[0x38B]

A solution for this is a JS bookmarklet that enables zooming:

    javascript:document.querySelector('meta%5Bname=viewport%5D').setAttribute('content','width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=10.0,user-scalable=1');

I keep this on my bookmarks bar and use it most often to zoom in on text to read it better.

[xenadu02]

Oh God, thank you. You've restored the mobile web for me. I can't stand the stupid "responsive" design crap. There shouldn't be any way to disable user zooming on mobile. Web developers simply can't be trusted.

[briandear]

Responsive is good, however dictatorial coding isn't. No reason responsive ought not be user friendly as well. The problem is that many devs seem to thing that they know best for their users. However a larger number don't actually understand that their vision of how a web page should operate isn't necessarily how a web page should operate. Too many cooks trying to be chefs. I admit that I don't have an expert grasp on the nuances of great front end either-- that's why I do my best to stay out of the front end as much as possible!

[coldtea]

>Responsive is good

I'll disagree. Responsive is a cop-out -- reminds me of the "mobile" versions of websites. Give me the full version, and stop messing with the layout and experience between the web and the phone.

[yoz-y]

But the full versions of the sites are often horrible for mobile. It is as simple as optimisation for vertical vs horizontal layout.

Also, responsive design does not mean disabling zoom at all.

[coldtea]

>But the full versions of the sites are often horrible for mobile.

I've never found that to be the case. Or if I did, it was far less often than being annoyed with the lacking, scaled down, "horizontally enhanced" mobile layout.

[yoz-y]

As an example of a site that is not good at all on mobile I would cite this very one.

In portrait mode the text is way too small to read and zooming in results in text that goes over the edge. In horizontal mode the experience is a bit better but one still needs good eyes to read the comments. Luckily there are enough applications that mitigate the problem.

[gorena]

~"It's not the mobile internet, it's just the internet"

- Apple, at iPhone release

[coldtea]

Yeah. And then we decided to break that and re-invent the mobile internet with "responsive".

[mattlutze]

A solution for this is also bouncing from sites that get it wrong.

Though, being unable to address the site's developers as to why you're leaving makes it a bit of a blackbox-ed gesture.

"Why aren't we keeping mobile traffic?"

"I don't know sir, maybe we need to use more viral headlines?"