Comments on: iPhone Detection and Redirection

By: lebsays

lebsays — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:26:00 +0000

as an iPhone user, I can say with confidently that there is no such thing- as an iPhone friendly website, and in fact- mobile websites rob iPhone users of features we love to use, and makes it more difficult to access information.

I would ask, nay- beg! any developer; if you feel you must use a mobile version of a site, please leave an option to return to the full version!

Personaly, I would rather never see a mobile site ever again, but maybe that’s just me.

By: doc30

doc30 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:08:58 +0000

I have to agree with the Iphone users here. Redirecting away from real websites is more than an irritation. I paid a premium for my iPhone specifically to look at the content of regular websites. Safari was designed to do that. The watered down websites are information poor and force you to navigate through a maze of menu trees and you are lucky if you find what you are looking for. There should be a way for user of iPhones and iPod Touchs to block website redirects, or to choose the mobile version if the real website is, for example, Flash heavy. For example, my local newspaper just did this and their classifieed ads are not accessible using the mobile version they just set up. Kind of dumb since advertising pays their bills and they are blocking it.

By: OutaTowner

OutaTowner — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:12:00 +0000

I understand your opinion that we should be happy that a mobile user site was created in the first place. But I think that we the “customer” so to speak should be the ones who get to choose. And if you don’t understand that, then you have the poorest sense of what a good business needs. Because if iphone and itouch users get frustrated with your site, they will stop using it.

So automatically redirect the site if you want, but please please give us the option the option to view the full site or at least an explanation why the site builder believes that it can’t be viewed

By: Knox

Knox — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:09:52 +0000

@ig88 – exactly

By: ig88

ig88 — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:41:38 +0000

ahh, think i got it. i will put it in the main index, rather than having a redirect page.

By: ig88

ig88 — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:37:32 +0000

i am a designer, and this script does work and redirects to my iphone, but what bit of code to add to it to load my normal site on a computer. seems like there needs to be an “else” statement in there.

any help?

By: Knox

Knox — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:03:38 +0000

@mikbarrett Too funny. You came here by searching:

“mobile websites are irritating iphone”

– so you’re obviously biased and looking for a place to vent.

Site owners can do what they want, present their content their way to who they want. This includes you. You also notice that THIS site doesn’t do what is so irritating to you – though a third of my traffic is for iPhone specific webapps. Maybe I’ll add it, but I’d offer the choice. If this was a flash driven site then I would definitely use the script and you should be glad site owners do.

By: mikbarrett

mikbarrett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:51:11 +0000

Sheila was completely on point here. If the website in question offers quality, up-to-date content in the ‘iphone mobile” version that it redirects you to, that’s one thing. But there are already sites I’ve noticed that are way ahead of themselves. They’ve gone all ga-ga about redirecting iphone users to their “mobile” sites, without considering the fact that the mobile version of their site is absolute crap, compared to the real thing.

In addition, I resent the notion that everyone out there needs to be placated with some quick and painless, watered down version of the internet. As Sheila said, maybe I don’t want some poor man’s idea of the original website. Maybe I’m familiar with how the real website looks, I know where things are on that site that I’m interested in, and I’m willing to wait a few extra freaking seconds for it to load on my GD iphone, so I thereby want the freaking CHOICE of going to the real website or a mobile one!

ESPN.com has clued into this, giving people the option. Why can’t everyone else?! The whole thing makes me very angry.

By: Granata

Granata — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:23:10 +0000

Over the weekend I was trying to decide if the iPhone detection feature is something I should use for a site that I am working on. I can see the point Sheila is trying to make but ultimately I concluded that the “real” browsing experience will never be 100% transferable to the iPhone. Here’s why:

1. The screen is just too small. Something like Knox’s template makes presenting information much easier and faster than zooming and panning all over the place and clicking on tiny text links and buttons.

2. The context is not the same. The only browsing I do on my mobile is for quick information and bulleted details If I want the full story I’ll wait to get to my desktop. This not only applies to how I present data but also to what data I choose to present on the mobile site.

It can be frustrating when a website locks you out of it’s classic view and I think it’s bad form. However, I see nothing wrong with designing specifically for a particular platform.

By: david

david — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:36:59 +0000

you can also use a service like handsetdetection.com which will identify most phones, pdas and blackberrys. It also does some cool location based stuff.