Had a client demand I move a button 72 pixels left in their app

Last Tuesday I was sitting in a coffee shop in Austin going over feedback with a guy who runs a local flower delivery startup. He pulled out a ruler, put it on his phone screen, and insisted the checkout button needed to be exactly 72 pixels to the left because it 'felt off.' I asked if he'd actually tested it with any users, and he said no, but his gut told him. I moved it, then watched him spend another 20 minutes measuring other elements with that same ruler. Has anyone else had a client who thought physical measurements on a digital screen made any sense?

2 comments

2 Comments

wrenh794h ago

A ruler on a phone screen is already funny, but that guy was using a physical ruler to measure pixels. That's like me eyeballing torque with a bathroom scale.

morgan_jenkins901h ago

Haha oh man that's wild! I once had a client who would pinch zoom in on their phone and use their finger to "measure" spacing between buttons, then tell me to make it exactly one finger-width wider. I still have no idea what that translates to in CSS.