcosdumay 7y ago
You mean by this tag? <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1"> I imagine the only problem here is the maximum-scale parameter. Is that so, or are there other ones? I haven't touched a frontend for a few years. It was the case that this tag was needed to display anything on mobile (and Google would all but delist you if you omitted it or used it incorrectly). I imagine things have improved. The optimist in me would like to think that the tag isn't even necessary anymore, but I can't trust that guy.
- svnpenn 7y ago
  Yeah, I use this one: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> and "initial-scale" is only needed by Chrome Android AFAIK.

Browser developers, please stop honoring these meta tags. And generally stop giving web designers toys they can't handle responsibly.

Wowfunhappy 7y ago
There are limited situations where I as a user really do want pinch-to-zoom disabled. Primary example would be browser-based games. Depending on what gestures the game uses, I sometimes end up zooming accidentally on mobile, which is super annoying.
- basch 7y ago
  Id prefer a "lock zoom" button in the browser, but I understand that may not benefit someone who never opens a browser menu and just wants a website to work.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    The problem with adding buttons is that you end up with a lot of buttons. Which is then a cause of people not opening browser menus. Separately, it makes more sense to me for websites to set the default they think is best, and then let users override it. This can be done today in any browser with a bookmarklet. (None of this is to excuse websites which abuse their power. I just don't think removing that power is the right solution, at least not here.)
- anoncake 7y ago
  Yet another reason why abusing a document format to make applications is a bad idea.

jraph 7y ago

I never notice this. On Firefox mobile there is an option to always allow zooming and it works well. I agree with you though. Using such an option should not be needed.

underyx 7y ago
The same option exists in Chrome and Chrome-likes such as Brave. You can find it in the Accessibility page in Settings.

marcosdumay 7y ago

You mean by this tag? <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1"> I imagine the only problem here is the maximum-scale parameter. Is that so, or are there other ones? I haven't touched a frontend for a few years. It was the case that this tag was needed to display anything on mobile (and Google would all but delist you if you omitted it or used it incorrectly). I imagine things have improved. The optimist in me would like to think that the tag isn't even necessary anymore, but I can't trust that guy.

svnpenn 7y ago
Yeah, I use this one: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> and "initial-scale" is only needed by Chrome Android AFAIK.