Update: Added full version links for MSN, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal discovered by "myeage" on the Opera Mini Forum and for Google News from a comment by Wap Review reader, Lewis. Updated Yahoo home page workaround.
Opera Mini usage is up again. According to Opera's latest State of the Mobile Web report, over 20 million people used the tiny but mighty browser in January, an increase of 12.1 percent over December. Opera Mini page views were 18% in just one month and 350% compared with a year ago. The trend is likely to continue. Opera just announced deals with Yahoo to distribute Opera Mini as part of a new Yahoo mobile application and with Vodafone to pre-install Opera Mini on the carrier's feature phones in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The stock market certainly seems to have noticed Opera's phenomenal growth, in spite of the recession, Opera's share price is up 47% in the last three months.
With all the hype about the iPhone it's easy to overlook the fact that more people surf the web with Opera Mini than with Apple's device.
Given all the traffic Opera Mini is generating you'd think that web developers would take pains to insure that their sites work well with it. Actually, other than adhering to web standards, avoiding Flash and going easy on the JavaScript there isn't anything that you have to do to optimize a site for Opera Mini. Most full web and mobile sites work perfectly in Mini just as they are.
There is a one web design issue that Opera Mini users do face occasionally; sites that force them to use a dumbed down mobile version intended for the limited browsers found on low end feature phones. I have nothing against mobile sites, obviously. I build them and write about them every day here at Wap Review. It's not redirecting mobile browsers to the mobile versions of sites that bothers me either. Users with an old RAZR or something similar will thank you for that. The problem is not offering a way to view the full version combined with mobile sites that lack essential features and content found in the equivalent full web versions. As I've been preaching for years, every mobile site needs to include a Full Version link.
People who have never used Opera Mini have no idea how fast it is and what a great job it does at making full web sites usable on a two inch screen. Mini users get very frustrated when they are redirected to a mobile site that lacks the features they are used to on their PCs. It's highly annoying not to be able to follow links in Yahoo Mail or assign labels in Gmail or edit your Orkut or Friendster profile or join a Bebo group; none of which are possible with the mobile versions of these sites.
Fortunately many mobile sites, including Orkut, Flickr and most Google sites now include a link to the full version. It's also possible to force the full-web versions of some sites in Opera Mini by using a special URL.
I've compiled a list of websites where getting to the full version with Opera Mini is harder than it should be along with a work around if I've found one.
Orkut: Has a link to the full version at the bottom of most mobile pages. Or you can go directly to www.orkut.com (the www. is required to force the full web version). The gotcha is that you have to use Opera Mini's "Desktop View" to see the full version of Orkut, there is an Opera Mini bug that renders Orkut as a blank page in "Mobile View".
Friendster has a full site link but it's especially well hidden. To find it:
- Go to www.friendster.com or friendster.com on your phone. The mobile version will load.
- Click on the "Help" link near the bottom of the page.
- Scroll down to near the bottom of the Help page and click the "Classic Version" link.
- Or you can just bookmark: www.friendster.com/switchsite.php?site=www&t=1
MySpace: There used to be a full site link on Mobile MySpace's log in page but it disappeared in the MySpace Mobile redesign this week. Now you have to use this URL to get to the full version: www.myspace.com/?useclassicmyspace=true
Other sites where you have to use a special URL to force the fill-version include:
The Yahoo homepage: yahoo.com/?m=1
CNN: edition.cnn.com Note: this will give you the International Edition of CNN. I haven't found a way to view the full CNN US Edition with Opera Mini.
Newsweek: www.newsweek.com/id/38204
Yahoo Mail is a special case. mail.yahoo.com loads the full version of Yahoo Mail but only if you haven't upgraded to the "New" version of Yahoo Mail. Switching to the new mail seems to set a flag that forces the display of the mobile version of mail in Opera Mini. You must switch back to Classic Yahoo mail in order to restore mobile access. There doesn't seem to be anyway to switch back using Opera Mini, you have to find a PC to do it.
- Go into Yahoo Mail with a PC browser. Click the "Mail Classic" link at the top of the page and switch to Classic Mail.
- Launch Opera Mini and go to http://mail.yahoo.com and you should be in Mail Classic.
- The key thing is that you must switch your account to use Mail Classic. You need to use a PC browser to make that switch. There doesn't seem to be any way to use the "New" Yahoo Mail on your PC and the Classic version on your phone.
MSN: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3053415
Google News: news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn
ESPN: espn.go.com
Wall Street Journal: online.wsj.com/home-page
Hall of Shame: There are a few sites that stubbornly refuse to let Opera Mini users view their full web version.
- Microsoft: Is the worst offender. Just about all Microsoft sites including Hotmail force Opera Mini users to a mobile version with no known workaround.
- Picassaweb and iGoogle: These two sites are exceptions to Google's generally good job of providing links to the "Classic" non-mobile versions.
If you discover other sites that are blocking Opera mini from their full-web versions or you find additional workarounds please leave a comment.
Related Post:
The “Real” Web on Phones and What it Means for Designers
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I tried extracting the iGoogle url from the Google cache results but failed to come up with anything that works.
One website I use forces a re-direct to the mobile site which is a pay site, while the normal full website is free.
This even happens when using Opera Mini.
I tried using various anonymous proxies, but the website would still not work in Opera Mini.
Then I found http://www.boltbrowser.com. It's a java webbrowser like Opera Mini (in beta), but it worked first time and like a bomb.
The Opera guys NEED TO PICK UP THEIR GAME!!!
As stated in the post. "Just about all Microsoft sites including Hotmail force Opera Mini users to a mobile version with no known workaround."
If you find a way to do it please let us know.
http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/currentweatherusnational/usinfraredsatellite_large_animated.html
http://www.weather.com gives me the full version of Weather.com. The weather map URL works too if you refresh the page after it loads. It's not animated because Opera Mini doesn't support animation but you can step through the frames one by one with the ">" key.
I've updated the post.