Develop Bugs

Simple question regarding browser

Getting a bit fed up of the browser showing me mobile versions of the sites I'm visiting and then having to request the real version via settings.
Any way to force real web sites all the time, I sure can't find the setting :-(
Thanks for your help!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Many sites will sniff your user agent to try to give you what they think is their best experience for mobile devices. You would need a way to hack the user agent to something non-Android to get good coverage. As a developer it's a pain in the ass to keep up with agent rules.
I personally like the sites that set a cookie so you can choose yourself without getting cornered.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

I think you should use this option only when the site offers no button to switch to the desktop site. Because when you use the option the site offers it normally sets a cookie to bring you back to the desktop site when you come back the next time.

Ah, was hoping for some super settings like my desire had where you could spoof the agent.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Bilbo Fraggins said:
Ah, was hoping for some super settings like my desire had where you could spoof the agent.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
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Click to collapse
There is a Request Desktop Site in the browser settings. Haven't used it myself, but it sounds like it's what you're looking for. Or is it not?

You should be able to use the labs section to force a desktop UAstring always.

i know on Gingerbread you can type "about:debug" in the browser address bar (no quotations - nothing should happen after)
but when you go into your browser settings there are additional debug menus and there should be a User Agent setting there where you can set to "Desktop"
I'm not sure if ICS has it cause my GN isnt here yet
ahha you can give it a try

Just click on Menu, Settings, Debug... the UAString is in there.

I use third party browsers, most of them allow you to change your user agent. I recommend dolphin if you want to try one.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Yeah, the about:debug method has been there since the first Nexus. I can't confirm due to not having my phone yet, but it should still be there.

​ics has a setting that you can select and it will always pull up the desktop version of the site which is really nice.

The stock broswer is pretty good on full sites. I have mine set to Linux agent. Mobile sites usually give me fits.
G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV

about:debug - is it meant to bring up a page like about:config in Firefox? If so then it doesn't work. As mentioned in a previous post, I have the debug option in the normal menus... perhaps about:debug or some of the other abouts I tried when I first got the device unlocked this, or perhaps it is there as standard.
Either way, you can change the UAString in there to Desktop.
People who are commenting that there is an ICS option to "load as desktop" - there is, but this means you still get the mobile pages quite often and then have to reload the page. The OP wanted something to just always open as Desktop... which UAString will do.

Cheers all, had to do about:debug in browser and then debug appeared in the menu. Sorted now!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

jabok said:
about:debug - is it meant to bring up a page like about:config in Firefox? If so then it doesn't work. As mentioned in a previous post, I have the debug option in the normal menus... perhaps about:debug or some of the other abouts I tried when I first got the device unlocked this, or perhaps it is there as standard.
Either way, you can change the UAString in there to Desktop.
People who are commenting that there is an ICS option to "load as desktop" - there is, but this means you still get the mobile pages quite often and then have to reload the page. The OP wanted something to just always open as Desktop... which UAString will do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
typing about:debug doesn't do anything immediately in the page. It just enables the debug menu in the settings of the browser.

Noticed after applying this setting that some sites still load as the mobile version. Amazon.co.uk for one.
Any thoughts?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Bakedbread said:
i know on Gingerbread you can type "about:debug" in the browser address bar (no quotations - nothing should happen after)
but when you go into your browser settings there are additional debug menus and there should be a User Agent setting there where you can set to "Desktop"
I'm not sure if ICS has it cause my GN isnt here yet
ahha you can give it a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works the same in ICS. Just checked.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

the famed 'request desktop site' never works for me
anyone else

Browser questions

Hello everyone,
This is my first android device and I have a couple of questions regarding the browser:
1) Is there a way to add a plug-in to the browser to behave like iOS's Safari "Reader" functionality? Something that will basically display the text of an article without all the fluff (like ads and whatnot)?
2) The fonts used for the different sites I frequent seem to be a bit off. Are there fonts missing from the stock android that I need to add?
3) Zooming-in to a piece of the text by double-tapping seems to be a bit off, for me its zooming in a bit more that it should leaving the last few words of each line of text outside of the view. Am I doing something wrong here?
Thanks a lot!

LordGrahf said:
Hello everyone,
This is my first android device and I have a couple of questions regarding the browser:
1) Is there a way to add a plug-in to the browser to behave like iOS's Safari "Reader" functionality? Something that will basically display the text of an article without all the fluff (like ads and whatnot)?
2) The fonts used for the different sites I frequent seem to be a bit off. Are there fonts missing from the stock android that I need to add?
3) Zooming-in to a piece of the text by double-tapping seems to be a bit off, for me its zooming in a bit more that it should leaving the last few words of each line of text outside of the view. Am I doing something wrong here?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what the...
1) "Reader" functionality? some kind of jailbreak hack? Anyways, I believe you can disable images in the settings of browser (theres a ton of settings there so go check them out). As for ads, there are some apps out there that do that.. but as a dev, I'm pretty against it so maybe someone else will point one out
2) Thats even more weird.. the Galaxy Nexus does use the new roboto font and it does use this to render websites. But you're saying some websites appear off? Got any examples?
3) huh? double-tapping works very well for me. Again, some example sites? You're double tapping on a segment of text right?

For #3 you probably need to turn on word wrap/reflow or whatever it is called. Occassionally doesnt work and you need to refresh on dolphin browser.
Sent from my samsung gt i9250 which is in the wrong state.

The answer is yes
For issue #1, there is! You don't need an account, but I would highly recommend signing up for one at readability dot com
Go the Android Market and search for Readability. Download the Readability Bookmark app and create the bookmarklet. This will create a bookmark with no icon called Readability. Then just go to any page with boat loads of text and images and ads and garbage and click the tabs button to show the bookmarks button, click it and then click the Readability bookmarklet.
It's a terrible workflow but it does work. I've been using it the past couple of days and it's very comparable to the Reader button in Mobile Safari.
For issue #2, I don't know of anything like that.
For issue #3, I have the same problem. Double tap on a column of text and the column fills the screen with just a few words off of the edge. I've played around with the browser settings and I can't get it to work. Pretty much any site with text, to answer kwazi's question.

Thanks for the respone!
kwazi said:
1) "Reader" functionality? some kind of jailbreak hack? Anyways, I believe you can disable images in the settings of browser (theres a ton of settings there so go check them out). As for ads, there are some apps out there that do that.. but as a dev, I'm pretty against it so maybe someone else will point one out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It just formats the page to make it all text with no images or ads or anything else that doesn't belong to the article you're reading. Its like the Readability plug-in for desktop google Chrome and Firefox.
kwazi said:
2) Thats even more weird.. the Galaxy Nexus does use the new roboto font and it does use this to render websites. But you're saying some websites appear off? Got any examples?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed this while reading on a boxing site I frequent: www.eastsideboxing.com
I also noticed the same with websites written in a foreign language.
kwazi said:
3) huh? double-tapping works very well for me. Again, some example sites? You're double tapping on a segment of text right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed this also on www.eastsideboxing.com
Thanks!

freicook said:
For issue #1, there is! You don't need an account, but I would highly recommend signing up for one at readability dot com
Go the Android Market and search for Readability. Download the Readability Bookmark app and create the bookmarklet. This will create a bookmark with no icon called Readability. Then just go to any page with boat loads of text and images and ads and garbage and click the tabs button to show the bookmarks button, click it and then click the Readability bookmarklet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh thanks a lot! That's what I was looking for. Yeah its bit of a workout, but better than nothing

pukemon said:
For #3 you probably need to turn on word wrap/reflow or whatever it is called. Occassionally doesnt work and you need to refresh on dolphin browser.
Sent from my samsung gt i9250 which is in the wrong state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Do you think this can only be done under Dolphin browser and not the stock one? I've just checked the settings of the stock browser and didn't find that option.

I have a question, will Last Pass be able to plug into it something like it does with Dolphin?

After further inspection, the font looks just about right when zoomed in (for English at least). I think my eyes are not used yet to see cramped text on this display
So I guess the only thing that I still can't figure out is how to make the double tap zoom work properly.

Change Default User Agent

Has anyone figured out how to set the default's browser user agent as desktop? I know we can use request desktop site, but then it does not always work if you already some mobile sites. I did about:debug and was able to change the user agent to desktop, but it was only a temporary fix. Anyone know how we could change Desktop to default?

The setting in about:debug sticks for me but the browser still tends to pull mobile sites for some reason.

I don't know sorry. But I do know that you can do it with Dolphin HD browser if you don't mind using a different browser (I don't really like Dolphin to be honest..)

This is a really annoying feature. I totally loved the freedom that came with default user agent as desktop now i am stuck with forced mobile versions of websites
Something that i used to laugh at iphone users for. Whats going on with google

Type about:debug in the browser URL. Then recheck settings
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

the about:debug is not the solution! Stop recommending it. It has to be redone every reboot or everytime browser not used in a while.

Browser DeskTop Default?

Does anyone know how to make the browser default to Desktop? There's nothing I want to see in mobile view.

Type "about:debug" without the quotes in the address bar of the browser and hit go. A message about java will show up on the top. Click it and ignore any errors. Now hit menu and settings. there will be a new option called debug. Click it and go to uastring change it to desktop. Restart the browser and your done. You might need to reboot not sure

Thanks.. That worked great until I rebooted. Youtube still went to the mobile site. I went back to the java menu and the agent was still checked desktop. Works fine as long as the java script console is on.. Might have to use another browser..

Netconn said:
Thanks.. That worked great until I rebooted. Youtube still went to the mobile site. I went back to the java menu and the agent was still checked desktop. Works fine as long as the java script console is on.. Might have to use another browser..
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I know on htc devices using about:debug was only good for that browsing session. You'd have to redo it anytime you close then reopen browser. You could try to set your homepage to about:debug to make it a little easier, but the browser would have to be modded to force it to keep those settingd. Its on my list of things I want to do but will likely be quite a while before I get to it. Search the forum for browser UAstring mod. You may find something that can help. I know some htc roms had it, not sure about samsung though.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Use a different browser. Maybe dolphin or xscope or firefox.

I guess I'll use Opera, it works just fine and the desktop agent stays. I liked the stock browser and got used to it. Oh well, no problem.

Links not opening in Chrome

I just got my Pixel XL yesterday since I've set it up I've had this problem. When I open links, regardless of the app I open them from, they do not open in Chrome or whatever I have set for my default browser. Instead they open a sort of overlay WebView window. To clarify, these are not opening in the apps internal browsers (Like what is available in Twitter or Facebook). I have cleared all the default handlers, changed default browsers, tried from multiple apps, but this continues. I even did a chat with Google support and they claim this is supposed to happen. I have a video below of what I'm talking about. In the video I am clicking a link and instead of Chrome coming up, a window appears on top of Twitter and the link is rendered there.
Does anyone have any idea what would be causing this?
https://youtu.be/NHeNalBXG7s

Do you have any 3rd party browsers installed or any "multi-window" apps installed?

Scott said:
Do you have any 3rd party browsers installed or any "multi-window" apps installed?
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I do not. Chrome is the only installed browser. Every app I have was also on my S7 before I switched and it did not have anything like this going on, even on the Nougat beta. I have never seen anything like this before.

Gotcha, and what app are you using to show the links to begin with? Sorry if I missed it in the OP.
EDIT: It has to be the originating app?

Scott said:
Gotcha, and what app are you using to show the links to begin with? Sorry if I missed it in the OP.
EDIT: It has to be the originating app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens regardless of the originating app. It happens in Gmail, Inbox, Facebook, Twitter, my Reddit client, everywhere that has links that would normally be handled by the default browser.

This is part of nougat.. kind of.
Previously in android apps could use something called web view. Basically it was a built in generic mini browser that the app developer could customize to their liking and make it look however they wanted.
Now with Nougat they are trying to keep everything looking similar so apps can now use the mini browser thing which is part of Google chrome. Sounds like those apps your using might be using the old web view still

aholeinthewor1d said:
This is part of nougat.. kind of.
Previously in android apps could use something called web view. Basically it was a built in generic mini browser that the app developer could customize to their liking and make it look however they wanted.
Now with Nougat they are trying to keep everything looking similar so apps can now use the mini browser thing which is part of Google chrome. Sounds like those apps your using might be using the old web view still
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not a WebView window like I've ever seen. Nor is it a Chrome Custom Tab. I have never seen anything like what my video shows.
I guess I'm just going to have to do a screen share support call with Google and hope they have a solution, even if it is a factory reset.

Have you tried opening your Google app from the app drawer, going into settings > accounts and privacy, and disabling "open web pages in app"?

Ya, this is a confusing one.

moot4prez said:
I just got my Pixel XL yesterday since I've set it up I've had this problem. When I open links, regardless of the app I open them from, they do not open in Chrome or whatever I have set for my default browser. Instead they open a sort of overlay WebView window. To clarify, these are not opening in the apps internal browsers (Like what is available in Twitter or Facebook). I have cleared all the default handlers, changed default browsers, tried from multiple apps, but this continues. I even did a chat with Google support and they claim this is supposed to happen. I have a video below of what I'm talking about. In the video I am clicking a link and instead of Chrome coming up, a window appears on top of Twitter and the link is rendered there.
Does anyone have any idea what would be causing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I watched your video. Yes that's different from what I get. Looks kinda cool. Looking forward to hearing what Google tells you.

A factory reset did the job. The only explanation I can think of is that for some reason my phone couldn't set a default browser. Anything that had an open to go from internal to external browsers (such as Twitter or Facebook) showed "Open in" instead of "Open in Chrome" even though my system settings showed Chrome as my default. Also, one of my default browsers listed was the Setup Wizard. I am thinking this is shenanigans from doing a USB transfer setup from an S7 on the Nougat beta.
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!

moot4prez said:
A factory reset did the job. The only explanation I can think of is that for some reason my phone couldn't set a default browser. Anything that had an open to go from internal to external browsers (such as Twitter or Facebook) showed "Open in" instead of "Open in Chrome" even though my system settings showed Chrome as my default. Also, one of my default browsers listed was the Setup Wizard. I am thinking this is shenanigans from doing a USB transfer setup from an S7 on the Nougat beta.
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The good news is you got it straight! :good:

Sorry to necro, but I have this problem now and I'm really not trying to factory reset after all the work I've done making this phone mine. Are there any developments on this? The WebView thing doesn't support YouTube which is killing me the most. A Google product that doesn't support YouTube...madness....

If anyone else finds this, disabling the Setup Wizard app resolves the issue. That app just tries to open all links rather than letting the default browser do the job.

I went through this exact situation, and couldn't figure it out. Here is a link to the thread i had started going through the entire process, its about 3 pages. It started with gmail, then got widespread. My end result was a reset also.
Here Is The Thread