[mediaqueries4] pointer: coarse and pannable, zoomable viewports

• From: Edward O'Connor <eoconnor@apple.com>
• Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 09:10:13 -0800
• To: www-style@w3.org
• Message-id: <3B161CB9-FE5E-4584-9BEE-786F7FF1EE9E@apple.com>

Hi,

I'm not crazy about the 'pointer' media query currently in the Media
Queries 4 draft.

> Typical examples of a ‘fine’ pointing system are a mouse, a track-pad
> or a stylus-based touch screen. Finger-based touch screens would
> qualify as ‘coarse’.

Presumably, touch screens whose Web views operate as pannable, zoomable
viewports (like on iOS) are intended to match 'pointer: coarse'. But the
user can make very fine-grained touches simply by zooming the viewport.

Is such a UA expected to match 'pointer: fine' when zoomed in, and
'pointer: coarse' otherwise? I hope not; I'm not enthusiastic about
triggering layout on zoom. If such a UA never matches 'pointer: fine'
but only 'pointer: coarse', it's more likely that page authors will use
this MQ to make content that behaves poorly when the user is zoomed in.

I think we should drop this MQ from the ED.


Ted

Received on Wednesday, 12 December 2012 17:10:12 UTC