[whatwg] Forcing orientation in content

[Tobie Langel]

On Friday, July 12, 2013 at 9:45 PM, Ian Hickson wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Apr 2013, David Bruant wrote:
> > Currently working on a web project where tablet support (iPad 
> > especially) is important, I'm facing a need which apparently the 
> > platform doesn't support. I would need to lock the screen in landscape 
> > mode.
> 
> Why? As a user on desktop, I can resize my window however I want, to be 
> landscape or portrait. Why wouldn't I be allowed to do the same on any 
> other device?

It is not uncommon for mobile experiences to rely on the accelerometer as an input mechanism, for example to control page scrolling (e.g. Instapaper) or for gameplay.

In such cases, auto-rotation of the viewport is completely disruptive to the user's experience and needs to be inhibited.

So this isn't so much about forcing orientation as it is about inhibiting auto-rotation. 

Your desktop comparison is inadequate, as there aren't comparable auto-rotation mechanisms there.

--tobie