WordPress/gutenberg

NumberControl: Disable dragging on touch devices

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#38865 opened on Feb 16, 2022

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Good First Issue[Package] Components[Status] In Progress[Type] Bug

Description

The drag-to-change-value gesture will not work nicely on touch devices unless we disable browser scrolling with touch-action: none.

There is a separate question of whether we really want this dragging gesture on touch devices, because there is no cursor affordance like on desktop. It’s also pretty easy to accidentally flick and change the value, when you just want to tap/move the caret or something.

I’m inclined to disable the drag gesture on touch devices.

Tested on iPhone (Mobile mode in DevTools has different behavior)

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptreactcss
Domain
frontend
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Knowledge of React componentsCSS touch action propertyUnderstanding of touch events
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
80
Research direction
Look into the NumberControl component in the Gutenberg repository, likely in packages/components/src/number control/. The issue suggests adding `touch action: none` to disable browser scrolling during drag, and potentially conditionally disabling the drag gesture on touch devices. Check the existing event handlers and CSS for the component. The issue mentions using `use gesture` library, so examine how the drag event is set up. A maintainer may have additional input in the comments.