iPad Browser Simulator? [closed]

Question

How can I use a browser in Windows to simulate the iPad browser?

Answer 1

The best approach I found is in Apple's Technical Note TN2262: Preparing Your Web Content for iPad.

1. Test your website on iPad, and update user agent detection code if necessary
2. Use W3C standard web technologies instead of plug-ins
3. Check your viewport tag settings
4. Modify code that relies on CSS fixed positioning
5. Prepare for a touch interface
6. Use textareas instead of contenteditable elements

The user agent thing under the Simulating Safari on iPad HTTP requests in Safari on the desktop was really helpful.

Answer 2

You're probably best off:

1. Downloading Safari for Windows.
2. Disabling plugins (e.g. Flash).
3. Resizing to the dimensions of the iPad's screen.

Safari for the desktop and Safari for iOS use the same core (WebKit), so you'll get the most reliable rendering reproduction. You'll miss the fancier zooming/relayout functionality, but for many purposes, it will probably work OK.

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I should note for the record that Google Chrome and some other, lesser-known browsers also use WebKit, but Safari for the desktop is more likely to reproduce the results of Safari for iOS, since they're both maintained by Apple.

Answer 3

Shaun Sullivan created iBBDemo2, which is an ipad/iphone simulator using Adobe Air.

It's not quite the same (e.g. elements with overflow: scroll; get scroll bars here, while they don't on the actual device) but it can give you a good idea of how your website would look.