How do I force mobile sites?

[anon(19759)]

After a recent phone reset my Chrome browser is pulling desktop sites even without that option checked. Is there a setting to force mobile versions of websites?

 

[B. Diddy]

Can you give some examples of sites? What if you change "www." to "m." (e.g., m.facebook.com)?

 

[VidJunky]

The better question would be is there a setting to force desktop versions of sites...? This is odd because I've seen desktop versions of sites pull up some mix of the two or simply not work at all but have almost never noticed the opposite. Meanwhile, my questions are these;

What device do you have?

Does every site display as the desktop version?

If it is not every site, are the sites that do ones that you've visited before? I ask this because perhaps they do not have a mobile version. It would be hard to believe but there may still be some out there.

Have you opened a new tab? If you choose to view a site as a desktop version and then continue to browse from that tab it will continue to render as desktop versions.

Have you powered your device down and tried after a restart?

What have you tried to fix this? Obviously you have checked your settings but have you cleared the cache for chrome? Have you cleared the data for chrome? It's unlikely that you can uninstall chrome but have you uninstalled the updates to chrome and then allowed them to install again?

Those three steps would be the ones I would attempt before going much farther. You shouldn't loose much. Google stores almost everything in the cloud and when you sign-in to Chrome again most, if not all of it will return. i.e. your bookmarks, passwords, history... You will loose your cookies so you may have to log-in to some sites or accept cookies again but a side from your settings, like dark theme and search settings, you most likely won't even know anything happened.

 

[anon(19759)]

Well, I've rebooted several times. Have cleared all data in Chrome. I have a Galaxy S10 on Verizon. two sites that now come up as full versions that did not before my sudden reset last week are homedepot.com and lowes.com. They both come up as a desktop browser page.

 

[me just saying]

Well, I've rebooted several times. Have cleared all data in Chrome. I have a Galaxy S10 on Verizon. two sites that now come up as full versions that did not before my sudden reset last week are homedepot.com and lowes.com. They both come up as a desktop browser page.

are you sure you were not using their app?

 

[anon(19759)]

are you sure you were not using their app?

Definitely not

 

[me just saying]

Definitely not

had to ask

both sites had an overhaul in recent years so there is always a chance you were using an old link that is no longer available to the public. I just played around with both sites too and could not get the mobile site - even using the m trick. also at the very bottom of home depot there is a link to their mobile site and it did not work for me. do you have an old phone or tablet where the old link might be available?

 

[VidJunky]

Uninstall Chrome updates and then install them again. You can do this from the play store.

 

[anon(19759)]

Uninstall Chrome updates and then install them again. You can do this from the play store.

Tried, didn't work but thank you for the suggestion.

 

[VidJunky]

I'm not sure what it is that causes mobile sites to display... I would think it was the browser because mobile devices would have a mobile browser, so it wouldn't seem likely that somehow the device was saying "hey I'm a mobile device, please display a mobile version of your web page." The only way to see if this is effecting anything else is to have you go to a site first in Chrome, ensure the site displays in a desktop version, then go to the site in the Samsung browser and compare the results. If they both display as desktop then perhaps it is something with the device or device setting. If only Chrome is affected, then we're back to looking at Chrome.

Deleting the app cache and app data seems like it should have defaulted all of the settings and we assume that default is sites displaying as mobile sites. Uninstalling the updates and allowing them to install again would only serve to eliminate glitches or bugs from the update. Unless it wasn't a Chrome update that started this... We did just get the Android 10 update??? Things can go wrong with big OS updates. A partition cache wipe may be what you need. It seems like swatting a fly with a baseball bat but this may just be the one glitch that you are noticing and instead we are swinging a butterfly net and catching the grasshopper and some gnats that we're not even seeing...

Wiping the Cache Partition would be my next move. I'd still be interested to know what the Samsung Browser test yields but in an effort to fix this the Partition wipe I think is the best possible solution.

 

[anon(19759)]

I didn't once think about trying the Samsung browser. Home Depot comes up perfectly as mobile site. So my issue is a Chrome issue.

 

[me just saying]

I didn't once think about trying the Samsung browser. Home Depot comes up perfectly as mobile site. So my issue is a Chrome issue.

try copying and pasting the link from the samsung browser to chrome.

 

[anon(19759)]

try copying and pasting the link from the samsung browser to chrome.

Nope, Chrome goes to full site.

 

[me just saying]

Nope, Chrome goes to full site.

oh well, it was a thought. anyway did a google search and found if you have the desktop version of the site in chrome, click on the three dots in the top right and there should be a selection for desktop view. make sure it is unselected.

 

[anon(19759)]

oh well, it was a thought. anyway did a google search and found if you have the desktop version of the site in chrome, click on the three dots in the top right and there should be a selection for desktop view. make sure it is unselected.

Right, it's not selected. Thanks though.

 

[me just saying]

when I was playing around with the desktop selection, I got confused as to the desktop/mobile site. they both look very similar. I had to scroll to the very bottom of the page to verify which I was on because that is where the differences are. Are you sure you are getting the desktop site in mobile chrome?

 

[anon(19759)]

when I was playing around with the desktop selection, I got confused as to the desktop/mobile site. they both look very similar. I had to scroll to the very bottom of the page to verify which I was on because that is where the differences are. Are you sure you are getting the desktop site in mobile chrome?

I'm pretty sure homedepot.com is coming up as the desktop site on chrome browser and mobile site on Samsung browser. Here's a couple of screenshots, first two are on Chrome, third is Samsung browser.

 

[VidJunky]

I agree that the two look different and that the Chrome one looks much more like a desktop site than the Samsung one, but I just pulled it up on my phone and it looks exactly the same as your images.

Here's two things I observe;
When I request the desktop version of the HD site nothing changes...

I have not had any issues with site renderings...

So in my humble opinion this is Chrome's rendering of HD's site. The whole reason people request the desktop version of sites is because of the features and options that are often left out. Some times you can't find the Log-in option, search or contact options with mobile renderings and Chrome is giving you the full site experience and Sammy is still giving you the dumbed down kiddy version. I think this is intentional and not an error or mistake. I had kind of considered this when you mentioned that it was only a few sites but after seeing your screenshots vs my own experience I am convinced that this is intentional, either from the company, from Google or from a combined effort from both, but fully intentional none the less.

I can think of a dozen reasons that companies would want to render sites closer to what you see on your desktop. To name one, A uniformed look. You know where everything is making site navigation the same from where ever you access their site. You don't have to guess if the option you're looking for is now on the right or the left or inside of some pull out menu. It's in the same place as it is on your desktop.

 

[VidJunky]

From everything I found the rendering of sites is browser specific. So one would be what Google/Chrome offers and the other is what is Samsung Browser offers. According to the article I just read it would probably look different still in Safari or Firefox. It's all about the browser's coding.

This article is about creating your own site but talks about the differences and why... https://virteom.com/why-does-my-website-look-different-in-different-browsers

 

[me just saying]

From everything I found the rendering of sites is browser specific. So one would be what Google/Chrome offers and the other is what is Samsung Browser offers. According to the article I just read it would probably look different still in Safari or Firefox. It's all about the browser's coding.

This article is about creating your own site but talks about the differences and why... https://virteom.com/why-does-my-website-look-different-in-different-browsers

that could be the case. back when I was doing websites, I had four or five major browsers of the time installed because they each read and interpret the code differently. It was a pain getting a uniform look. finally I said heck with it and just redirected the page based on the browser. glad I am not doing it anymore. now you got to design the page to work on computers, tablets, smartphones and other.