4 ms·

WHY. WHY do web devs keep _insisting_ on taking over my scroll wheel? I don't want things to fly around on screen, and I certainly don't want to be rocketed hal

WHY. WHY do web devs keep _insisting_ on taking over my scroll wheel? I don't want things to fly around on screen, and I certainly don't want to be rocketed halfway down the page if I so much as _nudge_ the scroll wheel on my mouse. This might be a cool product, but the behaviors on that page are _extremely_ irritating.

chrisseaton 6y ago
Why is scrolling pixel-by-pixel rather than smoothly between sections inherently the right way to do it?
- core-questions 6y ago
  You don't know if I'm scrolling pixel by pixel. You should just not override how scroll works. It's not like it improves anything.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    But the content here is paginated. It isn't a single continuous stream.
    - function_seven 6y ago
      It is a continuous stream. When I disable the scroll handler, I can smoothly move up and down across the sections. And it's a much nicer experience. I don't lose my place, or accidentally skip ahead 2 or 3 "pages".
      - chrisseaton 6y ago
        > And it's a much nicer experience. Well apparently the designers disagree! I guess we've just got a difference of opinion!
- function_seven 6y ago
  However a user has configured their mouse settings is the right way to do it. Don't meddle. My mouse, my OS, and my browser know just fine how to accommodate my scrolling.
- kortilla 6y ago
  Because some people scroll as they read.
- thewebcount 6y ago
  Another reason is that it can mess with assistive technologies. People with motor disorders, for example, might have either special settings or special devices that this could cause problems with.
- cweagans 6y ago
  I'm not asserting that pixel-by-pixel scrolling (vs scrolling by section) is inherently better as an approach. It's entirely possible that the latter is better somehow! However, the reality is that nearly the entire web is pretty consistent in how you can navigate a page - space bar will jump down a bit, pages usually respect my scroll speed settings, tabbing between elements works if the dev didn't fuck it up, etc. I value consistency in how I interact with my computer. I would rather not use an app/buy a thing/etc if it works differently from other similar items purely for aesthetic reasons. If it works demonstrably better, maybe there's an argument to be made, but when it's strictly a matter of _opinion_, I'm inclined to say that consistency > doing some one-off behavior. Imagine if the brake and gas pedal were reversed in one specific car, just because the person who designed/built it thought that it was more comfortable/looked better/etc. That would be an extremely dangerous car to drive (at least for me). I have a lot of years of muscle memory built up, and if I'm in some kind of dangerous situation on the road where I'd need to hit the brakes in a hurry, I want to be _damn_ sure that I'm pressing the correct pedal. For websites, it's an inconvenience that can be explained away as a difference of opinion. For many, many other kinds of interaction, this approach is actively hazardous. (and to be clear, I'm not saying that we shouldn't try new things or attempt to redesign things that people are used to, but I _am_ saying that a large business trying to sell a new thing is probably not the time nor place for it. Experiment with it on your portfolio or something and don't go out of your way to degrade my experience if you want me to buy something from you!)
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
Is it possible it's because a lot of people actually like it?
- jasongill 6y ago
  A lot of people = a lot of people who worked on the design of the website in question, perhaps
- kortilla 6y ago
  Nope, devs and PMs think it’s fun to build that shit though.
  - azinman2 6y ago
    How can you say that for the entire world? I for one do like it; a better presentation that's dynamic and screen real-estate aware. And I'm not the one building such things.
  - cde-v 6y ago
    Designers and PMs think it is fun to make devs build that shit.
- dismalpedigree 6y ago
  The masses are asses.
recursive 6y ago
None of arrow keys, page-down, space bar, middle click, or scroll bar are actually able to scroll this page at all on my machine. Only the scroll wheel. And there's no visual indication that scrolling is expected to work at all.
goda90 6y ago
It feels natural on mobile, so my guess is they did mobile first dev and ended up with something weird on desktop.

chrisseaton 6y ago

Why is scrolling pixel-by-pixel rather than smoothly between sections inherently the right way to do it?

core-questions 6y ago
You don't know if I'm scrolling pixel by pixel. You should just not override how scroll works. It's not like it improves anything.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  But the content here is paginated. It isn't a single continuous stream.
  - function_seven 6y ago
    It is a continuous stream. When I disable the scroll handler, I can smoothly move up and down across the sections. And it's a much nicer experience. I don't lose my place, or accidentally skip ahead 2 or 3 "pages".
    - chrisseaton 6y ago
      > And it's a much nicer experience. Well apparently the designers disagree! I guess we've just got a difference of opinion!
function_seven 6y ago
However a user has configured their mouse settings is the right way to do it. Don't meddle. My mouse, my OS, and my browser know just fine how to accommodate my scrolling.
kortilla 6y ago
Because some people scroll as they read.
thewebcount 6y ago
Another reason is that it can mess with assistive technologies. People with motor disorders, for example, might have either special settings or special devices that this could cause problems with.
cweagans 6y ago
I'm not asserting that pixel-by-pixel scrolling (vs scrolling by section) is inherently better as an approach. It's entirely possible that the latter is better somehow! However, the reality is that nearly the entire web is pretty consistent in how you can navigate a page - space bar will jump down a bit, pages usually respect my scroll speed settings, tabbing between elements works if the dev didn't fuck it up, etc. I value consistency in how I interact with my computer. I would rather not use an app/buy a thing/etc if it works differently from other similar items purely for aesthetic reasons. If it works demonstrably better, maybe there's an argument to be made, but when it's strictly a matter of _opinion_, I'm inclined to say that consistency > doing some one-off behavior. Imagine if the brake and gas pedal were reversed in one specific car, just because the person who designed/built it thought that it was more comfortable/looked better/etc. That would be an extremely dangerous car to drive (at least for me). I have a lot of years of muscle memory built up, and if I'm in some kind of dangerous situation on the road where I'd need to hit the brakes in a hurry, I want to be _damn_ sure that I'm pressing the correct pedal. For websites, it's an inconvenience that can be explained away as a difference of opinion. For many, many other kinds of interaction, this approach is actively hazardous. (and to be clear, I'm not saying that we shouldn't try new things or attempt to redesign things that people are used to, but I _am_ saying that a large business trying to sell a new thing is probably not the time nor place for it. Experiment with it on your portfolio or something and don't go out of your way to degrade my experience if you want me to buy something from you!)

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

Is it possible it's because a lot of people actually like it?

jasongill 6y ago
A lot of people = a lot of people who worked on the design of the website in question, perhaps
kortilla 6y ago
Nope, devs and PMs think it’s fun to build that shit though.
- azinman2 6y ago
  How can you say that for the entire world? I for one do like it; a better presentation that's dynamic and screen real-estate aware. And I'm not the one building such things.
- cde-v 6y ago
  Designers and PMs think it is fun to make devs build that shit.
dismalpedigree 6y ago
The masses are asses.

recursive 6y ago

None of arrow keys, page-down, space bar, middle click, or scroll bar are actually able to scroll this page at all on my machine. Only the scroll wheel. And there's no visual indication that scrolling is expected to work at all.

goda90 6y ago

It feels natural on mobile, so my guess is they did mobile first dev and ended up with something weird on desktop.