Google is adding a new Page Zoom feature to the Chrome browser for Android, designed to be a little more accessible than the current one.
The new feature’s functionality aligns much more with the zoom feature that the Google Chrome browser’s desktop version has. Essentially, by tapping on the downwards facing arrow found in the URL Omnibox, a popup from where cookies can be examined as well, one can access the newly added Zoom tab. Tap on it, and then manually increase or decrease the percentage, with 100% being the norm. This way, users have much more control over exactly how much they want the webpage at hand to be legible and increased in size.
Prior to this, Google's solution to this problem was coming up with a self adjusting version of the Zoom feature. The text scaling feature judges websites based on their content and font size, and then either zooms into or out of videos accordingly. Then again, the zooming in and out was decided by an algorithm instead of an actual person. Worse yet is the fact that even if some illegible content does get zoomed in on, the percentage could be an unspecified, unhelpful amount. Think about running into a website where the auto-scaling brings you up to 110%. However, things aren't fully legible to the audience until it is manually brought up to 130%. Which, of course, can't happen. Interesting and sad.
Another interesting part about this new feature is the fact that after settling on a preferred zoom setting percentage for a specific webpage, the browser remembers this decision. Next time, if a user is to go back to the same website, they will encounter the exact same zoom settings being used. Think of it as lenses being applied to each website, and them being specifically tailored to your eyes.
The feature is currently not easily accessible, and is hiding behind a flag on Chrome's Canary build. Therefore, even if it isn't out yet, users can have some fun with it and try it out by simply enabling this flag on their Android device chrome://flags/#enable-accessibility-page-zoom.
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The new feature’s functionality aligns much more with the zoom feature that the Google Chrome browser’s desktop version has. Essentially, by tapping on the downwards facing arrow found in the URL Omnibox, a popup from where cookies can be examined as well, one can access the newly added Zoom tab. Tap on it, and then manually increase or decrease the percentage, with 100% being the norm. This way, users have much more control over exactly how much they want the webpage at hand to be legible and increased in size.
Prior to this, Google's solution to this problem was coming up with a self adjusting version of the Zoom feature. The text scaling feature judges websites based on their content and font size, and then either zooms into or out of videos accordingly. Then again, the zooming in and out was decided by an algorithm instead of an actual person. Worse yet is the fact that even if some illegible content does get zoomed in on, the percentage could be an unspecified, unhelpful amount. Think about running into a website where the auto-scaling brings you up to 110%. However, things aren't fully legible to the audience until it is manually brought up to 130%. Which, of course, can't happen. Interesting and sad.
Another interesting part about this new feature is the fact that after settling on a preferred zoom setting percentage for a specific webpage, the browser remembers this decision. Next time, if a user is to go back to the same website, they will encounter the exact same zoom settings being used. Think of it as lenses being applied to each website, and them being specifically tailored to your eyes.
The feature is currently not easily accessible, and is hiding behind a flag on Chrome's Canary build. Therefore, even if it isn't out yet, users can have some fun with it and try it out by simply enabling this flag on their Android device chrome://flags/#enable-accessibility-page-zoom.
H/T: u/Leopeva64-2.
Read next: Google Delivers News With A Bang With Big Moments Feature