Orientation lock

Silktide checks that your pages don't force visitors to hold their device a particular way. A page should work in both portrait and landscape, because some people cannot rotate their screen.

Two common patterns lock a page's orientation: code that calls the browser's orientation-lock feature, and styles that hide the whole page with a "please rotate your device" message until the device is turned.

Why this matters

Many people physically cannot rotate their device: a tablet mounted on a wheelchair, a phone in a fixed stand, or a screen attached to hardware is often installed in one orientation permanently. Others have limited grip or motor control that makes rotating a device difficult. For these visitors, a page that insists on one orientation is simply unusable - they see a blank screen or a rotate prompt they can never satisfy.

How to fix it

Remove code that locks orientation, such as calls to screen.orientation.lock():

// Problem: forces landscape and fails for users who cannot rotate
screen.orientation.lock("landscape");

Remove styles that blank the page in one orientation:

/* Problem: hides everything until the device is rotated */
@media (orientation: portrait) {
  body { display: none; }
}

Instead, design the layout to adapt to both orientations. Orientation media queries are fine for adjusting layout - just never for hiding the page.

How Silktide tests this

Examine the scripts embedded in each page, and report any that call an orientation-lock function such as screen.orientation.lock() or the older lockOrientation().
Examine the styles embedded in each page, and report any orientation media query that hides the entire page by setting display: none on the page body.
Styles that merely adapt the layout per orientation are not reported - is not a lock.

Troubleshooting

My orientation lock is in an external file

Silktide examines the scripts and styles embedded in the page itself. A lock applied from a separate script or stylesheet file is not detected, but it affects visitors just the same - the guidance above still applies.

My content genuinely needs one orientation

A few things are essential in one orientation - a piano app or a bank check scanner, for example. If yours qualifies, you can the finding.