Issue 817814 in chromium: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting

[bokan via monorail]

Updates:
Cc: chromium-ac...@chromium.org

Comment #9 on issue 817814 by bo...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c9

Issue 988427 has been merged into this issue.

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[smcgruer via monorail]

Comment #10 on issue 817814 by smcg...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c10

For completeness; issue 988427 was about an accessibility setting for 'prefers-reduced-motion' (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/prefers-reduced-motion). bokan@ argued (and after some debate I agree) that disabling smooth scrolling and reducing motion seem like they should be controlled by the same setting (as both relate to having content move in a way that causes problems for users who require or prefer reduced motion).

[balazs.endresz via monorail]

Comment #11 on issue 817814 by balazs....@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c11

> disabling smooth scrolling and reducing motion seem like they should be controlled by the same setting

But could we still override smooth scrolling as a flag at least? I definitely want smooth scrolling disabled but I don't want to turn on prefers-reduced-motion (if/when it becomes possible on linux).

Smooth scrolling is not just about a11y but also a way of dealing with hardware/driver issues.

Not to mention web developers can't simply choose to turn on prefers-reduced-motion if they have to work on animations. So they'd be stuck with the distracting smooth scrolling.

[agoode via monorail]

Comment #12 on issue 817814 by ago...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c12

I agree that making this an option is important. The reason I disable smooth scrolling is purely a latency issue: the existing smooth scrolling implementation is not responsive enough for me. Motion in general is not a problem, but I am sensitive to motion in scrolling.

Separately, it would be good to improve Chrome's smooth scrolling algorithm. It looks like this is being worked on in issue 1030939, but I am not clear on the status. If the performance of smooth scrolling is improved, then the need for a separate option for disabling smooth scrolling may not be as important.

[spointlessness via monorail]

Comment #13 on issue 817814 by spointl...@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c13

While this is still being reviewed, is it possible that the flag can be extended again?

Personally I believe that this should be a separate option as I don't want to toggle "prefers-reduced-motion" system-wide to disable smooth scrolling only. For example, Firefox implements a "Use smooth scrolling" toggle in their options while also respecting system-wide preferences otherwise.

[admin via monorail]

Comment #14 on issue 817814 by ad...@garyshood.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c14

I don't seem to have a way of setting "prefers-reduced-motion" in my DE, I use fluxbox and there's no global settings afaik. The flag for smooth scrolling was the only way to disable it. Currently my screen tears when the scrolling is set to smooth and I can't enable HW acceleration due to lack of support for that sometime after chromium 84.

[balazs.endresz via monorail]

Comment #15 on issue 817814 by balazs....@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c15

This might not be the strongest argument for it but I use the --disable-smooth-scrolling flag for the Slack desktop app too, so there would be some value in keeping this flag even in the long run because that's (probably) the only way to disable it in Electron apps.

[agoode via monorail]

Comment #16 on issue 817814 by ago...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c16

The flag is expiring again in M86. Can it be extended again?

[bugdroid via monorail]

Comment #17 on issue 817814 by bugdroid: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c17

The following revision refers to this bug:
https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/d4d612210261a9a108430d99113cc6b1a9131448

commit d4d612210261a9a108430d99113cc6b1a9131448
Author: Adam Goode <ago...@chromium.org>
Date: Fri Aug 14 20:21:34 2020

Extend expiration of smooth-scrolling flag

The work to implement this as a proper option in the UI is still
pending. Until then, this flag is the only mechanism available for
this accessibility option.

Bug: 817814
Change-Id: I18d1d2d62071e85b1be5f6b017cb2b05271795df
Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/2356190
Reviewed-by: David Bokan <bo...@chromium.org>
Commit-Queue: Adam Goode <ago...@chromium.org>
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#798218}

[modify] https://crrev.com/d4d612210261a9a108430d99113cc6b1a9131448/chrome/browser/flag-metadata.json

[girard via monorail]

Updates:
Cc: ago...@chromium.org sko...@chromium.org vanditha....@chromium.org

Comment #18 on issue 817814 by gir...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c18

Issue 1221175 has been merged into this issue.

[spointlessness via monorail]

Comment #19 on issue 817814 by spointl...@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c19

This flag is now expired on main branch, and will soon reach dev channel. It would be appreciated if the flag could be extended so the use of '--disable-smooth-scrolling' isn't necessary while we wait for this accessibility feature to become more accessible.

[groby via monorail]

Updates:
Cc: pb...@chromium.org

Comment #20 on issue 817814 by gr...@google.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c20

pbos, since this is ultimately an a11y issue, adding you here. Can you see if we can maybe drive this towards a conclusion?

[pbos via monorail]

Updates:
Owner: rob...@chromium.org

Comment #21 on issue 817814 by pb...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c21

=> robliao@ I think this should key off of disabled animations in general. I think this can be bundled with issue 8944, WDYT?

[spointlessness via monorail]

Comment #22 on issue 817814 by spointl...@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c22

My usage for this feature doesn't rely on reduced animations (see #c13), only that the blur induced by scrolling is annoying. *Personally*, I would prefer something that isn't bundled with a global toggle.

[Git Watcher via monorail]

Comment #23 on issue 817814 by Git Watcher: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c23

The following revision refers to this bug:

https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/071be8fea268cc6b73f855a32e261186af48ea78

commit 071be8fea268cc6b73f855a32e261186af48ea78
Author: Steve Kobes <sko...@chromium.org>
Date: Tue Sep 21 23:04:09 2021

Unexpire the --disable-smooth-scrolling flag.

Bug: 817814
Change-Id: I7a7f0f75e247eb24588836a0ad672d16651f9ead
Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/3169121
Reviewed-by: Avi Drissman <a...@chromium.org>
Reviewed-by: Robert Liao <rob...@chromium.org>
Reviewed-by: Robert Flack <fla...@chromium.org>
Commit-Queue: Steve Kobes <sko...@chromium.org>
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/main@{#923627}

[modify] https://crrev.com/071be8fea268cc6b73f855a32e261186af48ea78/chrome/browser/flag-never-expire-list.json
[modify] https://crrev.com/071be8fea268cc6b73f855a32e261186af48ea78/chrome/browser/flag-metadata.json

[clonkex via monorail]

Comment #24 on issue 817814 by clo...@yahoo.com.au: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c24

Personally I find all smooth scrolling to be obnoxious and difficult to follow with my eyes. It's not about animations and it shouldn't be part of it. It's about trying to follow large swaths of text that slide progressively. Smooth scrolling should just be a regular setting, not even a flag. I'm now terrified that if I update Chrome I'll be stuck with smooth scrolling for months on end, so I just won't restart Chrome. If the flag is gone I will actually have to switch to Firefox, which will suck immensely.

[gavin.anderegg via monorail]

Comment #25 on issue 817814 by gavin.a...@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c25

Just wanted to add my $0.02 to the discussion here:

* I'm another person who doesn't mind motion in UI in general, but I find the smooth scrolling implementation in Chromium browsers to be very laggy when using a mouse with a scroll wheel. It would be great if Chromium browsers could work like the rest of the OS when scrolling in this way.
* There seems to be a UI flag to disable smooth scrolling on Windows, but the flag is "Unavailable" on macOS. The command line argument works on macOS, but isn't persistent.
* I've tried using the system-wide "Reduce motion" accessibility setting in macOS, but this setting doesn't affect smooth scrolling in Chrome.
* I know I'm likely in the minority, but I've personally switched to Safari since Chrome 91 when smooth scrolling was unavoidable in macOS.
* Also, as I added this comment I saw the following warning: "Available issues should not have an owner, please use cc or the Assigned status". Not sure if this is something that should be addressed, but I wanted to note it.

Thanks!

[skobes via monorail]

Updates:
Status: Assigned

Comment #26 on issue 817814 by sko...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c26

(No comment was entered for this change.)

[ludalex via monorail]

Comment #27 on issue 817814 by lud...@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c27

Any hopes this can be picked up in the future?

[lenguyensy via monorail]

Comment #28 on issue 817814 by lengu...@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c28

The animation / delay in smooth scrolling implemented by Chrome is pretty bad. The animation is way too slow. Not everyone use the Trackpad to do scrolling, having an option to disable this smooth scrolling really helps with usability.

[chasbelov via monorail]

Comment #29 on issue 817814 by chas...@gmail.com: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c29

Posted related issue 1370852 Setting prefers-reduced-motion to reduce would correctly automatically disable smooth scrolling.

[skobes via monorail]

Updates:
Cc: sun...@google.com

Comment #30 on issue 817814 by sko...@chromium.org: Make "Disable Smooth Scrolling" an accessibility setting
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=817814#c30

Issue 1519054 has been merged into this issue.