Dumb websites think I am on a mobile device

On 2011-04-02, Jack Malmostoso wrote:

Hello there NG,

is there any fix for those dumb websites that think that I am on a mobile
device, but instead I am on my desktop PC?

Examples:

www.wagamama.be

Clicking on 'view standard site' works here (with javascript and plugins
enabled - site requires Flash, and you might find the mobile version
preferable!). But I'm in the UK and get diverted to the UK site, which
may be coded differently. See comment below about spoofing.

www.runnersworld.com

Clicking on 'full site' works here. See comment below about spoofing.

And no, sometimes clicking on "go to standard site" does not work.

Version information
Version
11.10 beta

Build
2064

Platform
Linux

System
x86_64, 2.6.38-2-amd64

Thank you!

Sites vary in how they try to identify browsers, so there isn't one
solution to all the different mistakes they make. Spoofing (site
preferences - network - identify as Firefox or masquerade as Firefox)
might work, or looking for the site's own 'user preferences' and using
that (which may depend on cookies being allowed to persist from one
session to the next).

For both of the URLs you give, manually setting the site preferences
before visiting the site, to 'masquerade as Firefox', results in my being
taken directly to the 'full' site. (Tools - Preferences - Advanced -
the URL concerned).

Version
11.01

Build
1190

Platform
Linux

System
i686, 2.6.22.19-laptop-2mdv

On Sat, 02 Apr 2011 11:49:14 +0200, Jack Malmostoso
wrote:

is there any fix for those dumb websites that think that I am on a mobile
device, but instead I am on my desktop PC?

Examples:

www.wagamama.be
www.runnersworld.com

The only real fix is to contact the sites in question and let them know.
If they don't know, they can't fix it. If you don't get a reply and it's
still not fixed after a while, post them in
http://my.opera.com/community/forums/forum.dml?id)

I sent a message to both of those sites. If you have more, do let me know
:)

Remco Lanting

[Unofficial Opera bug tracker links]
http://opera.r3m.co/bugs |
http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id!7364 |
remco.lanting+

On Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:38:46 +0100, Whiskers wrote:

Clicking on 'view standard site' works here (with javascript and plugins
enabled - site requires Flash, and you might find the mobile version
preferable!). But I'm in the UK and get diverted to the UK site, which
may be coded differently. See comment below about spoofing.

Thank you for checking.
That is exactly the problem: it works for me too, and I get redirected to
the UK website, which has no information about Belgium. So the website is
effectively useless for me.

Clicking on 'full site' works here. See comment below about spoofing.

Indeed it does, but again, it's a tiny link at the bottom of the page.
Took me a while to find it!

For both of the URLs you give, manually setting the site preferences
before visiting the site, to 'masquerade as Firefox', results in my
being taken directly to the 'full' site.

Yeah, I see what you mean, but what bothers me is that by doing this we
don't present ourselves as Opera users.

Anyway thank you for your advice!

Best Regards, Jack
Linux User #264449
Powered by Debian GNU/Linux on AMD64

On Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:38:56 +0200, Remco Lanting wrote:

I sent a message to both of those sites. If you have more, do let me
know

Thank you very much for testing and contacting the websites!
I'll see if I have more problems and post them in the forums and here!

Best Regards, Jack
Linux User #264449
Powered by Debian GNU/Linux on AMD64

Yeah, I see what you mean, but what bothers me is that by doing this we
don't present ourselves as Opera users.

That's exactly where it goes wrong. Some web devs are under the
impression there is only the mobile version of Opera, Opera Mini,
which they think can be detected simply by looking for "Opera" in the
user agent string :(

On Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:38:56 +0200, Remco Lanting wrote:
> I sent a message to both of those sites. If you have more, do let me
> know

Thank you very much for testing and contacting the websites!
I'll see if I have more problems and post them in the forums and here!

Not sure if Remco meant "I have sent" or "I will send" (after you post
on http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://my.opera.com/community/forums/forum.dml%3Fid%3D29
as he suggests) ... I would guess he meant the latter and leaves it up
to you (the user of those websites) to try to contact them first :)