Mobile browser testing/iPhone

From mediawiki.org

iPhone issues[edit]

Framesets and Textboxes[1][edit]

Rendering web pages in Safari Mobile that rely on the ability to scroll individual frames is a problem because there are no scroll bars on the iPhone. This applies to editing content in a fixed width/height textbox for large pages because there is no easy way to access the information that falls outside the displayed textbox area due to the lack of scrollbars.

iPhone users can use two-finger scrolling to scroll regions that would have scrollbars, but unfortunately, due to the lack of scrollbars, there is no visual indication that the area has more to see.

Popup Windows[edit]

By default, Safari on iPhone blocks pop-up windows; however this is a user preference that can be changed in the Security settings for Safari.

Select Elements[2][edit]

HTML <select> elements gets special treatment in Safari on iPhone. A custom select control that is optimized for selecting items in the list using a finger as the input device is displayed. The user can "flick" to scroll the listing and "tap" to select an item from the list.

PDF, Excel, Word and text files[3][edit]

Safari on iPhone uses iPhone's native application for displaying files of these types. PDF documents are displayed in a browser window, and a page indicator keeps track of where a user is in the document. The orientation of the document on the screen automatically rotates with the orientation of the iPhone.

QuickTime audio and video files[4][edit]

Safari on iPhone uses iPhone's native application for displaying QuickTime video files; a window is displayed that automatically expands to the size ofthe screen and rotates when the user changes the orientation of the iPhone; these controls are automatically hidden when not in use.

Supported Rich Media MIME Types[5][edit]

Safari on iPhone supports the following rich media MIME types:

MIME Type Description Extensions
audio/3gpp 3GPP media 3gp, 3gpp
audio/3gpp2 3GPP2 media 3g2, 3gp2
audio/aiff
audio/x-aiff
AIFF audio aiff, aif, aifc, cdda
audio/amr AMR audio amr
audio/mp3
audio/mpeg3
audio/x-mp3
audio/x-mpeg3
MP3 audio mp3, swa
audio/mp4 MPEG-4 media mp4
audio/mpeg
audio/x-mpeg
MPEG audio mpeg, mpg, mp3, swa
audio/wav
audio/x-wav
WAVE audio wav,bwf
audio/x-m4a AAC audio m4a
audio/x-m4b AAC audio book m4b
audio/x-m4p AAC audio (protected) m4p
video/3gpp 3GPP media 3gp, 3gpp
video/3gpp2 3GPP2 media 3g2, 3gp2
video/mp4 MPEG-4 media mp4
video/quicktime QuickTime Movie mov,qt,mqv
video/x-m4v Video m4v

Resource limitations[6][edit]

  • The maximum size for decoded .gif, .png and .tiff images is 2 megapixels
  • The maximum size for decoded .jpg images, using subsampling, is 32 megapixels
  • The decoded size of animated .gif images must be less than 2 mb
  • The maximum size for a canvas element is 2 mb
  • Individual Resource files must be less than 10 mb
  • Javascript execution time is limited to 10 seconds for each top-level entry point
    • for iPhone OS version 1.1.4 and earlier, the maximum execution time is 5 seconds
  • The maximum number of open documents is eight

Unsupported Technologies[7][edit]

Safari on iPhone does not support any third-party plugins or features that require access to the file system. This includes:

  • Downladable web fonts
    The CSS gets parsed, but the font fails and the browser's default font is used instead. Note: Downloadable web fonts were supported in iPhone OS version 1.1.4 and earlier.
    Modal dialogs
    Such as window.showModalDialog() or window.print().
    Mouse-over events
    "Mouseover" events aren't available on non-clickable elements; to activate "mouseover" events on clickable elements, a user must use the "touch and hold" gesture.
    Hover styles
    Since a "mouseover" event is sent only before a "mousedown" event, hover styles are displayed only if the user taps and holds a clickable element with a hover style.
    Tooltips; Similar to "hover" styles, tooltips are only displayed if a user taps and holds a clickable element with a tooltip.
    Java applets
    Flash
    QuickTime VR Movies
    XSLT
    Plug-in installation
    Custom x.509 certificates
    WML
    Safari on iPhone is a full web browser; therefore there is no need to support Wireless Markup Language (WML); however, XHTML mobile profile types and sites at .mobi domains are supported.
    File Uploads and Downloads
    Safari on iPhone supports <input type="file"> elements on iOS starting in iOS 6;[8] in prior versions, these events get disabled by Safari.

References[edit]

  1. Apple Inc., Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS, (Apple Inc, 2008), p. 16.
  2. Apple Inc., Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS, (Apple Inc, 2008), p. 20.
  3. Apple Inc., Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS, (Apple Inc, 2008), p. 21.
  4. Apple Inc., Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS, (Apple Inc, 2008), p. 20.
  5. Apple Inc., Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS, (Apple Inc, 2008), p. 23.
  6. Apple Inc., Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS, (Apple Inc, 2008), p. 18–19.
  7. Apple Inc., Safari Web Content Guide for iPhone OS, (Apple Inc, 2008), p. 24–25.
  8. What iOS 6 Mobile Safari Offers Front End Devs