Certain links on the iPad won't open on some sites...

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Level 1

8 points

Certain links on the iPad won't open on some sites...

So we have two websites which we'd like to make sure look good and work correctly on iPads and iPhones. One is the production site and one is the development site. Both sites currently have the exact same code.

When accessing links on the iPad, only those on the dev site open when touched. Links on the production site don't react when touched unless a user holds their finger down on it to open the "open in a new tab" dialog box.

The sites are hosted on different servers. Both are running Linux distributions.

The site does this in both Safari and Chrome. Resetting the iPad and clearing cache and history have no effect.

Please help! Thanks.

E.E. Prom

iPad 2, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Dec 10, 2012 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

E.E. Prom Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 11, 2012 12:24 PM in response to E.E. Prom

Additionally, this happens on multiple iPads, all same generation.

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Answer 2

E.E. Prom Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 14, 2012 8:59 AM in response to E.E. Prom

Anyone have any clue on this..?

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Answer 3

Dec 14, 2012 9:07 AM in response to E.E. Prom

Is the site a publically accessible site? Other wise, I'm not if there is much anyone can offer. It is certainly not typical behavior and not something I have experienced at all. Also, are these straight forward <a> type links, or something done with javascript?

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Answer 4

E.E. Prom Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 14, 2012 11:58 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Hey James,

Both of them are publicly accessible and both of them use straightfowrad <a> HTML tags.

Thanks,

E. E. Prom

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Answer 5

Dec 14, 2012 12:04 PM in response to E.E. Prom

Can you share the URLs? (That was kinda the point of the question 😁)

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Answer 6

E.E. Prom Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2012 8:18 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Sure!

tildetest.cogs.indiana.edu

cogs.indiana.edu

Thanks!

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Answer 7

Dec 18, 2012 9:11 AM in response to E.E. Prom

Well. On the iPad (Safari and iCab Mobile) I was able to replicate the condition as you describe. I also noted some slight differences in bahavior between the two on a Windows 7 machine using IE8 (which may or may not be relelvant). Seems on one link on one it opens in a seperate browser window, but not on the other. Ilso found at least one link that resulted in a dead (balnk) page.

I didn't see anything obvious comparing the source between the two (but will freely admit I'm lousy at close code review 🙂).

I think you should have a close look at your jquery libraries and CSS libraries and make sure you are running the same version on both servers. You could also investigate the php deployment on each (but I doubt that is the issue; depends on the server product you use). I think, because the issue is limited to iOS, its in the CSS or javascript. Can't think of anything else that would produce an effect like that.

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Answer 8

JimHdk

Level 7

28,874 points

Dec 18, 2012 9:13 AM in response to E.E. Prom

The HTML source is not necessarily the same since it contains several references to JavaScript scripts, Stylesheets, etc. which may point to different content. These would all have to be verified to be identical.

Even on a PC browser like Safari on a Mac there is different behaviour between the two sites. Clicking on "About us" on the test site opens a new tab, while clicking on "About us" on the production site does not open a new tab.

Good luck.

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Answer 9

JimHdk

Level 7

28,874 points

Dec 18, 2012 9:15 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Well I guess we reach the same conclusions! 😉

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Answer 10

Dec 18, 2012 9:17 AM in response to JimHdk

😁

Yeah - been there, done that. Lived to code another day.

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Answer 11

Dec 18, 2012 9:48 AM in response to Kilgore-Trout

Firebug shows these errors on the Develoment tildetest url:

NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://tildetest.cogs.indiana.edu/about-us/%3C?=$wwwRoot?%3Efiles_assets/css/img _shadow.css"

"NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://tildetest.cogs.indiana.edu/about-us/%3C?=$wwwRoot?%3Efiles_assets/css/vie w.css"

"NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://tildetest.cogs.indiana.edu/about-us/%3C?=$wwwRoot?%3Efiles_assets/javascr ipt/pform/calendar.js "

"NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://tildetest.cogs.indiana.edu/about-us/%3C?=$wwwRoot?%3Efiles_assets/javascr ipt/popup.js"

"NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/images/2006/dvsmall.jpg"

"NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://tildetest.cogs.indiana.edu/about-us/%3C?=$wwwRoot?%3Efiles_assets/css/vie w.css"

"NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://tildetest.cogs.indiana.edu/about-us/%3C?=$wwwRoot?%3Efiles_assets/javascr ipt/popup.js "

"NetworkError: 404 Not Found - http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/images/2006/dvsmall.jpg "

Which are not present in the production site. Seems one of those missing files is messing with the links in some way. But since they aren't loaded for development, the links work as they should.

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Answer 12

cationic

Level 1

137 points

Dec 18, 2012 11:10 AM in response to E.E. Prom

Interestingly, the Facebook web site behaves the same way on an iPad...

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Answer 13

Sep 21, 2013 7:59 AM in response to cationic

Lately I have been getting HTTP Error: 404 (Not Found) when I go to Facebook and amazon.com on my iPad. I clear out safari but I still can't get on the site.

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