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The iPad Pro will become a viable "pro" device when they finally stop artificially holding it back by not allowing a full version of Safari. Edit: and of cours

The iPad Pro will become a viable "pro" device when they finally stop artificially holding it back by not allowing a full version of Safari. Edit: and of course mouse/trackpad support

FPGAhacker 8y ago
What’s missing?
- ddoolin 8y ago
  Developer tooling on-device, for one.
  - k__ 8y ago
    Yes, Xcode would be awesome.
- reustle 8y ago
  It is the iOS version of Safari instead of the desktop version. Sites often opt for showing the mobile version.
  - kitsunesoba 8y ago
    This is fairly easily worked around for sites that look at the user agent — just build a browser app around WKWebView and set its user agent to that of desktop Safari, and boom, you’ve got desktop versions of most sites. There are a few that judge which version to deliver based on screen resolution + OS, but this can sometimes be worked around by injecting some JS to force use of desktop stylesheets. There’s probably some kind of trickery you could use to spoof screen resolution if needed, too.
    - graeme 8y ago
      Icab mobile does this. It's good. The problem is, safari is better for a lot of things, and also has native adblocker integration. Would be better to be able to designate a desktop user agent in safari as well.
      - kitsunesoba 8y ago
        WKWebViews support the same JSON content blocking lists that Safari uses for its content blocking extensions, so while you can’t support the same extensions as Safari you could at least bundle block lists with the app.
        graeme 8y ago
        By "you" you're referring to icab's developer and not me, right? Firefox focus is the only third party browser I know of that has a native content blocker.
  - briandear 8y ago
    Why are user agents used at all? Isn’t responsive supposed to end all of that?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- jonhendry18 8y ago
  RAM. Swap space.
nl 8y ago
Isn't it literally a full version of Safari, just a different (and correct) user agent? So really it's a site's use of user agent rather than media queries which is breaking things for you?
- reustle 8y ago
  I attempted to use an iPad pro as a primary device for a few weeks. It seemed to be more than just the user agent. Things were rendered wrong, it seems some browser defaults we're also different so if the site developers assumed they were there, it looked funny. Switching to "request desktop site" wasn't always a solution
  - thirdsun 8y ago
    I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're arguing against responsive webdesign. Any decent website should look exactly the same on the iPad and a desktop window of equal size. If it doesn't, the developer rather than the browser is to blame.
    - kkarakk 8y ago
      the problem is that most websites want things to look "exactly" a certain way and use responsive to hit you with this jackboot. it is genuinely painful to use some sites like reddit nowadays coz of the wasted space
      - thirdsun 8y ago
        There will always be different user expectations and, unfortunately, plain bad design decisions. Reddit's new design probably belongs in that category. I don't see how that is Safari's problem to solve. The original claim was that Safari on iOS isn't a "full" browser, which I can't agree with.

The iPad Pro will become a viable "pro" device when they finally stop artificially holding it back by not allowing a full version of Safari. Edit: and of course mouse/trackpad support

FPGAhacker 8y ago

What’s missing?

ddoolin 8y ago
Developer tooling on-device, for one.
- k__ 8y ago
  Yes, Xcode would be awesome.
reustle 8y ago
It is the iOS version of Safari instead of the desktop version. Sites often opt for showing the mobile version.
- kitsunesoba 8y ago
  This is fairly easily worked around for sites that look at the user agent — just build a browser app around WKWebView and set its user agent to that of desktop Safari, and boom, you’ve got desktop versions of most sites. There are a few that judge which version to deliver based on screen resolution + OS, but this can sometimes be worked around by injecting some JS to force use of desktop stylesheets. There’s probably some kind of trickery you could use to spoof screen resolution if needed, too.
  - graeme 8y ago
    Icab mobile does this. It's good. The problem is, safari is better for a lot of things, and also has native adblocker integration. Would be better to be able to designate a desktop user agent in safari as well.
    - kitsunesoba 8y ago
      WKWebViews support the same JSON content blocking lists that Safari uses for its content blocking extensions, so while you can’t support the same extensions as Safari you could at least bundle block lists with the app.
      - graeme 8y ago
        By "you" you're referring to icab's developer and not me, right? Firefox focus is the only third party browser I know of that has a native content blocker.
- briandear 8y ago
  Why are user agents used at all? Isn’t responsive supposed to end all of that?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
jonhendry18 8y ago
RAM. Swap space.

nl 8y ago

Isn't it literally a full version of Safari, just a different (and correct) user agent? So really it's a site's use of user agent rather than media queries which is breaking things for you?

reustle 8y ago
I attempted to use an iPad pro as a primary device for a few weeks. It seemed to be more than just the user agent. Things were rendered wrong, it seems some browser defaults we're also different so if the site developers assumed they were there, it looked funny. Switching to "request desktop site" wasn't always a solution
- thirdsun 8y ago
  I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're arguing against responsive webdesign. Any decent website should look exactly the same on the iPad and a desktop window of equal size. If it doesn't, the developer rather than the browser is to blame.
  - kkarakk 8y ago
    the problem is that most websites want things to look "exactly" a certain way and use responsive to hit you with this jackboot. it is genuinely painful to use some sites like reddit nowadays coz of the wasted space
    - thirdsun 8y ago
      There will always be different user expectations and, unfortunately, plain bad design decisions. Reddit's new design probably belongs in that category. I don't see how that is Safari's problem to solve. The original claim was that Safari on iOS isn't a "full" browser, which I can't agree with.