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> My point was that a general "no app shall customize scrollbar look and feel" is wrong, as there are certain kinds of apps that do benefit from custom look and

> My point was that a general "no app shall customize scrollbar look and feel" is wrong, as there are certain kinds of apps that do benefit from custom look and feel. Sure, not all games, but also games are not so entirely different from other kinds of apps. But the point is, that your website is not an app. At most it is a web app, and therefore governed by the browser and the user's preferences and choices for the browser. A website (or website that is a "web app") should fundamentally be a different degree of commitment than installing an application into the user's system. There is a reason for browser sandboxes and for the browser to have its configuration. The browser itself is the actual app and the user should be in control of that, to govern a at least partially unified UX throughout the websites the user visits.

tremon 3y ago
A website should fundamentally be a different degree of commitment than installing an application into the user's system I agree with that, but this is opinion and not fact. There's a lot of money invested in blurring/obviating this distinction, exactly because installing a real app has more hurdles (both for the developer and for the user).
tsimionescu 3y ago
I don't see why there should be any distinction between apps and web apps in terms of UX constraints, and I don't think one has ever existed even since the invention of the Web. After all, Flash is older than JS and much of what people loved on the earlier Web was in fact made with Flash. Similarly, many famous Geocities sites were heavily customized to illustrate their creators' preference. The web is much more than productivity focused software, and limiting it to some specific notion of dull uniformity in the names of consistency is honestly sad. If I want to create a site to represent a detailed exploration and appreciation of the Voynich manuscript, why should I not try to style similarly to the original manuscript? Why should utility trump aesthetics for nay document on the web?
- JohnFen 3y ago
  The real problem, in my opinion, is that too many websites do this sort of thing. Is there a place for it? Sure. But it should be something that is rarely done. But I'm only talking about websites, not web apps. I don't use web apps, so have no opinion on them.

tremon 3y ago

A website should fundamentally be a different degree of commitment than installing an application into the user's system I agree with that, but this is opinion and not fact. There's a lot of money invested in blurring/obviating this distinction, exactly because installing a real app has more hurdles (both for the developer and for the user).

tsimionescu 3y ago

I don't see why there should be any distinction between apps and web apps in terms of UX constraints, and I don't think one has ever existed even since the invention of the Web. After all, Flash is older than JS and much of what people loved on the earlier Web was in fact made with Flash. Similarly, many famous Geocities sites were heavily customized to illustrate their creators' preference. The web is much more than productivity focused software, and limiting it to some specific notion of dull uniformity in the names of consistency is honestly sad. If I want to create a site to represent a detailed exploration and appreciation of the Voynich manuscript, why should I not try to style similarly to the original manuscript? Why should utility trump aesthetics for nay document on the web?

JohnFen 3y ago
The real problem, in my opinion, is that too many websites do this sort of thing. Is there a place for it? Sure. But it should be something that is rarely done. But I'm only talking about websites, not web apps. I don't use web apps, so have no opinion on them.