There is still a need to indicate progress when scrolling even with a mouse wheel. So scroll bars are designed with that in mind. And there is still occasion that you may want to use it to brag the bar to a specific part of a page. But this is fairly rare, because how do you know what part of a page you want to go to before you've seen it?

Currently on my Firefox there is indeed no scrollbar displayed. If I use my mouse wheel a thin version appears to indicate progress while scrolling. If I move my mouse to the edge of the screen a wider version appears which is easier to interface with on the rare occasion I want to do that. This is an optimal interface given the hardware I have available.

On a phone or table the scrollbar will not be interacted with my clicking on it. It only appears to indicate progress.

The old scrollbar design is obsolete. Doesn't make any sense on touchscreens and is a waste of screen space on desktops since people have scroll wheels now.

Obsolete doesn't mean it no longer works, a horse and carriage still functions after all. Obsolete simply means there's more optimal options available because of improvements in technology. The scrollbar on Firefox right now is more optimal because of newer technology. The scrollbars pictured are obsolete no matter how much nostalgia you might feel for them.

[–] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

My friend, obsolescence as a concept can apply to a functional necessity. Obsolete doesn't apply to a design choice like a texture on a window element.

If your entire point is that scroll bars aren't necessary anymore, fine. If you're going to type up a long winded response as to why scroll bars shouldn't have the little lines on them anymore, you're just being pedantic.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I've explained to you the decision making process that's used when changing UI elements. If you're so dedicated to being a curmudgeon to learn about why technology changes, that's your decision.

[–] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What I'm telling you is that it's literally a visual element. I already said, it could be optional. Professing it as some sort of inevitably of ui change is just as stubborn.

Frankly, you're coming off quite hostile about what is literally a texture. Equating this whole line of reasoning to "this is why technology changes" feels like grandstanding to justify defending an obscure ui decision for no other reason than you just prefer it.

Which by itself is fine. You're allowed to prefer modern design ui. It starts getting ridiculous when you decide to tell other people why their preferences are wrong.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 0 points 8 months ago

Frankly, you’re coming off quite hostile about what is literally a texture.

So it's acceptable for you to call me a pedant, but I'm crossing the line when I say you're being a curmudgeon? Ok.

What I’m telling you is that it’s literally a visual element. I already said, it could be optional.

It could be, but maintaining multiple designs isn't free. To keep them all involves additional QA and bugfixes for every release and designing an interface to allow a selecting different designs. There's a cost to this, and why bother? As you say it's literally a texture, not a big deal. What's your justification for a development team to put time and effort to maintain some old designs that are no longer optimal?

And this is a microcosm of all interactions with technology. Some people simply don't like change, even when there's good reason for the changes. Every technological improvement no matter how big or small comes with reactions similar to yours. It's best not to impede technological improvements to please curmudgeons, because there's no pleasing them. You can decide to be angry over every minor improvement in technology, but that's just deciding to be angry for petty reasons. It's best to try to understand technological changes rather than always being angry over them.

I mean you're still upset over a change in the look of scrollbar, even after the reasons for the changes were explained. There are much bigger changes in technology coming, not sure how you're going to handle it if a scrollbar change bothers you.