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Ask HN: Why do sites not direct non-mobile users from mobile site versions?

4 points by strict9 ↗ HN
Sites are smart enough to detect mobile users and redirect to the mobile version, but never seem smart enough to do the inverse. It's annoying and difficult to read if not on a mobile device. On one hand I think it's laziness of submitters, but it's also developer laziness.

Usually you can escape the mobile version prison by removing the "m." prefix from the host, but not always.

1 comment

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MilesTeg
How robust is the mobile detection? If using the user agent to determine a mobile browser results in many false negatives then not directing from the mobile site version is a good idea.

Edit: To be more clear. If you are on a mobile device and you are trying to access the mobile site but the server can't reliable determine that you are in fact on a mobile device it would be bad to auto-redirect. At the same time accessing the mobile site on desktop browser should still allow the site to be usable.