Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Why doesn't Safari wrap text?

>> I would LOVE to have text wrap for my iPhone. <<

Then I would emphatically suggest that you download, install and spend some time using and experimenting with InstaPaper

It will take a little time and use to understand how this app works, but, once you do, it will address most of the iOS text wrap needs.

While it was originally designed to convert browser content you encountered on your PC, it now allows you to convert pages and links on the device itself. There is also an eMail option where you forward html email to a personal InstaPaper eMail address for conversion and reading on the device.

InstaPaper requires a data connection of retrieve converted content, but, once received, the content is available to read with no data connection.

Related, iOS 5 did finally add a "text converter" to mobile Safari, but it is a terrible implementation that is only marginally usable. It often fails to see and convert all of the text and does not include images, etc, that InstaPaper does.

fwiw, I have no connection with InstaPaper other than being a very satisfied user since it was originally released.

Beverly Howard
 
bevhoward said:
>> I would LOVE to have text wrap for my iPhone. <<

Then I would emphatically suggest that you download, install and spend some time using and experimenting with InstaPaper

It will take a little time and use to understand how this app works, but, once you do, it will address most of the iOS text wrap needs.

While it was originally designed to convert browser content you encountered on your PC, it now allows you to convert pages and links on the device itself. There is also an eMail option where you forward html email to a personal InstaPaper eMail address for conversion and reading on the device.

InstaPaper requires a data connection of retrieve converted content, but, once received, the content is available to read with no data connection.

Related, iOS 5 did finally add a "text converter" to mobile Safari, but it is a terrible implementation that is only marginally usable. It often fails to see and convert all of the text and does not include images, etc, that InstaPaper does.

fwiw, I have no connection with InstaPaper other than being a very satisfied user since it was originally released.

Beverly Howard
Click to expand...

That does look like a very nice app, but I don't think it is worth $5. 99 cents? Sure! $2? Maybe. But that's about it. I guess I will just have to make due with the Reader function and reading in landscape orientation.
 
ihightower said:
this is just exactly what apple users say..

oh never mind.. more and more people are moving to mobile site.. so one doesn't have to worry..

this is a biggest joke.. there are millions of websites not going to move a mobile version of the site for another 10 years or even more.. or perhaps never.

yeah i will wait for that..

instead of fixing the problem at source.. (which is the iOS software) you expect the site creators to fix.. this is plain stupid again.


''oh your house is on fire''.. don't worry.. it will eventually settle.. you can take the ashes or better yet you can move house..

if it was me.. I will try to put out the fire.. (nip the bud).


ok bye now again.
Click to expand...

Apple users either hate or don't want what they don't have, it pretty pathetic.
 
MassiveAttack said:
there's always room for improvement :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Of course, but text wrapping might not be one of them. Personally, I think text wrapping is an ugly solution to the problem. I find Safari and IEs approach much better. I'm waiting for the web browsers on Android not to need text wrapping to be usable!
 
>> I don't think it is worth $5. 99 cents? <<

My perspective is that a better evaluation would be the value of your time considering the impact that any software will have on that commodity.

It _is_ unfortunate that the author has elected to remove the free version (probably because it did almost everything the paid version did) so people could see what it was capable of doing but, as mentioned, it has proven to be astronomically more valuable than the $4.99 (not $5.99) it now costs.

That said, those costs seem trivial, almost free, to me since $5 is now about the same worth as a quarter when I was growing up and three decades of computer use where a rock bottom price for any utility software was around $40

>> I think text wrapping is an ugly solution to the problem. I find Safari and IEs approach much better. <<

A bit confused here... what they do _is_ to wrap the text if the window is not large enough to display a full line. They _do_ have the ability to zoom the text fonts rather than just zooming in on a fixed size canvas, so, assume that is where they excel?

>> ie <<

Who uses ie? Not anyone who has spent a few days with FireFox ;-)

Beverly Howard
 
bevhoward said:
>> I don't think it is worth $5. 99 cents? <<

My perspective is that a better evaluation would be the value of your time considering the impact that any software will have on that commodity.

It _is_ unfortunate that the author has elected to remove the free version (probably because it did almost everything the paid version did) so people could see what it was capable of doing but, as mentioned, it has proven to be astronomically more valuable than the $4.99 (not $5.99) it now costs.

That said, those costs seem trivial, almost free, to me since $5 is now about the same worth as a quarter when I was growing up and three decades of computer use where a rock bottom price for any utility software was around $40

>> I think text wrapping is an ugly solution to the problem. I find Safari and IEs approach much better. <<

A bit confused here... what they do _is_ to wrap the text if the window is not large enough to display a full line. They _do_ have the ability to zoom the text fonts rather than just zooming in on a fixed size canvas, so, assume that is where they excel?

>> ie <<

Who uses ie? Not anyone who has spent a few days with FireFox ;-)

Beverly Howard
Click to expand...

Yep, Apple and Microsoft's approach of pre-wrapping the text is much more elegant than Google's wrapping as you go (which affords a performance penalty, breaks page formatting and doesn't always work)

I didn't realise Firefox was available for Windows Phone.
 
>> I didn't realise Firefox was available for Windows Phone. <<

Was talking about on windows ;-) I have not seen windows mobile ie (pie) since winmobile6

From my experience mobile Safari has no decent text access options unless the page happens to be formatted for the user's device and font size needs. The recent iOS 5 "text" addition has some serious problems... most notably that it will frequently only convert a small amount of text if there is a "break" of any kind on the page.

I have heard (but yet to see) that if an android phone user resizes text to a readable size, double tapping the screen will then reflow the larger text to fit the screen. However, I do know that the Fire does not have this option.
 
Wirelessly posted

Stil wish Apple would implement text wrap as an option (the way HTC text wrap works). Nothing wrong with an on/off switch for it, right?
 
KAB2010 said:
Wirelessly posted

Stil wish Apple would implement text wrap as an option (the way HTC text wrap works). Nothing wrong with an on/off switch for it, right?
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with a switch as long as Apple don't break the existing method of zooming in Safari :).
 
ihightower said:
yes.. i do agree with you that choice is good..

But, my point again is that:

If not having 'word wrap' is really a bad idea on iOS.. then people should agree and accept that this is inferior and consider to recommend that 'word wrap' should be available by default or at least turn it on somehow through options.

But, instead... what I see here from guys like you is that.. some really crappy excuse like this..

1) oh! i don't read on an iphone.. if you want to read use a desktop
2) oh! there are mobile sites which should give a better experience. (but you should know that mobile sites are even inferior to the word wrap feature).

Guys.. listen.. 'word wrap' should be a MUST have for all browsers.. without that it will give really a hard time for users who are reading text...
and that 'word wrap' should be the standard.. regardless of you guys ((the minority NOT READING on iphone or ipad guys)) need it or not.

To understand what I mean.. try reading the following page (with pinch to zoom for bigger font) on your iphone or ipad safari: http://openbookproject.net/thinkcs/python/english2e/ch12.html

and try the same on android browser (stock and opera).

You will notice the difference.. that you will need to scroll 4 ways on iphone or ipad.. while android will give you a seamless reading experience.

Don't come back with stupid excuses on why you don't read on iphone.. but recommend to have the change to have 'word wrap'

OK My JOB is DONE HERE!!!

I may be back for more additional replies. on this topic... depending on my mood.

---- i am annoyed about how the iOS users are not annoyed by this missing superior world class feature--- so that's why i ended up on this forum happy to know someone was annoyed.. and some other ones like you just wanted to argue that 'word wrap' is not really needed.
Click to expand...

Obvious troll is obvious.
 
I too am VERY disappointed in the lack of "vision" at APPLE. ((Pun intended). Not only did they fail to come out with a larger screen for iphone5, they failed to provide word wrap. I refuse to own a phone that requires me to swim all over the page when trying to see a reasonable sized font without my glasses on. I am not alone either. Approximately 80% of the population over the age of 45 suffers some degree of presbyopia (loss of elasticity in the focusing plane at the back of the eye).

Is this 1-2 punch Apples way of saying they dont care about middle and older aged consumers? Then Screw you Apple. I've had it. Switching (reluctantly) to the Galaxy4 next week.
 
Noargos said:
I too am VERY disappointed in the lack of "vision" at APPLE. ((Pun intended). Not only did they fail to come out with a larger screen for iphone5, they failed to provide word wrap. I refuse to own a phone that requires me to swim all over the page when trying to see a reasonable sized font without my glasses on. I am not alone either. Approximately 80% of the population over the age of 45 suffers some degree of presbyopia (loss of elasticity in the focusing plane at the back of the eye).

Is this 1-2 punch Apples way of saying they dont care about middle and older aged consumers? Then Screw you Apple. I've had it. Switching (reluctantly) to the Galaxy4 next week.
Click to expand...

Double tap......
 
Okay before I start off I just want to mention that having the text-wrap feature isn't ugly at all. I know that everyone's allowed to have their own opinion and it's fine, I know that's why there is so many different types of things existing. But I just love my Ipad so much as much as I love my nexus 7 android tablet.

Even having a big screen on my ipad makes it annoying to be able to zoom in, but NOT have a text-wrap feature on it. Even with a big screen I struggle, not to mention I owned an iphone 4s before switching to the galaxy s4.

People complaining that it's annoying and ugly doesn't really make sense. This feature was meant to make web browsing on a tablet/phone much easier and a better experience. You can take off the text-wrap feature off an android device btw. It's sometimes different in every device so you may have to search online to learn how to do it.

People mentioning that apple should have a text-wrap feature aren't trying to say apple sucks, nor are they trying to hurt other people's feelings. They're just simply mentioning a feature worth having on an apple device, that most of you would probably enjoy having as well. They're trying to make apple even better.(Well most of us are.)

And to the person who said that they read on their laptop or whatever... I travel a lot, and during work and my lunch break, I enjoy surfing the web and reading the news/articles, about games coming out soon, advice, forums, etc. I don't always have my laptop available to me. Plus this is why I bought my tablets, so I didn't have to carry my laptops around with me. And that is the same reason why a phone has a web browser as well. Why bother turning on your laptop, wait for it to load for a few mins, then open the internet browser, wait for it to load (waiting again) and just retype in the same thing you typed in your phone to just read ONE thing. :p come on now. -.-

Plus coming home from a long day of work, or even those few people that after work for hours on a computer for example,(or a job that requires sitting down for long periods of time, or a job where you're doing too much physical activity) isn't want to come home take a nice nap, and then wake up and just relax in bed, and read on your tablet/phone instead of sitting the computer for a long time? -_-
Even having the computer on your lap is annoying. :p

Text wrap should be an option of apple device and should have an on and off switch, and even if most of you who don't really read on it, I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy it as well. It comes in handy 99% of the time. It'd make reading easier and less than struggle. You won't have to worry about taking so much time.
I have 20/20 eye sight, and not having this feature on a small iphone 4s screen is SUPER annoying.


My opinion, but I feel like a lot would benefit from it. :p
 
Last edited:
BeeutifulKaren said:
Okay before I start off I just want to mention that having the text-wrap feature isn't ugly at all. I know that everyone's allowed to have their own opinion and it's fine, I know that's why so many different types of things exist. But I just love my Ipad so much as much as I love my nexus 7 android tablet.



Even having a big screen on my ipad makes it annoying to be able to zoom in, and NOT have a text-wrap feature on it. Even with a big screen I struggle, not to mention I did own an iphone 4s before switching to the galaxy s4.



People complaining that it's annoying and ugly don't really make sense. This feature was meant to make web browsing on a tablet/phone much easier and a better experience. You can take off the feature off an android device btw. It's sometimes different in every device so you may have to search online.



People mentioning this aren't try to say apple sucks, or are trying to hurt other people's feelings. They're just simply mentioning a feature worth having on an apple device, that most of you would probably enjoy having. They're trying to apple even better.(Well most of us)



And to the person who said that they read on their laptop or whatever... I travel a lot, and during work and my lunch break, I enjoy surfing the web and reading the news/articles, and reading new articles about games coming out soon. I don't always have my laptop available to me. Plus which is why I bought my tablets, so I didn't have to carry my tablet around with me. And same reason why a phone has a web browser as well.



Plus coming home from a long day of work, or even after work for hours on a computer for example, don't tell me you wouldn't want to come home take a nice nap, and then wake up and just relax in bed, and read on your tablet/phone instead of sitting the computer for a long time? -_-



Text wrap should have an on and off switch on apple, and even if most of you who don't really read on it, I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy it. It'd make reading easier and less than struggle. You won't have to worry about taking so much time.

I have 20/20 eye sight, and not having this feature on a small iphone 4s screen is SUPER annoying.





My opinion, but I feel like a lot would benefit from it. :p
Click to expand...


Text wrap what? Websites aren't simple straight forward block justified documents.
 
miss.manson said:
Obvious troll is obvious.
Click to expand...

He's just giving his honest opinion. :p he isn't a troll, unless you were talking about the person who told him that more websites are on mobile now, if so then sorry. :p

----------
Text wrap what? Websites aren't simple straight forward block justified documents.
Click to expand...

?????? I have no idea what you just said. :p or at least what you meant in responds to what I said. :p

----------
mrochester said:
Nothing wrong with a switch as long as Apple don't break the existing method of zooming in Safari :).
Click to expand...

It wouldn't break the zooming method ins Safari at all. xD
 
Example

2egb140.jpg
 
I've never really thought about it.

My last phone had text wrap, but I found it a bit ugly, it disfigures the website.

My opinion only, but I prefer how iOS devices stay true to the websites intended design and layout.

Maybe Apple should make it optional... Some thing I know they aren't a fan of, but I can see its uses.
 
jabingla2810 said:
I've never really thought about it.

My last phone had text wrap, but I found it a bit ugly, it disfigures the website.

My opinion only, but I prefer how iOS devices stay true to the websites intended design and layout.

Maybe Apple should make it optional... Some thing I know they aren't a fan of, but I can see its uses.
Click to expand...

Hmm that's interesting it doesn't disfigure the websites on my tablet. It's good that you are sharing your opinion I like that. I don't see how zooming in to read an article and having the text fit the screen makes it not true to the websites. It's just fitting the screen, once you zoom back out it website it exactly how it should look (or at least should be). and if you zoom in and move side to side, the website is still the same, the text is just basically centering and fitting on the screen. Kind of like using coding, For example using
< br > and < p > on an html coding: its' text go down in place. ^_^

How long ago did you have that phone that had text-wrap? and that's cool, I'm just trying to make it useful to people. ^_^ text-wrap for me only enables when I zoom in pretty close.
^_^ scrolling left, to right, down and up isn't really fun and user-friendly. It gets annoying sometimes too. so text-wrap does make reading much easier. ^_^ But like I said already it's fine if you found it ugly. I just try to open people's mind.

----------

Oh and text messages are using text wrap, that's why you never scroll side to side. The text messages are meant to fit the screen. You just can't really zoom in on them but they're still using the formatting.
 
Last edited:
BeeutifulKaren said:
^

How long ago did you have that phone that had text-wrap? .
Click to expand...

In fairness, the phone I had that used Text Wrap was a god awful Samsung Windows 6.5 phone, the Omnia i900.

Which was about 5 years ago, and I'm sure Android does it much nicer these days, but that's my only experience of it.

Of course our opinions are mostly dependant on what websites we frequent the most, and I must say I've never had an issue with the iPhone on any of the websites I visit. I do however use Reeder and Instapaper a lot when reading articles. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back