iPad How well do you think "desktop-class" Safari on iPad will work?

[macduke]

Amazing. This is a game changer for Pros who do most of their work on the Web.
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The user agent will probably show as OSX Desktop Safari because there is no way Google Docs serves that version just by forcing request desktop.

Yeah, I never jack around with that user agent crap. If you have a big screen, big content. If you have a medium screen, medium content. If you have a small screen, small content. I don’t get why developers do this. It can’t be laziness, because it sounds harder than progressive enhancement. I always start at 320 and my scss gets easier each time I move up to phablet, tablet, small desktop/large tablet, and large desktop.

 

[duffyanneal]

So far I've tested Hulu & Netflix, they both allow videos to be played in Safari on new iPadOS. Not even redirecting me to the app. However Prime Videos throws up an error. This is on iPad Pro 10.5. Gonna keep testing sites but so far haven't found any issues and seems to be true desktop Safari, maybe can save on app space now...

YouTube looks great as well. It’s been a while since I’ve watched YT in a desktop class browser.

 

[haruhiko]

It is when iOS' browser identifies itself as an iOS device. All the browser has to do is identify itself as macOS by default then the user can "Request Mobile Site" when needed. Most desktop sites work for touch devices.

A simple toggle in safari settings: Request Desktop Sites by default Yes/No

Other iOS browsers seem to have figured it out (for example Puffin)

Done.

Nope. User agent string doesn't mean anything. Even if you enabled Request Desktop Site, some websites just ignore the browser string settings, and provide you with a mobile version when your resolution is lower than a certain point. For example, the iPad Pro 12.9 inch always displays the desktop version but the 10.5 inch and the 11-inch do not.

 

[handheldgames]

I had to ask... Why are we discussing iPadOS in the iOS forums?

 

[duffyanneal]

I had to ask... Why are we discussing iPadOS in the iOS forums?

I don’t see an iPadOS forum. Not sure if there is enough of a difference at this point to justify one.

 

[dingclancy23]

I just worry how they can handle memory with a desktop class Safari. These browsers are known to take all the memory that is available and these web apps can really push for more memory. Probably, tabs that are out of memory will be force closed just like in iOS 12 which is a small bummer.

 

[dk001]

Nope. User agent string doesn't mean anything. Even if you enabled Request Desktop Site, some websites just ignore the browser string settings, and provide you with a mobile version when your resolution is lower than a certain point. For example, the iPad Pro 12.9 inch always displays the desktop version but the 10.5 inch and the 11-inch do not.

IPP 12.9 always? G2 here.
Not so. Especially if you are visiting a video player site. The same also applies to other sites.
Wish it did.

 

[JT2002TJ]

Nope. User agent string doesn't mean anything. Even if you enabled Request Desktop Site, some websites just ignore the browser string settings, and provide you with a mobile version when your resolution is lower than a certain point. For example, the iPad Pro 12.9 inch always displays the desktop version but the 10.5 inch and the 11-inch do not.

I have a iPP 12.9 and many sites still display mobile even after requesting desktop site. This is because it initially provided me mobile, and it remembered the request.

User agent string does mean a lot. It is how majority of websites identify what browser/platform you are on.

When it returns "Safari 12.1 on iOS 12.3" and "Apple iPhone" it is now up to the web developer to use or ignore that. If you have the ability to make this return the same thing that macOS does, you will get the desktop site most of the time...

When Requesting desktop site the same iphone returns "Safari 12.1 on macOS (Mojave)" If it started with that, and had the option of "Requesting Mobile Site" users who have issues would have significantly less of them. Especially if Apple made it a choice in settings where the user could choose.

I have never had an issue using Puffin with the "Request Desktop Site" switch turned on all the time. When I have safari issues, I open up Puffin, and have it work properly.

 

[profets]

It works remarkably well for all of the Google sites (Analytics, Docs, etc.) - will play around with SquareSpace soon. Any other recommendations?

I noticed this as well. Another site I could never really use was Quickbooks Online. Significant improvement and am now able to use most of it (what I’ve tried so far anyway).

In general I guess the tricky part is websites that make use of cursor hover. Hard to replicate that with touch.

It is when iOS' browser identifies itself as an iOS device. All the browser has to do is identify itself as macOS by default then the user can "Request Mobile Site" when needed. Most desktop sites work for touch devices.

A simple toggle in safari settings: Request Desktop Sites by default Yes/No

Other iOS browsers seem to have figured it out (for example Puffin)

Done.

Maybe I’m mis-remembering but I could have sworn I heard them say that Safari will now identify itself as macOS Safari.

 

[vbctv]

Maybe I’m mis-remembering but I could have sworn I heard them say that Safari will now identify itself as macOS Safari.

No you heard correctly but it doesn't mean it always will, it could just be until they get everyone on board and then call it a user agent like iPad Safari or something...

Currently it shows up as
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/13.0 Safari/605.1.15

 

[musicpenguy]

Even in the past if you told sites you were a Mac or Windows computer in iCab it wouldn’t change enough to make sites usable on the iPad, so besides user agent stuff Apple must of done stuff to make the rendering work too.

 

[eoblaed]

The speed is insane.

But Dark Mode is poorly implemented. Doesn’t even work with Safari let alone third party apps.

Web page developers will always have control over the color palette of their own websites. Dark Mode isn't going to suddenly turn the web dark.

Same with third party apps. They need to have time to implement the new APIs (if they even want to).

 

[aakshey]

Web page developers will always have control over the color palette of their own websites. Dark Mode isn't going to suddenly turn the web dark.

Same with third party apps. They need to have time to implement the new APIs (if they even want to).

Dark mode should have been a better Smart Invert. But it’s not.

 

[vbctv]

Web page developers will always have control over the color palette of their own websites. Dark Mode isn't going to suddenly turn the web dark.

Same with third party apps. They need to have time to implement the new APIs (if they even want to).

Use can use CSS to make your web page dark in dark mode or light in light mode. It's a simple query code. I implemented it several months ago on my site. And Safari on both iOS 13 & iPadOS support this feature.

 

[sniffies]

Safari on iPad in iOS 13 is as bad as it's ever been. Just reopened Safari after idling for a while, and all 3 tabs reloaded. Hate when this happens.

 

[perezr10]

Can you sign into iCloud.com like on a Mac?

 

[profets]

Can you sign into iCloud.com like on a Mac?

Good question! And hah, no! They still treat it like an iOS device. Damn, and even the request desktop site no longer works.

 

[perezr10]

It’s embarrassing that Apples own website won’t work with the new desktop class Safari.

 

[perezr10]

Holy Crap. It looks like iCloud.com is now working on the iPad Safari. You’ll get a message that it’s in beta, but it now lets you proceed.

 

[Feenician]

Holy Crap. It looks like iCloud.com is now working on the iPad Safari. You’ll get a message that it’s in beta, but it now lets you proceed.

Fantastic. Seems like quite a lot of the controls in Pages don't work yet (spinner controls and textboxes for example) but I'm sure they're chipping away at it.

 

[dk001]

Holy Crap. It looks like iCloud.com is now working on the iPad Safari. You’ll get a message that it’s in beta, but it now lets you proceed.

Are they changing the functionality or just masking it to work with specific Apple items?
I hope it is the underlying functionlity.

 

[musicpenguy]

So one thing that sadly still doesn’t work is Google Hangouts Live - perhaps it needs Adobe Flash? -

 

[perezr10]

Are they changing the functionality or just masking it to work with specific Apple items?
I hope it is the underlying functionlity.

It looks like only certain things are available via iCloud.com on the iPad. For instance, Apple News Publisher is not available on the iPad. But it is on the Mac.

 

[Feenician]

Just noticed Hulu now works in Safari

 

[jjk454ss]

I like the desktop sites for the most part, but on eBay for example, when you try the drop down menus to sort items they don’t do anything. I hope this doesn’t force me to start installing apps for sites that don’t work in Safari anymore.