February 20, 2026
Scrollbars on trial
I used Claude Code and GSD to build the accessibility tool I've always wanted
AI-built scroll fix gets cheers for access, jeers from “you didn’t code it” crowd
TLDR: A Mac user used AI tools to create a drag-anywhere scroll fix, making everyday computing easier. The comments split between celebrating the accessibility win, denouncing hidden scrollbars as design “sins,” and arguing whether AI-built code deserves credit—showing how usability and AI culture wars are colliding.
A Mac user with a serious mobility disability built a simple wish-come-true: a tool that lets you drag anywhere to scroll, like a phone. The twist? It was assembled with AI helpers, not hand-written code. Cue the comments section exploding. One camp is cheering the real-world win for accessibility, another is raging at modern design, and a third is side-eyeing the “AI did it” part.
The loudest voice? The anti-invisible-scrollbar squad. One commenter called the trend of hiding scrollbars a “moral” failure, and the thread ran with it—memes about “UI crimes” and jokes about designers being sent to “Scrollbar Jail.” Others accused the post of burying the lede: after thousands of words, the main point is simply “drag anywhere to scroll,” which many said should be built into macOS already. Meanwhile, the purists showed up with a classic gatekeeping vibe: nice tool, but since AI wrote most of it, what’s there to discuss? Fans clapped back that accessibility beats purity tests—if it works, it works.
Beneath the drama is a very 2026 debate: AI as a lifeline versus AI as a shortcut. The tool helps where browser add-ons fail, turning a daily pain point into a one-click fix. Expect more “vibe coding” fights—and hopefully, more usable apps link.
Key Points
- •The author’s mobility impairment makes standard scroll gestures unusable on macOS, leading them to drag the scrollbar instead.
- •ScrollAnywhere helps on many web pages but fails in reader mode, browser settings pages, and outside the browser.
- •An OS-level drag-and-scroll prototype using Apple’s Accessibility API was tried but wasn’t practical for everyday use.
- •macOS’s dwell action provides a slow but effective fallback for scrolling; CSS customization improves scrollbars in apps like Obsidian.
- •AI tools, especially GitHub Copilot in VS Code, significantly speed the author’s coding; they also use ChatGPT, Kagi, and have tried Claude Code and other AI-aided workflows.