It would be crazy to ignore 10% of the user base--to provide them no means to use your product or some features therein. However, it's not crazy to reprioritize their preferences. This happens all the time, and rightly so--if you can choose between delivering real functional value for a supermajority of users or cater to usability preferences of 10% of users, the former should win every time.
Note also the distinction between "prefers scrollbar" and "touched the scrollbar at all". At most 10% of users prefer scroll bar; the parent only claimed that 10% of users touched the scroll bar at all.
if you can choose between delivering real functional value for a supermajority of users or cater to usability preferences of 10% of users, the former should win every time
Not "every" time. I work in healthcare. I don't have the luxury of leaving ANYONE out.
I'm talking about preferences, not accessibility requirements. And healthcare is one of the most dramatic examples of giving no shits about preferences (I also work in healthcare, but on the provider side, not the consumer side)--my major hospital chain's web portal deliberately breaks on browsers (and versions) that it doesn't explicitly support. You certainly don't have to support scrollbars unless they're billed as an accessibility requirement.
Healthcare is certainly a "fun" space, but catering to scrollbar purists isn't usually part of the gig. :)
> I'm talking about preferences, not accessibility requirements.
It's not clear to me that those two things are neatly separated. I have a ~25th percentile visual memory - my brain does very poorly having to process and retain images, but text is very easy. I can, eventually, navigate visually, but at a much higher energy cost than the average. Is my affinity for text a preference or an accessibility concern?
I wouldn’t be surprised if some tiny portion of the population could legitimately claim an accessibility reason for scrollbars, however tenuous. But certainly not 10% or even 10% of 10%. Further, “accessibility requirements” refers to explicit, medically diagnosed issues not speculation about a preferences vs needs continuum. Moreover, as previously mentioned, accessibility requirements are out of scope—the assumption is that we’re talking about (at most) 10% of users who have a simple preference or custom for scrollbars. If we’re talking about accessibility the calculus is different, but that’s a distinct topic for another thread.
Note also the distinction between "prefers scrollbar" and "touched the scrollbar at all". At most 10% of users prefer scroll bar; the parent only claimed that 10% of users touched the scroll bar at all.