[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #34946: new comment redirects break anchors in Safari

[WordPress Trac]

#34946: new comment redirects break anchors in Safari
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 Reporter:  chuckmoulton   |      Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)   |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal         |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Comments       |    Version:  4.4
 Severity:  normal         |   Keywords:
  Focuses:  accessibility  |
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 WordPress has the following setting:
 [x] Break comments into pages with [ 50 ] top level comments per page and
 the [last] page displayed by default

 In previous versions of WordPress, changing that setting resulted in
 recent comment links appended with "/comment-page-1/" between the end of
 the post URL and the # anchor tag to the specific comment. This triggers a
 server redirect to the post URL, stripping "/comment-page-1/" off. Most
 browsers handle it fine... Safari across all platforms chokes. Safari
 redirects to the post without the anchor tag, meaning the user is at the
 top of the page rather than scrolled down to the particular comment.

 Original recent comments link:
 example.com/2015/12/example-post/comment-page-1/#comment-1234567

 Redirects (Firefox, Chrome, IE, every sensible browser):
 example.com/2015/12/example-post/#comment-1234567

 Redirects (Safari):
 example.com/2015/12/example-post/

 The logical solution was to uncheck the setting:
 [_] Break comments into pages with [ 50 ] top level comments per page and
 the [last] page displayed by default

 Unfortunately, the WordPress 4.4 update changed this. Now the recent
 comments redirect happens whether or not that setting is checked. This
 breaks recent comments anchor tags for Safari. Sites with many comments
 now leave iPhone users forced to scroll to the bottom of the post in order
 to find the linked to comment.

 Obviously, the real problem is Safari, which has been broken for a decade.
 But the reality is mobile users are a growing part of the WordPress
 audience... sites can't jettison their iPhone users just because Safari
 has a bug.  Safari isn't likely to fix the bug on their end anytime soon.

 Please provide an option for disabling the "/comment-page-1/" redirects.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/34946>
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