4 ms·

I kind of wish the author had lead with this instead of burying it at the bottom. For whatever reach the article gets, this is the part that's going to offer va

I kind of wish the author had lead with this instead of burying it at the bottom. For whatever reach the article gets, this is the part that's going to offer value to readers (it seems unlikely this article will sway a significant number of web developers to change their habits).

ascar 4y ago
I dunno. This article is like a 2 minute read. Starting with a solution nobody asked for sounds like an unreasonable request, while I did like hearing about these options after realizing how big the problem is.
- kwhitefoot 4y ago
  > Starting with a solution nobody asked for At least one person wanted it: me.
jeroenhd 4y ago
The goal isn't to help the readers though, it's to convince web developers to fix their websites. Anyone can find the secret override setting if they're motivated, but that's not a solution to the problem. I know web developers don't care, but they're still the ones that can actually solve the problem. It's possible that like many other abused web features, Google will eventually change the setting for this feature from "override website zoom settings" to "respect website preferences for zooming" with "off" as a default.
- Johnny555 4y ago
  The goal isn't to help the readers though, it's to convince web developers to fix their websites. It seems like that battle is already lost, this isn't some default setting that they are just accepting, web developers are doing it because they think they have a good reason, some random blog post isn't going to change their minds.
  - jeroenhd 4y ago
    I'm willing to bet that most developers just copy/pasted the line of code that disables zoom from a framework or tool. The goal of most people who add these lines is to make the page fill the screen right on mobile devices. I'm sure some are user-hostile enough to disable zoom, but most probably don't have strong feelings one way or the other. Bringing this to developers' attention might very well be enough to get tons of people to remove the zoom block from their websites.
  - jnovek 4y ago
    For those of us with disabilities, this is every situation of our lives all the time. The disadvantage of being disabled doesn’t come from the way that disability limits us as much as it comes from the countless ways it makes all the normal things people do slightly harder. Advocates fight to change these things not because it’s easy to do but because eliminating at least some of the hurdles in life makes our overall experience a little easier.
    - hedora 4y ago
      Being left handed is a mild version of this. I think it cultivates a healthy mindset though: At an early age, you learn that all assymetric tools were designed by idiots, so by kindergarten, you're already questioning everything. I suspect this is why lefties are drastically overrepresented in leadership positions, NASA, etc.
      - Reason077 4y ago
        Apparently a Harvard study found that on average, lefties earn less, die younger, and are more prone to alcoholism! Source: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/beyond-bls/left-versus-right-the-impact-of-handedness-on-future-earnings.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/beyond-bls/left-versus-rig... According to the research, “lefties are generally born with a different brain structure that negatively affects their social and cognitive abilities.”
        jnovek 4y ago
ziddoap 4y ago
Do you really consider it buried? The entire article barely scratches 250 words. I don't think anything can be considered 'buried' in what is basically a medium-sized paragraph.

ascar 4y ago

I dunno. This article is like a 2 minute read. Starting with a solution nobody asked for sounds like an unreasonable request, while I did like hearing about these options after realizing how big the problem is.

kwhitefoot 4y ago
> Starting with a solution nobody asked for At least one person wanted it: me.

jeroenhd 4y ago

The goal isn't to help the readers though, it's to convince web developers to fix their websites. Anyone can find the secret override setting if they're motivated, but that's not a solution to the problem. I know web developers don't care, but they're still the ones that can actually solve the problem. It's possible that like many other abused web features, Google will eventually change the setting for this feature from "override website zoom settings" to "respect website preferences for zooming" with "off" as a default.

Johnny555 4y ago
The goal isn't to help the readers though, it's to convince web developers to fix their websites. It seems like that battle is already lost, this isn't some default setting that they are just accepting, web developers are doing it because they think they have a good reason, some random blog post isn't going to change their minds.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  I'm willing to bet that most developers just copy/pasted the line of code that disables zoom from a framework or tool. The goal of most people who add these lines is to make the page fill the screen right on mobile devices. I'm sure some are user-hostile enough to disable zoom, but most probably don't have strong feelings one way or the other. Bringing this to developers' attention might very well be enough to get tons of people to remove the zoom block from their websites.
- jnovek 4y ago
  For those of us with disabilities, this is every situation of our lives all the time. The disadvantage of being disabled doesn’t come from the way that disability limits us as much as it comes from the countless ways it makes all the normal things people do slightly harder. Advocates fight to change these things not because it’s easy to do but because eliminating at least some of the hurdles in life makes our overall experience a little easier.
  - hedora 4y ago
    Being left handed is a mild version of this. I think it cultivates a healthy mindset though: At an early age, you learn that all assymetric tools were designed by idiots, so by kindergarten, you're already questioning everything. I suspect this is why lefties are drastically overrepresented in leadership positions, NASA, etc.
    - Reason077 4y ago
      Apparently a Harvard study found that on average, lefties earn less, die younger, and are more prone to alcoholism! Source: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/beyond-bls/left-versus-right-the-impact-of-handedness-on-future-earnings.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/beyond-bls/left-versus-rig... According to the research, “lefties are generally born with a different brain structure that negatively affects their social and cognitive abilities.”
      - jnovek 4y ago

ziddoap 4y ago

Do you really consider it buried? The entire article barely scratches 250 words. I don't think anything can be considered 'buried' in what is basically a medium-sized paragraph.