why is it that sometimes I can have up to 4 web pages going at once and if I hit the button in the bottom right, I can see the screenshots from all four. Then sometimes I'll have two pages that I recently brought up running, but while viewing one page I'll go to the other one via the little button in the bottom right, only to find it to be a blank screen that has to load the page all over again. What causes this? Anyway to predict it?
There is an explanation for everything. The fact that we don't know it doesn't mean it isn't there.*
(*) Spock, Original Star Trek
Meanwhile, I can't really figure it out. It seems that the maximum of pages that can be open in Safari is 8. With the limited actual memory of the iPhone, I'm sure the pages' content and their use of the said memory has something to do with all of this.
(*) Spock, Original Star Trek
Meanwhile, I can't really figure it out. It seems that the maximum of pages that can be open in Safari is 8. With the limited actual memory of the iPhone, I'm sure the pages' content and their use of the said memory has something to do with all of this.
Yeah I think it's just a bug, or overzealous memory management. Regardless, I hope they sort it, because it's annoying for sure.
Someone in a recent thread (MacManPro?) pointed out that if you immediately go back to the first page after launching a new one and scroll around a bit, then go to the new one, you have a much greater chance of not losing the first page. I've been trying it and it does help quite a bit. Try it...
Someone in a recent thread (MacManPro?) pointed out that if you immediately go back to the first page after launching a new one and scroll around a bit, then go to the new one, you have a much greater chance of not losing the first page. I've been trying it and it does help quite a bit. Try it...
I suspect it is more of a memory and resource saving method then a bug. It is probably programmed in such a way that if you are not actively looking at a particular site that it stores the URL but dumps the "memorized" images and page information until you need to go there again. I suspect that if it allowed you to keep all 8 pages live in the background that the performance on the phone in general and especially the page your viewing at the time would slow to a crawl. Imagine all those pages checking for updates in the background, updating the animated images or ad bars that change constantly and you have 8 pages all doing that and then a call comes in, that would be enough to lock the phone and force you to reboot loosing your call and all your pages.
So, I suspect it is intentional to maintain the performance level of the phone with multiple pages open. I hate it, but if I look at it this way it doesn't bother me as much.
So, I suspect it is intentional to maintain the performance level of the phone with multiple pages open. I hate it, but if I look at it this way it doesn't bother me as much.
Is your back button history gone too?
And how about when you click on a link and it opens a pop up window. Then later on after you've browsed around a bit in the pop up, you decide to close it, which brings you back to the original webpage, which has to be reloaded. But it doesn't reload the original webpage. You want the original webpage but IT'S THE SAME WEBPAGE AS THE POP UP! And there's no back button history so you can't even go back! You lost the original webpage!
Man I HAAAAATE that.
And how about when you click on a link and it opens a pop up window. Then later on after you've browsed around a bit in the pop up, you decide to close it, which brings you back to the original webpage, which has to be reloaded. But it doesn't reload the original webpage. You want the original webpage but IT'S THE SAME WEBPAGE AS THE POP UP! And there's no back button history so you can't even go back! You lost the original webpage!
Man I HAAAAATE that.
It's to save memory; if your iPhone is loading a web page that is particularly large, then it will unload some of those other 'tabbed' pages in order to free up memory for this page. Hence if you are listening to music while surfing the web, the music may stop playing, this too is a way of freeing up memory.
Hope this clears things up.
Arran
Hope this clears things up.
Arran
I think there are several issues being discussed here, or at least by psylichon.
The issue of not keeping the cache of open pages is one thing, probably memory related. This is not necessarily a bug.
But another issue, and this is most definitely a bug, is Mobile Safari's (annoying) behavior of "forgetting" the active page should you leave it due to a open-in-new-tab link. The expected behavior after closing the newly opened tab and returning to the original tab is to be right where you left it. But that is often not the case. I think this is what psylichon was referring to. I do the work-around of quickly returning to the source tab (while the new tab is still loading) but I don't remember to do it all the time, and sometimes it doesn't work (in which case I use the History bookmark to get back to the page I had been on).
A related bug (if you will) is that Safari too easily forgets the back button. I call this a bug since the pages the back button would have pointed to are still in the History bookmark.
As for the number of tabs, I often have 6+ open all of the time, and hit the 8 tab limit weekly. I wouldn't mind the 8 tab limit being increased, or perhaps a way to have two copies of Safari loaded/saved at a time (kinda like having multiple browser windows open on your PC, each with multiple tabs loaded). Yes, this is a mobile phone but I've gotten used to using it for many Websites that I would have--before the iphone--only viewed from a "true" computer (indeed a can't wait for Firefox to have some sort of "click at the top to go to the top" type of control, like the iPhone has
).
--
Mike
The issue of not keeping the cache of open pages is one thing, probably memory related. This is not necessarily a bug.
But another issue, and this is most definitely a bug, is Mobile Safari's (annoying) behavior of "forgetting" the active page should you leave it due to a open-in-new-tab link. The expected behavior after closing the newly opened tab and returning to the original tab is to be right where you left it. But that is often not the case. I think this is what psylichon was referring to. I do the work-around of quickly returning to the source tab (while the new tab is still loading) but I don't remember to do it all the time, and sometimes it doesn't work (in which case I use the History bookmark to get back to the page I had been on).
A related bug (if you will) is that Safari too easily forgets the back button. I call this a bug since the pages the back button would have pointed to are still in the History bookmark.
As for the number of tabs, I often have 6+ open all of the time, and hit the 8 tab limit weekly. I wouldn't mind the 8 tab limit being increased, or perhaps a way to have two copies of Safari loaded/saved at a time (kinda like having multiple browser windows open on your PC, each with multiple tabs loaded). Yes, this is a mobile phone but I've gotten used to using it for many Websites that I would have--before the iphone--only viewed from a "true" computer (indeed a can't wait for Firefox to have some sort of "click at the top to go to the top" type of control, like the iPhone has
).--
Mike
It's memory management. To test this, you can usually open 4-5 tabs of iPhone optimized web pages and they'll usually remain open for a long time. However if you load a FULL regular webpage, it will most likely clear the other tabs to make room.
Keep in mind it's loading the same web pages you view on your desktop and last time I checked, Firefox can take over 100MB of RAM. iPhone's Safari at most takes up 20MB. Not bad.
Keep in mind it's loading the same web pages you view on your desktop and last time I checked, Firefox can take over 100MB of RAM. iPhone's Safari at most takes up 20MB. Not bad.