Today I’m asking you for a donation to keep my mobile browser research up and running. I don’t really like doing this, but I have to if I want to continue my testing programme.

continue reading

I redid the CSS2 tests in the mobile browsers; that is, the declarations that were never added to a CSS3 module. Since position: fixed is part of my CSS2 tests, it’s time for an update.

continue reading

Just a pointer: I created a quick and dirty overview table of where the mobile viewports and related concepts stand right now.

May be useful if you’re new to this sort of stuff.

Well, some discussion has certainly started about my first and second desktop media query bug reports. A redux is useful.

First, some good news. The way the resolution media query is currently behaving in Chrome is a bug, and it’s in the process of being fixed. That takes a load off my shoulders; for a moment I was afraid it was designed this way. But it’s not.

This does not say anything about the underlying issues I have with redefining DPR, though. Apart from the technical issues, there’s a cultural issue, if you wish. The discussions clarified my thinking and I can now describe it.

continue reading

I recently tested media queries in both mobile and desktop browsers, and found that the desktop browsers are making several serious mistakes in their implementation that threaten to pull apart the mobile and desktop worlds.

I feel the desktop browsers should defer to their mobile cousins in viewport matters, since mobile is the more complicated use case and a de-facto standard is emerging. Their recent actions threaten this process. The previous article treated rounding errors and problems with the width media query. This article will treat the very complicated DPR problem.

Briefly, desktop browsers recently changed the meaning of device-pixel-ratio to zoom level. I feel that this information should be moved to a new JavaScript property, media query, and JavaScript event, because squeezing it in with the existing mobile-based device-pixel-ratio properties and media queries has all kinds of odd consequences.

continue reading

I recently tested media queries in both mobile and desktop browsers, and found that the desktop browsers are making several serious mistakes in their implementation that threaten to pull apart the mobile and desktop worlds.

I feel that desktop browser makers have focused on desktop use cases too narrowly and failed to see that these changes introduce deliberate incompatibilities between desktop browsers and mobile browsers. It’s web developers who have to solve this mess, and it’s likely they can only do so by using browser detects.

continue reading