Firefox has an option in the Zoom menu called "Zoom Text Only," which
causes Zoom to only affect text size.

If you want to do an "optical" zoom in on a portion of a page (i.e.
physically enlarge an area of the page without changing layout), using
OS-level accessibility tools like Magnifier on Windows or the Zoom tool in
OSX's accessibility settings (System Preferences->Accessibility) is
probably the best solution, unless you find a third-party tool you really
like.

- Dave Mayo

On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 12:10 PM, Cary Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> This is less a matter of site behavior that it is an issue with how the
> zoom feature works. I agree that zoom should work as you describe, but it
> won’t work that way if the browser is sending the wrong message regarding
> the viewport. The viewport should not change when the page is zoomed in on.
> I think that most users would expect that zooming would enlarge a protion
> of the viewport, and that is what it should do.
>
> Cary
>
> Cary Gordon, MLS
> The Cherry Hill Company
> http://chillco.com
>
> > On Feb 8, 2016, at 8:25 AM, Katherine Deibel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> When people zoom in (e.g., CTRL+), they aren't actually *zooming in*
> insomuch as making the viewport smaller. The viewport is the keystone to
> the media query magic that makes websites responsive. When it is smaller,
> like for your phone, then it presents a different layout.
> >
> > Because yes, that is exactly what users are expecting when they use a
> feature called zoom. Content and layout change too in other applications
> like Word, PDF readers, etc. when you zoom in and out... oh wait... they
> don't.
> >
> > Nope. I would argue that most users believe zoom works like zoom in
> other applications and would not talk about the technical aspects of how
> responsiveness and concepts like view ports.
> >
> > From a disability accessibility perspective, magnification is not purely
> about text readability but making sure that all features of a
> website---images, interactive widgets, text, etc.---are of use to the user.
> Merely changing the font size is like putting out a fire in the kitchen
> while the rest of the house is ablaze.
> >
> >
> >
> > Kate Deibel, PhD | Web Applications Specialist
> > Information Technology Services
> > University of Washington Libraries
> > http://staff.washington.edu/deibel
> >
> > --
> >
> > "When Thor shows up, it's always deus ex machina."
> >
> > On 2016-02-08 7:18 AM, Michael Schofield wrote:
> >> Hi folks,
> >>
> >> Chiming in. Kyle asked
> >>
> >>> The reference librarians frequently zoom in on our homepage during
> class instruction, and have noticed that after they zoom in a bit, our
> homepage switches from desktop to the mobile layout. Is there any easy way
> around this?  In other words, is it possible to fix the site so that, if a
> user is on a desktop/laptop, zooming in on the homepage will *not* flip the
> user over to the mobile layout?
> >>
> >> This is actually the normal and expected behavior of responsive
> websites. Otherwise breaking this zoom would make the content less
> accessible, but perhaps a workaround would be to add a font size toggle in
> the header of the website where users can increase or decrease just the
> font size. Since I read you were using jQuery, check out this code that
> does what I described really neatly: http://codepen.io/ianfarb/pen/sxbvk .
> >>
> >> When people zoom in (e.g., CTRL+), they aren't actually *zooming in*
> insomuch as making the viewport smaller. The viewport is the keystone to
> the media query magic that makes websites responsive. When it is smaller,
> like for your phone, then it presents a different layout.
> >>
> >> Anyway, I really wanted to comment to warn against making changes like
> this to your website because of library-specific use cases - e.g., someone,
> staff or stakeholder, complains. These don't reflect the use cases of your
> patronbase.
> >>
> >> The reference librarians can change the default font size of their
> browsers. I would make them google that, rather than seek to break the
> zoom. For starters, here is how you go about it in Chrome.
> http://www.ehow.com/how_10035444_change-text-size-color-google.html
> >>
> >> Good question!
> >>
> >> Michael Schofield
> >> www.libux.co / @schoeyfield / www.webforlibraries.com
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of Katherine N. Deibel
> >> Sent: Friday, February 5, 2016 2:43 PM
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Responsive website question
> >>
> >> This is actually a really good question as it gets into an interesting
> >> tension between responsiveness and accessibility. Zooming is often a
> >> useful means of addressing visual access issues, and one cannot presume
> >> that a user will have external or in-browser apps for magnification.
> >>
> >> There is some literature on defining media queries using em/rem units
> >> instead of pixels, which would address some of the issues.
> >>
> http://blog.cloudfour.com/the-ems-have-it-proportional-media-queries-ftw/
> >> https://css-tricks.com/zooming-squishes/
> >>
> >> I can't say for certain about this, however, as I haven't tested it yet.
> >> I have now added zooming vs responsiveness to my testing criteria.
> >>
> >>
> >> Kate Deibel, PhD | Web Applications Specialist
> >> Information Technology Services
> >> University of Washington Libraries
> >> http://staff.washington.edu/deibel
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >> "When Thor shows up, it's always deus ex machina."
> >>
> >> On 2/5/2016 10:40 AM, Kyle Breneman wrote:
> >>> Happy Friday, everybody!
> >>>
> >>> Our library recently got a shiny new, responsive-esque website.
> >>> <http://langsdale.ubalt.edu>  The reference librarians frequently
> zoom in
> >>> on our homepage during class instruction, and have noticed that after
> they
> >>> zoom in a bit, our homepage switches from desktop to the mobile layout.
> >>>
> >>> Is there any easy way around this?  In other words, is it possible to
> fix
> >>> the site so that, if a user is on a desktop/laptop, zooming in on the
> >>> homepage will *not* flip the user over to the mobile layout?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for your help!
> >>>
> >>> Kyle
> >>>
>