4 ms·

Safari Mobile is a broken mess not worth supporting.

by oauea 6y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
Since Safari (and WebKit) are the only available Web-rendering engine for iOS and iPadOS (and the default one for MacOS), it's kind of important to be able to at least render usefully on it.
donatj 6y ago
I think by the nature of being the second most used browser, it's worth supporting. You don't have to like supporting it however. https://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php https://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  Shades of IE6 Stockholm syndrome.
  - derefr 6y ago
    Very different problems. Many ISVs were stuck supporting IE6 for so long—long after it went into single-digit percentage usage—not out of some vague fear that someone, somewhere still used it; but because the particular moribund enterprise clients that they wanted to sell into still used it. (Otherwise, IE6 would have been just another irrelevant minority browser, like Opera.) Mobile Safari, meanwhile, is "still" used by 25% of people; but more importantly, iOS is used by 26% of people (52% in North America!), and those people can't actually get any other renderer than WKWebView, whether they use Safari or not.
    - donatj 6y ago
      The IE6 problem is the same reason I'm currently stuck supporting IE11. The vague fear that we don't want to cut off like 3% of our users.
- oauea 6y ago
  It's impossible to test for without buying expensive hardware, so I'll pass.
  - erichocean 6y ago
    A used iPod Touch is $35, the same price as a Raspberry Pi. Is a Raspberry Pi "expensive hardware"?
    - oauea 6y ago
      Right, I'll put "Designed for used iPod Touch" in the footer then.
      - 00deadbeef 6y ago
        If the browser is the same what difference would it make?
  - 00deadbeef 6y ago
    Use a service like browserstack
speedgoose 6y ago
From a business point of view, it makes sense to waste a few days once in a while to support it. But sometimes you can't support it without huge hacks like implementing everything on CPU with WebAssemply. For example MediaSource is disabled on Safari for iPhones (but enabled since a few months for iPads). I think the only reason is to force developers to publish apps in the AppStore. Which is a pain.
irrational 6y ago
But it is the only browser on iOS (even if you install another browser, under the hood it MUST use the safari rendering engine, so all browser use on iOS is really Safari). Not supporting means you are not supporting any iPhone or iPad user. You might be anti-apple in your personal technology choices, but can you be anti-apple for whoever you work for?
- Mirioron 6y ago
  If you're outside of the US then the answer can easily be "yes". I don't recommend it though.
letitbeirie 6y ago
Said that about IE5 in 1999. Didn't work out for me.
coldtea 6y ago
What problem exactly you have?
fouc 6y ago
If Safari was your main browser during your web development you wouldn't have any issues would you? Realistically people should be using either Safari or Firefox during their development. Then check for chrome compatibility after.
- andoriyu 6y ago
  Pretty sure you can just use Firefox and then check in Safari and Chrome. It's pretty hard to make a website for firefox that will be broken in any modern browser...

Safari Mobile is a broken mess not worth supporting.

by oauea 6y ago

Safari Mobile is a broken mess not worth supporting.

Since Safari (and WebKit) are the only available Web-rendering engine for iOS and iPadOS (and the default one for MacOS), it's kind of important to be able to at least render usefully on it.

donatj 6y ago

I think by the nature of being the second most used browser, it's worth supporting. You don't have to like supporting it however. https://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php https://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
Shades of IE6 Stockholm syndrome.
- derefr 6y ago
  Very different problems. Many ISVs were stuck supporting IE6 for so long—long after it went into single-digit percentage usage—not out of some vague fear that someone, somewhere still used it; but because the particular moribund enterprise clients that they wanted to sell into still used it. (Otherwise, IE6 would have been just another irrelevant minority browser, like Opera.) Mobile Safari, meanwhile, is "still" used by 25% of people; but more importantly, iOS is used by 26% of people (52% in North America!), and those people can't actually get any other renderer than WKWebView, whether they use Safari or not.
  - donatj 6y ago
    The IE6 problem is the same reason I'm currently stuck supporting IE11. The vague fear that we don't want to cut off like 3% of our users.
oauea 6y ago
It's impossible to test for without buying expensive hardware, so I'll pass.
- erichocean 6y ago
  A used iPod Touch is $35, the same price as a Raspberry Pi. Is a Raspberry Pi "expensive hardware"?
  - oauea 6y ago
    Right, I'll put "Designed for used iPod Touch" in the footer then.
    - 00deadbeef 6y ago
      If the browser is the same what difference would it make?
- 00deadbeef 6y ago
  Use a service like browserstack

speedgoose 6y ago

From a business point of view, it makes sense to waste a few days once in a while to support it. But sometimes you can't support it without huge hacks like implementing everything on CPU with WebAssemply. For example MediaSource is disabled on Safari for iPhones (but enabled since a few months for iPads). I think the only reason is to force developers to publish apps in the AppStore. Which is a pain.

irrational 6y ago

But it is the only browser on iOS (even if you install another browser, under the hood it MUST use the safari rendering engine, so all browser use on iOS is really Safari). Not supporting means you are not supporting any iPhone or iPad user. You might be anti-apple in your personal technology choices, but can you be anti-apple for whoever you work for?

Mirioron 6y ago
If you're outside of the US then the answer can easily be "yes". I don't recommend it though.

letitbeirie 6y ago

Said that about IE5 in 1999. Didn't work out for me.

coldtea 6y ago

What problem exactly you have?

fouc 6y ago

If Safari was your main browser during your web development you wouldn't have any issues would you? Realistically people should be using either Safari or Firefox during their development. Then check for chrome compatibility after.

andoriyu 6y ago
Pretty sure you can just use Firefox and then check in Safari and Chrome. It's pretty hard to make a website for firefox that will be broken in any modern browser...