Solved: Mobile Device Simulator

[JiminSA]

I wonder, does anyone know of a simulator online which will give a true representation of a mobile device's interaction with a website?
"Why?" you may well be asking. Because I am doing a screen resolution test in my revamp of my website, which determines if certain facets of the site are shown or not.

 

[ckphilli]

Hiya Jim, have a look at SOTI pocket controller. Not sure if it's what you're after, but may be a start. I think they have a free trial.

 

[colinsp]

Jim

I use Firefox with the Web developers tool bar. It has a responsive view under the resize option and under the resize config you can set other device screen sizes.

 

[JiminSA]

Brilliant! Chris, thank you for that lead - as you say, not quite what I was looking for, but Colin seems to have hit the proverbial nail on the head - thank you Colin I'll get right on to it (I normally use Chrome and was not aware of Firefox Web Developers Tool bar)

 

[colinsp]

Jim

See the attached screen shots for my settings for the different devices that I use. Hope it helps.

 

[JiminSA]

Thanks Colin, your heads-up is much appreciated
BTW after a bit of investigation I see that Chrome offer a similar facility here except theirs is rendered in a same size individual popup ...

 

[colinsp]

I don't like Chrome as a browser although I do use it purely for testing compatibility. I have been using the WD toolbar for years on Firefox and find it superior to any of the inbuilt Inspect Element tools.

 

[Ent]

Be aware that there are differences between phone and pc browsers beyond the shape and size of the screen, especially once you start to look at interactive sites. For "What does this look like", simulations are fine but make sure you do at least some testing with the real thing.

For example, I recently built a web based program which had custom drag and drop code. It looked fine on my phone, but the drag and drop code just didn't work with a touch interface. Further, the fallback up and down buttons did work functionally, but while they're fine for the pixel perfect mouse they were a bit too small and close together for fat fingers on a touch screen.
This is the kind of thing you only discover with testing in the same way as it'll eventually be used.

 

[JiminSA]

Be aware that there are differences between phone and pc browsers beyond the shape and size of the screen, especially once you start to look at interactive sites. For "What does this look like", simulations are fine but make sure you do at least some testing with the real thing.

I agree with you Josiah and thank you also for your heads-up concerning testing ...