[thelist] iPhone (browser) detection

[Ben Dyer]

Here's a useful article about how JavaScript plays on iPhone:
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2008/08/iphone_events.html

As for the original question about separate iPhone sites, I'm not a
fan of them on my iPhone.  They tend to be poor, information-deficient
versions of their parent sites.  And they tend to annoy me even more
because the iPhone is usually more than capable of viewing most
websites.  The mobile Twitter site, for example, omits their
narcissistic statistical data.  You can click over to the standard
version, but it never preserves your choice.  Load it up again, and
you're back on the mobile site.  The mobile NBC site is another
classic blunder.  If you are going to a particular page on the iPhone,
it will automatically redirect you to their main mobile page.
Completely unacceptable.  Especially if I clicked on a link and I'm
not sure where I was supposed to be going.

One thing that will help iPhones view your content, however, is the
viewport meta tag.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=780" />

That will specify the default viewing area for your site for the
iPhone.  I've found that to be a lot more helpful for iPhone display
than mobile-specific sites.

--Ben

On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 6:35 PM, Erika <ekm at seastorm.com> wrote:
> Hi Benjamin,
>
> I didn't say "not working," but "not the same"... I meant elements and
> events.. I realize this isn't a full user test, but for *me*, WIDE form
> elements (for example) can hinder usability on iPhone, when they are no
> problem on a desk top.
>
> There is no "click and drag" or "drag and drop" on an iPhone, so any
> event that has that type of behavior requires instead user to perform a
> (IMO less intuitive) "click to click" action. ("tap to tap," is more
> accurate).
>
> I am all for device-independence, and that seems relatively cut-and-dry
> with HTML. But when Javascript comes into play, it all seems less clear
> to me. I'd love to see summaries of user tests on iPhones with different
> types of elements and actions, especially those associated w/ popular
> Javascript libraries.
>
> Erika
>
> ---------------------------
>
> Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis wrote:
>> Erika wrote:
>>> 2.   Though supported, certain events aren't going to work the same
>>> due to a. screen real estate and  b. touch navigation
>>
>> If users can access content and functionality via native HTML behaviors
>> or the 'click' event, then they can easily use it with iPhone's
>> touchscreen. If not, then they are also likely to encounter difficulties
>> when using the keyboard or speech recognition (for example). This
>> reemphasizes the importance of developing all sites with
>> input-device-independence in mind.
>>
>> I'm not sure what you mean about events not working due to "screen real
>> estate" though.
>>
>> --
>> Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
>>
> --
>
> * * Please support the community that supports you.  * *
> http://evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
>
> For unsubscribe and other options, including the Tip Harvester
> and archives of thelist go to: http://lists.evolt.org
> Workers of the Web, evolt !
>



-- 
Radical Bender
Web: http://www.radicalbender.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/radicalbender/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/profile.php?id=659807811