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Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

ericwbailey.website

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Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#101

Post by quickthrower2 »

eviks wrote: post #90
codedokode wrote: post #69

Modern disappearing scrollbars in Linux are an awful design: - as scrollbar in browser disappears, I cannot see the position on the page and whether it is scrollable at all - as scrollbar handle is very narrow, it is difficult to drag it You might ask, why drag the scrollbar handle? Well, when you have tens thousands of lines in the terminal, it will take a long time to scroll it using touchpad or mouse wheel.

It's an awful design because it ignores one is the most important factors of scrolling - document length. But then having wide scroll bars in short documents where you'd never use them is also bad design

It is good design to have "wide-enough-for-long-doc" scrollbars in short documents for principle of least surprise.

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#102

Post by jojobas »

donkeybeer wrote: post #100
jojobas wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you extend that to buttons, text fields and all other components in general? I'd say default should be whatever the web designer wanted, if you're not agree you can always use one of the overrider plugins.

Yes 100%, apps should follow the theme for components set by the user.

Well, that's a super minority opinion. Also, websites are not apps.

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#103

Post by quickthrower2 »

Too much fun to be had, Streisand:

    body {
      scrollbar-color: #f16d4f #cccccc;

      &::-webkit-scrollbar {
        width: 13rem;
      }

      &::-webkit-scrollbar-track {
        background: #000;
      }

      &::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb {
        background-image: url("https://picsum.photos/200/200");
        background-repeat:none;
        height: 13rem;
        border-radius: 13rem;
      }
    }

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#105

Post by grishka »

jmbwell wrote: post #41

I recognize that web developers want full control over the user experience, usually to the point of reimplementing all of the native UI widgets provided by the user’s OS. As a user, I prefer for my OS to do things my OS does, including styling my widgets. My scrollbars, my scrolling behavior, window chrome, all of it… whether it’s good or bad or right or wrong, that’s between me and my OS. As a user, I hate when web…

YouTube's custom scrollbars that take actual space on screen at all times annoyed me so much that I made a userscript that got rid of them. I made the choice to use overlay scrollbars, and I will enforce it if needed.

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#106

Post by [deleted] »

jojobas wrote: post #99
MereInterest wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or to phrase it a different way: Being able to style and control the width of the scrollbar is so incredibly useful that it must be in the hands of users, and not designers.

Would you extend that to buttons, text fields and all other components in general? I'd say default should be whatever the web designer wanted, if you're not agree you can always use one of the overrider plugins.

[deleted]

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#107

Post by leokennis »

preommr wrote: post #21

> Don't use custom CSS scrollbars Alright, I guess I'll go back to using js scrollbars instead /s I hate articles like this because they present highly opinionated solutions as something definite even though it has a narrow focus on what the author cares about. Web apps can be incredibly powerful and convenient, sometimes a scrollbar is in the middle of the page like with that codepen. In those situations, being able…

There should be simple OS level overrides on CSS. Not a user stylesheets or extensions or hard to find a browser flag, just a preferences window where even my mother could indicate “always show scrollbars in Windows style” or “all text should be at minimum 14 points”.

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#108

Post by drpixie »

jmbwell wrote: post #41

I recognize that web developers want full control over the user experience, usually to the point of reimplementing all of the native UI widgets provided by the user’s OS. As a user, I prefer for my OS to do things my OS does, including styling my widgets. My scrollbars, my scrolling behavior, window chrome, all of it… whether it’s good or bad or right or wrong, that’s between me and my OS. As a user, I hate when web…

Absolutely! I know there are designers out there, obsessing over every last detail. But I want an easy to navigate, consistent experience. I don't want to wave the mouse around hoping to find the easter-egg that is a link. Or the almost (or actually) invisible scroll bar. Or the "button" that looks just like text. There is an existing, consistent, simple look - divert from that and you're at risk of my going elsewhere because you've ignored the #1 reason to be a web page ... I don't use it because it looks great, I go there to do something, and do it easily.

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#109

Post by pwdisswordfishc »

arp242 wrote: post #62
preommr wrote: post #21

> Don't use custom CSS scrollbars Alright, I guess I'll go back to using js scrollbars instead /s I hate articles like this because they present highly opinionated solutions as something definite even though it has a narrow focus on what the author cares about. Web apps can be incredibly powerful and convenient, sometimes a scrollbar is in the middle of the page like with that codepen. In those situations, being able…

> being able to style and control the width of the scrollbar is useful. Useful for who? I set my scrollbar width fairly wide intentionally so I can actually click on the thing and use it without too much effort. Some developers thing it's "useful" if I'm not able to do that by setting a significantly smaller width, which is not useful at all for me because every single time it makes the experience worse. In some fair…

For control-freaks who think they are the second coming of WinAmp and like to micromanage every single aspect of user experience so that it conform to THE BRAND®™.

Re: Don't use custom CSS scrollbars

#110

Post by onion2k »

fbrchps wrote: post #31
abhibeckert wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> being able to style and control the width of the scrollbar is useful No it's not. I have operating system wide settings for how scroll bars should work and the rules are complex with visibility and size of the scroll bar changing from one second to the next. I expect my scroll bar settings to apply to all websites and they are significantly better than what codepen does. Codepen also doesn't allow me to scroll past…

> highly opinionated solutions as something definite even though it has a narrow focus on what the author cares about Most users either don't have such strong opinions about their scroll bars, or would prefer it looks coherent with the application, or OS-native (your preference). But I can almost guarantee the larger group of non-technical users will have never thought about the styling of their scrollbars for more t…

But I can almost guarantee the larger group of non-technical users will have never thought about the styling of their scrollbars for more than a few seconds.

I think you're saying that this means it doesn't matter, but it actually increases the importance of respecting the users choices. Anyone who has changed their scrollbar has done so because it's important enough to them to bother. They've put effort in. That means there is far more likely to be a good reason not to override their preferred styling.

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