[GH-ISSUE #188] Panning in embedded map does not work #173

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opened 2026-10-29 12:16:42 +00:00 by bsakaguchi · 5 comments

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-29 12:16:42 +00:00

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Originally created by @freebrowser1 on GitHub (May 10, 2025).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/cylonid/NativeAlphaForAndroid/issues/188

Some websites have an embedded map which can be panned, but not all work properly.
Example: meteoblue.com. When opening that site and scrolling downward towards the satellite image, panning inside the satellite image does not work, only pinch zooming. On a real browser (macOS, Linux, Windows) one can pan through the map. But dragging inside the embedded satellite map on this site does not work.
Maybe adding a two-finger drag ?

Originally created by @freebrowser1 on GitHub (May 10, 2025). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/cylonid/NativeAlphaForAndroid/issues/188 Some websites have an embedded map which can be panned, but not all work properly. Example: meteoblue.com. When opening that site and scrolling downward towards the satellite image, panning inside the satellite image does not work, only pinch zooming. On a real browser (macOS, Linux, Windows) one can pan through the map. But dragging inside the embedded satellite map on this site does not work. Maybe adding a two-finger drag ?

bsakaguchi closed this issue

2026-10-29 12:16:42 +00:00

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-29 12:16:42 +00:00

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@cylonid commented on GitHub (May 10, 2025):

@freebrowser1 Can you shortly outline what the exact difference in behaviour between Native Alpha and other Android browsers is? Because I don't find any.
Dragging the map on meteoblue works if you click on the map's fullscreen icon. It does not if you don't. It's the same for other browsers I tried.

Panning with one finger and zooming with two fingers works on the embedded examples I tried. It's up the the website operators how they implement this though.

@cylonid commented on GitHub (May 10, 2025): @freebrowser1 Can you shortly outline what the exact difference in behaviour between Native Alpha and other Android browsers is? Because I don't find any. Dragging the map on meteoblue works if you click on the map's fullscreen icon. It does not if you don't. It's the same for other browsers I tried. Panning with one finger and zooming with two fingers works on the embedded examples I tried. It's up the the website operators how they implement this though.

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-29 12:16:43 +00:00

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@freebrowser1 commented on GitHub (May 10, 2025):

Dragging the map on meteoblue works if you click on the map's fullscreen icon. It does not if you don't. It's the same for other browsers I tried.
Indeed that works in fullscreen, but when not in fullscreen it does not pan. And on other browsers such as Chrome, Brave or Firefox on any desktop OS it does pan in an embedded frame. And Android browsers should behave the same as on Win/Mac/Linux. That is the issue.

@freebrowser1 commented on GitHub (May 10, 2025): > Dragging the map on meteoblue works if you click on the map's fullscreen icon. It does not if you don't. It's the same for other browsers I tried. Indeed that works in fullscreen, but when not in fullscreen it does not pan. And on other browsers such as Chrome, Brave or Firefox on any desktop OS it does pan in an embedded frame. And Android browsers should behave the same as on Win/Mac/Linux. That is the issue.

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-29 12:16:43 +00:00

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@cylonid commented on GitHub (May 12, 2025):

And Android browsers should behave the same as on Win/Mac/Linux.

I'd tend to disagree. Desktop browsers are not a benchmark for mobile browsers and mobile browsers are not a benchmark for desktop browsers. A browser operated by touch gestures naturally will have to handle certain things differently from a browser operated by mouse and keyboard, your issue is a perfect example for that.

If you think meteoblue does not work well on Android you have to direct your feedback to them. Website operators need to make sure their content is working on platforms they want to support. A browser cannot (or better: should not) interfere without very good reason. In this case, there is no reason because there are ways to correctly implement a more modern and user-friendly behaviour on Android, proven by the fact that other maps work fine.

@cylonid commented on GitHub (May 12, 2025): > And Android browsers should behave the same as on Win/Mac/Linux. I'd tend to disagree. Desktop browsers are not a benchmark for mobile browsers and mobile browsers are not a benchmark for desktop browsers. A browser operated by touch gestures naturally will have to handle certain things differently from a browser operated by mouse and keyboard, your issue is a perfect example for that. If you think meteoblue does not work well on Android you have to direct your feedback to them. Website operators need to make sure their content is working on platforms they want to support. A browser cannot (or better: should not) interfere without very good reason. In this case, there is no reason because there are ways to correctly implement a more modern and user-friendly behaviour on Android, proven by the fact that other maps work fine.

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-29 12:16:43 +00:00

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@freebrowser1 commented on GitHub (May 12, 2025):

I'd tend to disagree too. We live in 2025 and not in 2010 when smartphone browsers were primitive and were too slow to handle 'desktop' sites. So web developers made limited WAP versions of web sites called 'mobile' sites. Desktop computers did not have touch screens.
Currently these platforms are much more merged and now it is possible to make gestures or touches on a desktop browser and more and more laptops and desktops have a touch screen just like smartphones.
Fortunately most websites can be perfectly viewed in 'desktop' mode on a modern browser, so this is not a big deal. The meteoblue is one of the rare examples where embedded view cannot be panned. Adding a long click + hold or a two finger swipe (one of these is used on e.g. VNC viewers or even on macOS browsers) is a simple fix to allow panning within an iframe. So I see this as a browser limitation and Meteoblue have correctly implemented the panning.

@freebrowser1 commented on GitHub (May 12, 2025): I'd tend to disagree too. We live in 2025 and not in 2010 when smartphone browsers were primitive and were too slow to handle 'desktop' sites. So web developers made limited WAP versions of web sites called 'mobile' sites. Desktop computers did not have touch screens. Currently these platforms are much more merged and now it is possible to make gestures or touches on a desktop browser and more and more laptops and desktops have a touch screen just like smartphones. Fortunately most websites can be perfectly viewed in 'desktop' mode on a modern browser, so this is not a big deal. The meteoblue is one of the rare examples where embedded view cannot be panned. Adding a long click + hold or a two finger swipe (one of these is used on e.g. VNC viewers or even on macOS browsers) is a simple fix to allow panning within an iframe. So I see this as a browser limitation and Meteoblue have correctly implemented the panning.

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-29 12:16:43 +00:00

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@cylonid commented on GitHub (May 14, 2025):

What I was talking about is that two different browsers are never behaving exactly the same, on any platform. So your premise "It works like I want in browser XYZ on operating system ABC, so any other browser MUST behave the same" may be a nice wish, but it does not adhere to reality.

When further exploring the issue I am less and less sure what we are even talking about. First, the map I am referring to is not within an <iframe>, it's a <canvas>. Second, I am having mixed experience with panning on Windows: When I try it on Firefox with uBlock enabled, it does not work, neither by mouse nor by touch. It started working when I disabled uBlock.

If you continue to insist that whatever meteoblue.com are using here is correct, then you need to inform the developers of browser engines (for Android, that'd most notably be GeckoView/Mozilla and Android WebView/Chromium) that they are doing something wrong.

If you come to the conclusion that what meteoblue.com does may not really be correct, then you need to inform them. I am not saying what they do is wrong: That panning is not working on small screens could be a deliberate design decision because a touch on the map is ambigous: Does the user want to drag the map or does the user want to scroll the full page to the bottom? Hence, it is not a bad idea to limit dragging to fullscreen mode.

In any case, as I do not belong to neither group, I am the wrong addressee of your findings.

@cylonid commented on GitHub (May 14, 2025): What I was talking about is that two different browsers are never behaving exactly the same, on any platform. So your premise "_It works like I want in browser XYZ on operating system ABC, so any other browser MUST behave the same_" may be a nice wish, but it does not adhere to reality. When further exploring the issue I am less and less sure what we are even talking about. First, the map I am referring to is not within an `<iframe>`, it's a `<canvas>`. Second, I am having mixed experience with panning on Windows: When I try it on Firefox with uBlock enabled, it does not work, neither by mouse nor by touch. It started working when I disabled uBlock. If you continue to insist that whatever meteoblue.com are using here is correct, then you need to inform the developers of browser engines (for Android, that'd most notably be GeckoView/Mozilla and Android WebView/Chromium) that they are doing something wrong. If you come to the conclusion that what meteoblue.com does may not really be correct, then you need to inform them. I am not saying what they do is wrong: That panning is not working on small screens could be a deliberate design decision because a touch on the map is ambigous: Does the user want to drag the map or does the user want to scroll the full page to the bottom? Hence, it is not a bad idea to limit dragging to fullscreen mode. In any case, as I do not belong to neither group, I am the wrong addressee of your findings.