Why is resizing the browser window bad practice?

Question

I asked how I can resize the browser window with JavaScript. Everybody told me not to do it. Why is this a bad practice?

I think sometimes it can be good. For example, I want to show users a tweeting popup page. After a user tweeted, I want to redirect him to twitter main page to let him verify his tweet. But tweeting page is small and main page should be big. In this case, making the browser window bigger seems good for user. Am I wrong? Then how should I do in this case?

Update

I think I need to make somethings clear.

1. I also don't want my browser to be resized. Resizing users' browser is usually bad. What I want to know is that there could be some case it can be good.
2. I also don't like popups. But as @zzzBov said, pop-outs are different. That is used in many websites even in Stack Exchange(You can see share buttons under the favorite button). I don't think it would be better if those buttons were jQuery modal dialog.

And, JavaScript resizeTo function can resize the browser. When I tested that function, it works well in browsers but Chrome. In Chrome, it works just in popups. I might be wrong, but I guess Chrome team also may thought that the resizeTo function would be needed in popups.

Update2

Most people just don't want the method resizeTo to be used anytime and anywhere. I think if that method were totally evil and useless, the browsers vendors had already disabled that method, but they didn't.

In Chrome and Opera, the resizeTo method is available just in popups, and in Firefox users can disable it manually. I'm sure that one should be very careful when using the method. But I believe this method can be useful in some case.

Answer 1

I feel like everyone just read the title and not the whole question. He's specifically asking about the case of a popup window.

A very common practice in UI/UX is to use a popup window when the current application is interacting with another one. Think of submitting small bits of information like sharing the current page or even more common, logging into another service.

Flickr does it when signing in with a Google Account and even this page does it when sharing a question.

I would think, that the user would prefer to stay on the current page and have a little window pop up that lets them log into Facebook for example. They can still see they're at the site they want to be at in the background, but just interacting with another one, and then the small window closes when there's a successful submission. Why redirect them to a whole new full window page?

In this case; sizing only the pop up, but not the main screen, is perfectly acceptable. There's no need to have a full screen window when there's only two text fields and a submit button.

• Resizing current user window = Bad
• Resizing temporary pop up window to make it less invasive = Perfectly Acceptable
• Using jQuery UI to create in page pop ups, may be better but how different is that really? (UX wise)

Answer 2

You shouldn't do anything that overrides what the user has previously chosen. Your application is hosted inside the browser windows. It doesn't own the browser window therefore it shouldn't do anything to it.

The same logic dictates that you shouldn't override any browser behaviour such as the back button.

In fact you shouldn't force the windows of your own application to change size. The user has chosen the size and placement of the window for their own reasons which you don't know.

The user won't expect your application to change the size or position of the window - therefore it follows the principle of least astonishment to do nothing.

"People are part of the system. The design should match the user's experience, expectations, and mental models."

Answer 3

You're taking control away from the user. For example; If the twitter page changes the browser to a small window and they then change their mind before actually tweeting and choose the 'back' browser button they're then left with a small window and have to sort it out themselves back to a size they want it to be.

It's also unexpected behaviour; you don't want to surprise them by having the window do something they don't expect. Users are suspicious when the browser takes over so you risk them closing it down thinking 'a virus has taken control of my pc'.

Answer 4

Don't move my cheese!

I have my windows expertly arranged on my multiple widescreen monitors, so I have a few non-maximise browsers (to avoid wasted space from some sites at the side). The last thing I want to happen is for you to resize my browser and all of its tabs to a size that you feel is appropriate.

Other less web-saavy consumers of your website may be spooked by it doing it I guess, and could possibly keep the window that size forever (as they may be unaware of how to change the size).

Answer 5

If you want to do a popup, consider jquery UI modal dialogs. Same effect, no popup window, no resizing neccessary.

Answer 6

Many users have multiple windows open at one time (some on multiple screens), and resizing can really mess with the layout. Additionally, most internet use (at least in my personal experience) invloves multiple open tabs. Resizing the browser window will affect not just your application, but the other tabs in the window as well. Lastly, it's just plain annoying when the browser window suddenly changes on its own.

Answer 7

The reason why you must not do it has nothing to do with users owning their webpage rather than the page itself.

If you do, however, you won't just modify the state of your web app. You will modify the state of all web apps that the user has open.

Before browser tabs existed, this was not an issue. Each web app had its own window, so resizing the window did not affect other web apps.

Because of tabs, resizing the window means that other tabs will be resized, too. Apart from a lot of computation from the browser, which may make it hang (indeed, resizing a page causes a recalculation of the render tree, every time the browser has a resize[1]...), it may also annoy the user, because he might have resized the window to fit perfectly on another web app.

[1] The reason I emphasize this is that I once was on a page which found it amusing to slowly resize the window from nearly a dot to fullscreen. That was awful, and certainly not impressive.

Answer 8

Sometimes small windows are required but these should be implemented using javascript or some framework based on it, say jQuery. You should always stick to working within the window provided by the browser and never try to resize it. I would dare to say it is like trying to change the resolution of the desktop because you will resize the window for all the other tabs.

Furthermore, these days you cannot assume your users are using a traditional computer with keyboard and mouse, alt-tabbing and what not. What if a user is accessing your site using an iPad / Android / mobile device. Launching a new window and resizing (not even possible on some platforms) would completely destroy the user experience / flow.

You should treat the window in which your web site/application is loaded as your only available space, and work within its confines.

Answer 9

Personally, if you resize the browser or do anything that gets in my way I will close your page and banlist it on my firewall to make sure I never come across it again, not even by mistake.

"In this case, making the browser window bigger seems good for user." <- Anything that "seems good for the user" is inherently wrong. Let the user choose what's best for them.

Answer 10

My browser can only remember one intermediate size.

I can jump from intermediate to maximized and back, to minimized and back, and maximized->minimized->intermediate. But not between 2 different intermediate sizes.

So if I choosed an intermediate size, and it is some work to adjust my window, and somebody chooses a different size, my work is lost, and I get very angry on the page, forcing me to work more.

Answer 11

The other answers have missed one vital fact: links in a popup can be set to open in the original window! If your popup is loading another page that should be full-screen, you can open it in the window that spawned the popup, and close the popup at the same time. See Example 4 here for details.

It's also worth noting that ignoring size, a popup window is still not the same as a normal browser window. Popups are isolated, plain windows without browser functionality like address bar, toolbars, back/forward buttons and so on. Resizing a popup to a full screen window is not an acceptable replacement for opening a page in a normal window.

Answer 12

Yes, you are wrong.

Imagine I have a video playing on the right on my screen. Imagine your small Twitter window enlarges itself, and it comes in front of the video. What will I do ? First, I will make back the Twitter window small. Then, I will choose to use a Web browser who does not allow pages to do that. Indeed, I have several Web browsers who respect me : they do not allow pages to enlarge themselves. Web browsers will be more and more like this. Users have won. The era of the all-mighty Web page is over.

The window is small. OK. Then there is more content in the window. If the user wants to see the full content, the user decides to enlarge the window. It is easy. There are scrollbars that show the user that there is more content. But the user does what s/he wants. Maybe the user is not interested in seeing more. Maybe the user is not interested at all in this content.

And popup windows are bad. Always. I forbid them all.

Answer 13

It's bad practice when your user is human.

When your user is a virtual framebuffer, it's different. In automated testing we often need to work with windows of specific sizes to ensure that elements and events and interactions are being captured and processed in a consistent manner.

It is extremely inconvenient to get the operating system to change resolution on the framebuffer, you have to leave whatever environment you're working and automating in and move down and trigger automatic commands at operating system level. Much better to simply resize the (virtual) browser window and continue.

Problem is, most browsers don't allow this because it interferes with the "user experience". Which means that users are exposed to non-working sites or sites that don't run at unusual screen resolutions / dimensions / ratios.