How to view The Spanking Library on your iPad or iPhone

As an Apple addict, may I suggest if you wish to use your iPad or iPhone (or iPod Touch) to view The Spanking Library, please use the iTunes App Store to get Photon, a viewer that supports Flash (which TSL uses). Input the TSL address into Photon, then click the lightening bolt at the top right to allow the viewing of TSL stories.

(this might better go in Notices, but I could not post there).

...never mind. While Photon does let me view the first page of a story, there are no scroll bars to get beyond the first page. This spankus interruptus problem also occurs on the Kindle Fire with its browser.

The LSF doesn't use Flash. The site does, however, require a standards-compliant web browser with full javascript capability.

Ways that mean does photon
work

does anyone know how i would view this site on the kindle fire?

Going by Februs's previous responses to such questions, he will likely say; "as soon as Amazon updates the Fire with a standards-compliant web browser with full javascript capability" which, sad to say, is probably never.

I am a regular user of an Ipad. I recently purchased a Kindle Fire for a special purpose. Compared to the Ipad, web surfing with the Fire is a very tedious process. The Fire is a perfectly good book reader, but I can't yet recommend it as a browser.

Absolutely. I can view parts of this site, but navigation is very clunky. It's no iPad. decent book reader, but---it uses more battery power and requires wifi (no Amazon "whispernet" connectivity). I too got it as a special purpose portable reader for lead sheets on gigs. Otherwise would not have bothered.

Guy is absolutely right in saying the above and I'll try and explain why that's the case.

Some web sites present their text and graphics in a relatively unstructured way and are what I'd term passive, that is to say the items which are presented can not be manipulated and there is no actual functionality, just static information.

The LSF on the other hand is very highly structured, has oodles of things which can be manipulated and is not static. To achieve these things the site makes use of web page components such as CSS for styling and determining how the site looks and javascript, a scripting language, for providing various features that are mediated by the web browser such as the scrolling bookcases, the way the menus work, the story viewer, the way most of the windows open, including the comments and stories and so on.

To achieve all of these things I have to be certain the web browser will do what's being requested of it and there are an agreed set of standards for such things. Unfortunately, Microsoft tended to consider whatever it's own browser did as the standard as well as providing very buggy software and has been responsible for programmers wasting a staggering amount of time having to rewrite perfectly constructed code to work and display correctly on Internet Explorer. Fortunately, these days, despite Microsoft's cynical attempt to force people to use IE by embedding it in their operating system, other web browsers have gained significant market share. I still have to write everything twice, though, as of course the IE browsers are still in use but at least people have a choice now.

Now, onto other devices which can, to some extent, display web pages. Firstly, the smart phones. A constantly changing set of software, each vendor offering something different and also non-standard, most of them offering browser software which is totally unsuitable for presenting the LSF in the way it is intended. Furthermore, I can't see how they present the site or where the problems lie as I'd have to actually be a user of all these different phones myself and I don't actually have one at all as I have no use for them.

The iPad is a slightly different matter and I've no idea why Apple can't provide a fully standards compliant browser for it.. especially as their marketing boasts about how 'magic' it is. Also, we're not the only site that doesn't work fully with the iPad, I'm a member of a technical forum and there's heaps of others. Again, I don't own one myself (nor ever will) so it's difficult for me to investigate further. What I do see, however, are an increasing number of forum posts from people on various sites, who bought an iPad believing it would provide the same functionality offered by a laptop or pc and are now very frustrated.

The last time I saw a Kindle which I admit was some time ago it appeared totally unsuitable for displaying a site such as the LSF. Again, I don't own one or plan to, so not in a position to investigate further.

Is anyone able to advise me on the suitability of a Samsung Galaxy Tab(let) 10.1 for reading the LSF? Even if its native browser is not compliant, there are Android apps for Firefox and Opera so I assume there should be no difficulty.

I can't advise on its suitability for viewing the site except to say I would expect there to be problems. The versions of Firefox and Opera for the Android devices are not the same as those that run on the pc or Mac and as I don't own a tablet myself or ever plan to I'm not really in a position to investigate where the problems might lie and consequently try and fix them.