Ask Metafilter search result page looks bad in iOS Safari October 2, 2011 8:36 AM   Subscribe

iPod touch er, 4.2.1. In safari, ask.metafilter in-page search results have a white background with orange text.

Can't tell on the device, but a look on the desktop with firebug suggests something to do with the iframe/body/html elements, as that is the general area that has the white background. Perhaps transparency applied through js or css is not being recognized. Seems odd that it would look fine in regular safari but not ipod safari, but there it is. Tried clearing history to the extent allowed on the iPod. I hate fixing fiddly stuff like this, so, sorry to point it out.
posted by zangpo to Bugs at 8:36 AM (7 comments total)

Can you send us a screenshot so we can see what you see?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:37 AM on October 2, 2011


Here we go:

http://tinypic.com/r/68yloz/7

I guess I meant yellow text...
posted by zangpo at 8:50 AM on October 2, 2011


This is Google's search service. They're serving up the results and they probably have a bug in the way they display things for iOS devices. If you log in on your phone you can use the site search and that should look better. Alternately, you can search at Google.com using your search term and site:ask.metafilter.com to get exactly the same results. It should be formatted well there.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:04 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Finally, a professional approach in at least one part of the site.
/traditional
posted by Abiezer at 9:31 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Awwwwww yeah, Metafilter's pb vs Google and they're the ones with da bug. That's whats up. Holla.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:20 AM on October 2, 2011


Yeah, the thing is we use Google's Custom Search Engine feature for non-logged-in users. And Google serves those results through an iframe. We set the colors and design via a form at Google, and we don't have any control beyond that. We can't set any styles for it on our end. So I know it seems odd that Google would have any sort of bug, but that's what's happening here.

We know the Google Custom Search Engine isn't so great on mobile and we don't link to it anywhere on the mobile version. So zangpo must have typed in the Search page address on his phone.

What we'll have to do is come up with a different Google search for non-members on iPhones. In the meantime, znagpo can either log in and use our local search or try the Google tips I mentioned.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:35 AM on October 2, 2011


Ah, I see. Obviously no big deal, but I know we have a class operation here so I wanted to point it out. Just for clarity, I went to ask.metafilter.com home and entered text in the page's search box, while not logged in.
posted by zangpo at 12:50 PM on October 2, 2011


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