D Forum Mobile Version - Beta

[Johannes Loher]

On Thursday, 28 November 2019 at 04:23:21 UTC, Nick Sabalausky 
(Abscissa) wrote:
> 1. I find the text size to be exactly what I wish most sites 
> would use. Most sites just assume everyone's on some kind of 
> "Apple iSuperMini for Oompa-Loompas With The Fingers of 
> Five-Year-Olds" and crank up the font size to absurd levels to 
> compensate. The result is not merely an enormously waste of 
> screen real-estate on a form factor notorious for every last 
> millimeter being crucial, but the fonts themselves actually 
> manage to be uncomfortably large to read in the first place.

The problem you describe my be a real one, but the solution 
presented by this version of the forum is not any better because 
it makes the text very hard to read on devices with high pixel 
density. It is possible to have the fontsize depend on the 
devices pixel density, which would be a much better solution.

> 2. The only reason extra margins would be needed on the actual 
> post-viewing pages would be as a workaround for those goofy 
> phones with the nonsensical misfeature of "edge-to-edge" 
> screens the manufacturers have been trying to push (just 
> because they can, and because they figure its harder for their 
> competitors to copy). Handheld touchscreens obviously
> need borders (that's just basic HCI common-sense), and requests 
> for applications/websites to add them back in just proves its 
> nothing more than a glaring flaw of the phone itself. People 
> with better practicality-oriented phones shouldn't have to 
> sacrifice their own perfectly usable real estate just because 
> of some *other* phones' MBA-driven lunacy.

That is missing the point in my opinion. Margins are important 
for visual separation and to create focus. My iPhone 8 has 
borders around the screen, but having text stick directly to this 
border makes it very hard to read. Having an additional white 
border is much more comfortable. This is also something that has 
been established for a very long time. There is a reason that 
basically every medium in existence uses margins like that (e.g. 
books, newspapers, etc.)