Caveats: I suck at accessibility, so I am probably wrong on a lot of things.
Chrome 32 on Android removes the 300ms delay on touch events for responsive sites. This disables double-tap zoom, leaving pinch to zoom the only way to zoom content. This is an accessibility concern, as for some users double tap zoom may have been the only way they were able to zoom web pages.
For unimpaired users, a 300ms delay on link clicks/interactions with sites provides no benefit, and creates a sluggish UI. Many website owners, aware of the impacts of slow UIs, and trying to compete with native apps, used tools like FastClick to override this behaviour by removing the delay. Removing the delay at the browser level negates the need for tools like fastclick, makes chrome feel faster (competitive win for chrome I guess), and improves performance overall as fastclick has scroll performance implications.
A portion of users, who find pinch-to-zoom difficult, will now potentially be left out of the web. While businesses might not be bothered in the short term, this is clearly not a long term good for the web/society.
Chrome 30 on android has an option to force allow zooming on all sites as an accessibility option. If this still exists in Chrome 32, I'd argue this may actually be a step forewards for accessibility. Why?:
- Currently, "dumb" website owners use fast click to disable the 300ms delay: which even with "force allow zooming" enabled breaks double tap zoom.
- As the 300ms delay goes away, website owners can remove fast click, as it will be redundant, which, assuming chrome keeps "force allow zooming" will mean that double tap zoom works again.
Now, the above means that impaired users have to enable an accessibility setting to be able to use their browser, which is a bummer, but at least it puts them back in control if we get rid of hacks like fast click.
"...on touch events for responsive sites"
For the sake of clarity / pedantry, on any site that sets a viewport of width=device-width, AFAIK. This is also potentially standalone mobile / tablet experiences that are not technically responsive (i.e. the detection is on viewport mode rather than fluid layout).
"...and creates a sluggish UI."
Devil's avocado: While I agree, to an extent (losing it makes UI perceptibly faster), 300ms is barely anything. If you asked a user, it's unlikely they'd be able to put a finger on this specific delay (ba-doom-tishhhh). Sluggish is a bit strong, in my opinion.
Everyone is right
Your points stand - and perceptibly faster UI is important to close the gap with Native.
But, the fundamental issue for me, here, is that we're taking an established, cross-platform gesture already in use by impaired users, and taking it away. Combined with the potential that the user is on an OS where the application auto-updates, you end up with a pretty bad situation where one day, any site trying to serve an optimised layout suddenly can't be tap-zoomed by these users (or any users - this is not just a gesture used by less able folks). The resulting option is tucked away in a menu - how do these users know that? Not everyone tinkers in the way that we do.
At the end of the day, my issue is dicking with established patterns. There's no other browser doing this currently, and while I think the delay issue needs addressed, that shouldn't be at the expense of any user group, never mind one of the more vulnerable groups. I don't like that the Chrome team are seemingly prioritising the quick UI 'needs' of authors over the common tools available to users.