Objects on Webpage Changing Sizes Renders Site Unusable

If an object on the page - that usually isn’t even on my screen - is changing sizes while I’m using a page it all but makes the page unusable. (I’m not talking about during page load.) This is mostly true for mobile users, but I’ve also seen it hurt desktop usage as well.

By the time I figure out where I was, the object changes sizes again and I have to hunt again.

I’ve gotten to the point where I will allow it once or twice, depending on how interesting the topic is, but nothing is so interesting that I will allow it to keep making me mad. I would much rather just leave the page/site… which is unfortunate, because I like this site.

If the object is on the page, or better yet, if an object has focus, then grow and shrink to your heart’s content; otherwise, it’s my opinion that everything off-screen should be paused.

After I write this up, I did more troubleshooting. I was going to blame this on ads, as they’re usually the culprit, but after I did a bit more troubleshooting with other browsers, I actually think it’s due to the “infinite scroll” paging feature. It’s used to save time by not having to click “next page” or “previous page” to reload the page with all new comments, but due to the dynamic nature, there are usability trade-offs compared to a more static pagination approach.

For example: if one were to look through their notifications, then click on a notification for a comment in the middle, or bottom of particularly long conversation, then scroll up, the page would load more of the conversation as needed.

I’m not sure what logic the current page is using, but I think the page automatically scrolls to the top of the last seen comment - maybe? - not quite sure.

To combat this… wow… not sure if it’s possible, or if it would even make a difference, but if the scroll height of the current position could be grabbed before comments above are loaded, then after they are loaded grab the total height of everything loaded and add the last found scroll height to it.

Or give users the choice of infinite scrolling or pagination with a set number of comments. That might be easier.

My current browser of choice is Brave, so this may be more of a self-inflicted pain. Chrome and Safari are better, but not free of the same problems.

Maybe it’s just me… maybe I’m getting old and donning on my curmudgeon hat! Oh noes! “Dang-old techmology changing size… should take it behind the outhouse and shoot it!”

Is it just me? It’s just me, isn’t it? Lol

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I haven’t seen anything like that. Using non-standard browsers isn’t supported by most sites.

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I haven’t experienced anything like this.

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Nope:

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Brave used Chromium. So it should be supported.

Maybe check if you have some setting that could be effecting the site?

I’m using Brave as well and don’t have this issue.

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