Changing viewports

Old discussions related to the Android/mobile version of Pale Moon.
User avatar
Trippynet
Fanatic
Fanatic
Posts: 238
Joined: 2014-06-03, 20:21
Location: UK

Changing viewports

Unread post by Trippynet » 2015-03-28, 14:48

Bit of a strange question this, and I'm not sure if it's absolutely 100% related to PM for Android, but anyway! I've noticed an increasing number of so-called "responsive" web pages showing up these days - that is, ones that automatically re-organise themselves to fit onto smaller screens (like tablets and mobiles) without zooming or sideways scrolling.

Ones that are well implemented can be quite reasonable, but there's also some pretty crap ones as well that refactor themselves down until they're pretty much as bad as some of the worse "mobile sites" out there. Of course, in the past when a site tried to force you onto a particularly nasty "mobile" page, you could just toggle a browser option to be fed the normal desktop page, but with these responsive ones, that no longer works.

From the reading I've been doing (I'm not a web developer!), I see this is related to the viewport that the device reports. In the event of my phone, it reports a viewport width of just 320 pixels. What I'd like to know is, is there a way of spoofing this and reporting a larger viewport value to certain sites to get them to supply the standard desktop page? And if so, is there then a way of being able to zoom into such a site without the page automatically re-ordering itself?

Searching for info on this seems to result in 99% of hits telling me (as a developer) how to enable it on my site - not how to override it as an end user! Of course, a PM for Android way of getting around it would of course be best :)

x-15a2

Re: Changing viewports

Unread post by x-15a2 » 2015-03-28, 16:56

Have you tried the "Request Desktop Site" option?
tmp_Screenshot_2015-03-28-12-49-541716120890.png

User avatar
Trippynet
Fanatic
Fanatic
Posts: 238
Joined: 2014-06-03, 20:21
Location: UK

Re: Changing viewports

Unread post by Trippynet » 2015-03-29, 10:39

Yep, but didn't work. That's fine for sites that have a different specific mobile version to the main desktop version. The problem with the "responsive" sites is that they only use one version, but use CSS that re-jigs and re-organises the page depending on the viewport size that the device reports.

To see what I mean, open up http://www.bbc.co.uk/news in Pale Moon on your desktop, then slowly drag the window narrower and narrower. Note how the page keeps re-organising itself to fit into the reduced width. Hence, requesting the desktop site doesn't work because there is only one site, it's just that it's dynamic. I'd like a way to report a bigger viewport size so that a less reduced site is provided if possible.

User avatar
Moonchild
Pale Moon guru
Pale Moon guru
Posts: 35625
Joined: 2011-08-28, 17:27
Location: Motala, SE
Contact:

Re: Changing viewports

Unread post by Moonchild » 2015-03-29, 10:49

I don't think it's possible to report anything but the correct/actual viewport size. It's part of the specification :P
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Locked