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I love using the 'User Agent Switcher' Firefox addon on most sites on my desktop PC, in order to trick websites into using the mobile versions by masquerading as an iPhone/Android user agent. I like how on mobile sites I can enlarge text as much as I want and it will move text to the next line instead of making me scroll left and right to read it all.

However, of course, video sites such as YouTube ask me to install the Safari plugins, which I cannot do. I would love to be able to use the 'User Agent Switcher' addon in separate tabs, or only for certain websites.

How can I do this?

Gareth
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karl
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  • +1 I agree, the only workaround I've found so far is use a different browser at the same time, such as Chrome... or... no no, pretty much FF and Chrome) – Robotnik Aug 13 '12 at 01:48
  • I followed a related SU post and am currently trying out the FireFox addon UAcontrol (here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/uacontrol/). But it doesn't seem to be having any effect at all. – karl Aug 13 '12 at 02:01
  • ... Neither does RefControl (here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/refcontrol/?src=ss), which was mentioned in UAcontrol's user reviews.

    Don't really see the benefit of opening up an alternate browser only for the websites where I prefer to switch the user-agent to ipone/android to view mobile sites over, well, switching the user-agent back and forth, lol. I already had my hopes dashed trying to use U-A-S in two different firefox windows but that didn't work either.

     – karl Aug 13 '12 at 02:08
  • Yeah I know, switching between windows is a bit annoying, but I tend to reduce the size of both windows so I can view them side by side (Windows 7, snap to side ♥). not the best solution, but the only one i've come up with so far – Robotnik Aug 13 '12 at 02:12
  • By using a Greasemonkey script ''youtube me again'' (here: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/60843) I can access YT videos when they are posted as links elsewhere.

    If I am on a YT video page whilst spoofing myself as an iphone/android and attempt to play the video I get error messages similar to these: "Safari needs to install plugin"

    "Firefox doesn't know how to open this address, because the protocol (vnd.youtube) isn't associated with any program."

    However if I then press back and scroll down to the bottom of the page 'youtube me again' pops-up and I can play YT videos from YT.com.

     – karl Aug 13 '12 at 02:30
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    I think I may have gotten UAcontrol to work... I set neogaf to spoof as an iphone. Instead of doing what UserAgentSwitcher does, and automatically loading the mobile site when you visit a regular page/bookmark with UAS spoofing turned-on (and conversely auto-loading the regular page when you visit a mobile page with UAS spoofing turned-off); you have to load the mobile page/bookmark with UAcontrol turned on. This will keep that site using the mobile version whilst other sites (such as YT) will continue using the regular desktop version. – karl Aug 13 '12 at 04:06
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    Here's what I did:
    1. Use UserAgentSwitcher to spoof myself as an iphone. Visit neogaf (that I always want to load the mobile version of) and it automatically loaded the mobile version.
    2. Made a bookmark to neogaf's mobile page.
    3. Set UAcontrol to use iphone useragent on neogaf.
    4. Turned off UserAgentSwitcher.

    When I launch neogaf from the regular bookmark it uses the regular website. When I launch neogaf from the mobile version bookmark, it uses the mobile version. Thus... UAS functionality localized to one site rather than globally. RESULT!

     – karl Aug 13 '12 at 04:12
  • Excellent! I haven't had a chance to test it (busy at work today) but if it works for you, add it as an answer to this question :) – Robotnik Aug 13 '12 at 04:13

1 Answers1

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Here's what I did in FireFox:

  1. Used UserAgentSwitcher Addon to spoof myself as an iphone. Visited site I always want to load the mobile version of, and it automatically loaded the mobile version.

  2. Made a bookmark to the site's mobile page.

  3. Set UAcontrol Addon to use iphone useragent on the site.

  4. Turned off UserAgentSwitcher.

When I launch the site from the regular bookmark it uses the regular website. And when I launch the site from the mobile version bookmark, it uses the mobile version.

Thus... UserAccountSwitcher functionality localized to one site rather than globally.

karl
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