Re: [css-device-adapt] Wording regarding orientation.

On Nov 7, 2012, at 9:52 AM, Ryan Betts <rbetts@adobe.com> wrote:

> Hey Kenneth,
> 
> Good point about potential conflicts between the @viewport orientation attribute and UA/OS restrictions. I think the way this is clarified might warrant more discussion, as I can think of a number of instances when I've been using devices locked in an orientation and the app's preference has over-ridden it (landscape-locked games are a great example).
> 
> The question at hand: in the instance of a conflict should it be the @viewport attribute or the UA / OS that is allowed to narrow the scope of available orientation options? 
> 
> Where '->' expresses the direction of the orientation override, the options seem to be:
> a) @viewport -> UA -> OS
> b) OS -> UA -> @viewport
> 
> So, if the OS says "portrait only" and @viewport says "no - landscape only," then (a) would result in `landscape` being honoured whereas (b) would result in `portrait` being honoured. Given that (b) could break the user experience I think that (a) would be the desired behaviour. Does that sound reasonable?

I think that's right If I lock the orientation of my iPhone screen to vertical, then AFAIK, none of my apps will know the difference between that and the situation where I've never rotated my phone out of that orientation. But this does not prevent some apps from using the device's long dimension as width (and some apps are like that, as you point out). So the browser app should be consistent. If @viewport is telling the browser to go landscape, then it should (or at least let the viewport go landscape), regardless of what is known or not about orientation. 

Otherwise, your fixed width/height HTML app might end up letterboxed and tiny on a vertical screen. While I have seen some video that acts that way in some apps, I've also seen some that will always play the video in device landscape regardless of orientation and orientation lock. So that kind of thing should be allowed via @viewport.

Received on Wednesday, 7 November 2012 22:53:04 UTC