How to get into a Zoom meeting in a web browser if the fucking assholes won’t give you the option.
For years, I’ve just pasted my meeting link into a browser, and when the stupid join link doesn’t summon the desktop app (because it’s not installed!), the page would then present a tiny, hard to see but thankwhatever usable “join from your browser” link. Suddenly I found myself stranded, forced to use the app – or so it seemed.
I’m an old hand at URL dissection, so I tried ripping the bloody bits out and pasting them in where indicated.
First, copy the link and paste it into a text editor (Notepad, whatever) so you can see it easily and split it up.
The link discombobulates thus:
https://whatever-zoom-whatever/ [+] string-of-characters [+] ?pwd= [+] string-of-characters
The first “string-of-characters” is the meeting ID; the second is the passcode.
Log in to Zoom in a suitable web browser, go to the “WebApp” link in the upper right corner of the page, and enter the separate parts in the appropriate fields.
I loathe Zoom. Everything about it is deplorable, but the desktop app is the last word in shitty usability.
First of all, if you don’t have perfect eyesight, it’s a tiny-font torture chamber. You can change the font size for one feature that I never use, but the control labels, the chat, settings – NOTHING is readable.
Second, the window behavior! Uncontrollable narcissism! It doesn’t act like a normal window. If minimized, it becomes a little floater that can’t be gotten out of the way. If you use multiple desktop workspaces, and want to jump into another workspace to check on something else, the Zoom cr-app becomes a little floater and follows you around. Biggen it up again and you’re stuck with it in the wrong workspace unless you perform extraordinary shenanigans. It will NOT stay put in a designated workspace. That for crapsake is what workspaces are for – to to keep things separate, right?
So that’s why I prefer the browser interface. It Stays. Where. I. Put. It! The font size can be freely changed. It just, you know, works.
#FuckZoom