@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org thank you for the elaborate response. But I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding. I have no problem with zooming in general. The problem is, I have good peripheral vision and am kind of trained to take in my surroundings in an instant (which may not be quite normal ...), so being presented the whole story at once can ruin the punchline for me.
That's why I actually intentionally directly zoom in and then pan in Z order, to enjoy the story in sequence. But that's kind of annoying - I would rather just swipe.
But the thing with the non-guaranteed order and 16:9 thumbnails is of course bad.
For the record, I use the Mastodon app Tusky on a 6 inch phone.