tech

How to fix: Viewport meta strict (no user-scalable=no)

Why this matters

Beyond just having the viewport tag, the content string matters. user-scalable=no and maximum-scale=1 both disable pinch-zoom — a WCAG 2.1.4 accessibility violation AND a Google mobile-usability error.

Background

user-scalable=no and maximum-scale=1 both disable pinch-zoom — a WCAG 2.1.4 accessibility violation AND a Google mobile-usability error.

References

WCAG 2.1.4 · Google mobile usability errors

How to fix

Code snippet for each stack we cover. Pick the one matching your server / framework.

nginx

No server config.

apache

Same.

cloudflare

Same.

wordpress

Edit your theme's header.php — change the viewport meta to: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

flask

Same — base template edit.

express

Same.

rails

Same.

Verify it's working

View source. Should see exactly one viewport meta, content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" — no user-scalable=no.

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