Increasing number of websites no longer Pinch to Zoom-able?

[MorrisTheCat]

Ok, my iPad4, 128GB is doing sterling service but as of the latest OS update to 8.3 I am finding all too often those websites I'd visit say month to month are no longer zoom-able. No biggie but a certain group are showing with text that is just too tiny-small to read (as was always the case). I'd simply resort to Pinch and Zoom up the section I wanted to read which would hold and I could slide it around the screen and frame it as a readable chunk. Totally simple.

Now all I get is the page rapid flipping between massive zoom and back or minimizes or quite often Safari just crashes. It's like the website is forcing the visitor to see their advertisements and if you want to actually READ their blog article etc then too bad. I've checked if the site offers a link to a mobile version but in most cases there isn't a link to one...

So all I am asking is this the website doing this (which seems dumb on their part making their presence a non-event for anyone on mobile) or is it something silly going on with Safari on iPad, perhaps in my settings?

One of the worst are Facebook and Autoblog.com. PTZ just does not work. I can't read much of anything now the text is displaying too small even though I have changed it to larger in Setup which is ok for when I type as in now writing this. I tend to view my iPad in Landscape most times.

Is it something I am doing wrong or so called 'features' added by these website examples?

 

[J. A.]

Quickly double tapping with one finger should enlarge the site as well. Is this working on your iPad? I've tried it in Facebook, it works on my iPad. To return to the smaller version, double tap again

 

[MorrisTheCat]

Not consistently while on Facebook. If there's a small passage of text from someone then I can make the image minimize and then pinch zoom it but it's very fragile and then just crashes meaning I have to go back and tap the Facebook Icon to make it start.

With the autblog.com website nothing I do can will zoom it which is just ridiculous because this was once upon a time the most incredibly interactively useful function of the iPad and what seemed a natural way to interact with stuff on the Internet. Now I guess I'll just have to go back and anchor myself to desktop computer... for all my work.

 

[NSquirrel]

Would General/accessibility/zoom help?

 

[twerppoet]

Pinch to zoom in Safari should not depend on the website. It's a feature of the browser.

Try reseting the iPad. Hold down the home and power button until the Apple Logo appears.

You can also try clearing the History and Data in Safari's settings.

Third party apps, like the FaceBook app, may or may not support pinch to zoom, and may do so inconsistently.

Now, those stupid cover everything pop-over ads, those are website dependent and often a pain to deal with in Safari. You have to find and (carefully) tap the (x) to dismiss. They don't go out of the way to make that (x) easy to find, and they are becoming common on some blog and news sites.

 

[NSquirrel]

Try http://www.marksandspencer.com/l/offers/20-off-self-tan?intid=hp_SL_latestnews

As an example. (Sorry about the content, but I remembered thst Marks and Spencer exibit this problem.)

 

[twerppoet]

Try http://www.marksandspencer.com/l/offers/20-off-self-tan?intid=hp_SL_latestnews

As an example. (Sorry about the content, but I remembered thst Marks and Spencer exibit this problem.)

Ahh. Catalog/shopping sites. I forgot about those. So, I'm wrong. Some websites can and do stop pinch-to-zoom. Probably not by intentionally blocking it, but by using hosting tools that don't (for some reason) allow for resizing of the content.

At that point your only real option is to use the Accessibility Zoom feature (that you mentioned). That does work everywhere, since it's a local zoom of the screen display itself. It's not as pretty, and unlike the Safari zoom you end up with pixilated content at extreme magnification.

And yes, I agree. They are being a bit short sighted when it comes to Mobile; though the site you linked does re-adjust between my iPad and iPhone for a decent experience.

You can also check the App Store. Many of the bigger store sites have apps that offer a better (or only different) shopping experience.

 

[MorrisTheCat]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I have been 'testing' the Accessibility zoom option and it gets me where I need and I guess I will just have to learn to use it... I must say again though, why oh why is there such a retrograde step to the usability of what up to very recently was truly for me a huge plus and an iPad to access stuff on the Internet...?

I thought once any kind of HTML was presented on a display it wouldn't be too hard to zoom parts of it surely. That says somewhere along the line my Apple Device has begun to operating differently. I need to do further here and will check with a colleague's machine. I have given my machine a full reset but no change. I'll next try a Safari cleanup on it covering cache etc and see if that helps.