Closed Bug 673723 Opened 13 years ago Closed 5 years ago

Firefox should give choice of mobile or full site

Categories

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: General, enhancement)

Other
Android
enhancement
Not set
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: curtisk, Unassigned)

References

Details

Using either the default browser or Dolphin visiting facebook.com on a tablet defaults to the full site. On an iPhone a choice is given for full or mobile site. With Firefox mobile on a tablet the default is the mobile site with no choice to to switch to the full site. When the user types facebook.com we should be checking for tablets and attempting to defualt to the full site and on smaller screens the user should have a choice of experience. The only way I have found to get the full site experience is to install the Phony add-on and change the user-agent to desktop firefox. IMO this is a degradation of user experience as compared to our competitors and should be corrected.

Device used: Galaxy Tablet 10.1
Browser: Firefox 5 mobile beta
This is largely based on the user agent that the browser sends. Use the phony extension to pretend to be desktop Firefox. We are still evaluating if adding this feature is something the mobile team wants to do or leave it to an extension.
That is why I am reporting it, I think we should have parity with what our competitors are doing, especially for tablets, this may need more nuance on phone screens.
Severity: normal → enhancement
I think this would be a very beneficial feature. Specifically on my phone, at times I need to view the full site as the mobile site simply doesn't have the content that I want to view.

How about adding a button above the settings button on the phone version that allows the user to toggle between mobile (default) and full site on a tab by tab basis?
On the EEE Transformer, the stock browser has an option to set the user agent to "Tablet", "Desktop" or "Mobile Phone".
Version: Firefox 5 → Trunk
One thing we are overlooking here is that there is no magical way to always get "mobile" or "desktop" content from a website. Each site may do it differently.

All we can do is change our UA string and pray for the best.
>All we can do is change our UA string and pray for the best.

You're right about that. We will need to weigh the benefit of having this option in the browser that should work with many sites with the drawback that in some cases it just won't do what is expected. UX should be involved in this discussion.
In response to comment 5, we could detect a redirect from a main site to a "m." type of site and offer the user a choice no?
(In reply to Curtis Koenig [:curtisk] from comment #7)
> In response to comment 5, we could detect a redirect from a main site to a
> "m." type of site and offer the user a choice no?

"m." is not a standard. Again, we would be praying for the best.

All we can really do is try to follow some kind of "best practice" guideline for what to include in our UA. I posted about this here:
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.platform/browse_thread/thread/dfdceafba4c5bd87/7b5c3336be37e2c
I have some designs around this -- will post soon. Until then, some thoughts:

- we should do what we can around using UA strings so that site can, as often as possible, serve us the right thing
- we can also offer a feature to let users choose what they want - i.e. a [ mobile | desktop ] toggle
- BUT - I think this should be a *per-site* persistent pref rather than something you turn on for the whole browser until you turn it off again, or something that gets associated with a particular tab. Neither of the latter really make sense to me, given that it's particular sites for which you will tend to want something other than what they serve you by default.
There is useful discussion around this going on in bug 680886 (On fennecomb, show tablet or full version of websites, not phone version) as well.
Blocks: 680886
(In reply to Madhava Enros [:madhava] from comment #9)
> I have some designs around this -- will post soon. Until then, some thoughts:
> 
> - we should do what we can around using UA strings so that site can, as
> often as possible, serve us the right thing

The key characteristics probably are:
 * With the desktop setting, get rid of the substring "Android" (either say "Andr" or lie and say "X11") and get rid of the whole Fennec token.
 * With the tablet setting, add a token "Tablet; " before the rv: token within the parentheses. Get rid of the whole Fennec token.
 * With the phone setting, keep the current Fennec UA or, alternatively, get rid of the Fennec token and put a "Mobi; " token before the rv: token (not "Mobile", because Opera Mobile's UA string doesn't say "Mobile", which suggests that having the substring "Mobile" means that sites send pre-iPhone junk).

> - we can also offer a feature to let users choose what they want - i.e. a [
> mobile | desktop ] toggle

I think mobile vs. desktop isn't the right taxonomy. I think we should have a desktop / tablet / phone taxonomy if we go down the path of having a taxonomy in the UA string, because Apple and Google are teaching people that tablets are distinct from desktops and phones. And they are in the sense that tablets need larger tap targets than desktops need click targets and phone-oriented layouts looks totally out-of-place on 10-inch tablets.

How do we choose the default for devices in the 6 and 7-inch range? 6-inch devices are marketed as phones. 7-inch devices are marketed as tablets. Yet, 7-inch tablets can still benefit from smaller-screen designs when tablet designs are meant for 10-inch devices.

> - BUT - I think this should be a *per-site* persistent pref rather than
> something you turn on for the whole browser until you turn it off again

I agree.
People interested in this bug may be interested in being aware that bug 671634 landed.
See Also: → 671634
Closing all opened bug in a graveyard component
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 5 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
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