[Bug 1077559] [NEW] Scroll Bar Width is Too Narrow Uneasily Adjustable

Sun Nov 11 05:21:47 UTC 2012

Public bug reported:

I've been using the Internet since 1993 before and during the first year
browsers came out. Back then the scroll bars seemed as wide as your
finger.

As time has gone on, screen resolutions have continue to increase, but
each time this happens the browsers scroll bar gets more and more narrow
on the screen. It seems to maintain its pixel width, but at higher
resolutions its physical width continues to narrow.

At this point, I find myself wanting to enjoy higher resolutions, but at
the same time, I want things to be bigger at those higher resolutions.

It has finally gotten to the point, that I find the width of scroll bars too narrow, requiring too fine-grained of a mouse-control-effort for simple web page navigation, such as:
1) Clicking the scroll-bar's up button
2) Clicking the scroll-bar's down button
3) Dragging the scroll-bar's slider.

Although a scroll-wheel is a helpful workaround, it remains an issue
that the scroll-bar itself continues to require ever increasing fine-
grained-effort to use. It is finally gotten to the point that I consider
it a cumbersome control.

I suggest doubling its size by default in future updates and releases of
Firefox. Or at lease making the scroll-bar easy to scale-adjust its size
(without the user having to understand CSS style sheet modification).
Perhaps it would be good to make the scroll-bar right-clickable and
providing a "Adjust Width" option in its context menu.

Many desktop applications could learn a thing or two from touch screen
interfaces. Notice how bluntly (widely) they make their buttons and
selectable options. They do it out of necessity because they know a
person is going to be using their finger to select that option. However,
even with a mouse, the bigger something is, the easier it is to select.
Just because a mouse-cursor comes to a fine point, doesn't mean that
controls ought to be barely bigger than that point.

I believe we have finally crossed a threshold. While before, we've
always been trying to maximize the browser's screen real estate, now
we've got plenty of width at higher resolutions, and it is time to
increase the width of scrollbars and make them require less fine-
grained-mouse-control to use.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: firefox 16.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.10.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-18.29-generic 3.5.7
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-18-generic x86_64
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC2:  lonnie     2197 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  lonnie     2197 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20121025212310
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Channel: Unavailable
Date: Sat Nov 10 22:42:45 2012
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 # interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-10-19 (23 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
IpRoute:
 default via 192.168.77.1 dev eth0  proto static
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0  scope link  metric 1000
 192.168.77.0/24 dev eth0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.77.246  metric 1
IwConfig:
 eth0      no wireless extensions.

 lo        no wireless extensions.
MarkForUpload: True
PrefSources:
 prefs.js
 [Profile]/extensions/{8f8fe09b-0bd3-4470-bc1b-8cad42b8203a}/defaults/preferences/prefs.js
 [Profile]/extensions/{b9db16a4-6edc-47ec-a1f4-b86292ed211d}/defaults/preferences/prefs-dwhelper.js
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=16.0.2/20121025212310 (In use)
RelatedPackageVersions:
 icedtea-7-plugin  1.3-1ubuntu1.1
 google-talkplugin 3.10.2.0-1
 rhythmbox-mozilla 2.97-1ubuntu5
 totem-mozilla     3.4.3-0ubuntu4
RfKill:

RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
WifiSyslog:

dmi.bios.date: 11/26/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A04
dmi.board.name: 0P792H
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A04
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: A04
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA04:bd11/26/2008:svnDellInc.:pnStudio1737:pvrA04:rvnDellInc.:rn0P792H:rvrA04:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrA04:
dmi.product.name: Studio 1737
dmi.product.version: A04
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

** Affects: firefox (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Tags: amd64 apport-bug quantal running-unity

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Title:
  Scroll Bar Width is Too Narrow Uneasily Adjustable

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