Gitpod: iPad: README.md preview doesn’t scroll

[rogfrich]

Describe the bug

I’m working on an iPad. When I open a particular workspace which has a README.md file, Theia opens a tab displaying a preview of the rendered Markdown file. This preview is too long to fit on the screen. Scrolling by dragging a finger up the screen on the tab does not scroll as expected. Instead, it appears to move a highlight to the left of each of the visible elements on the screen - a line, like the pipe symbol. You can see it in this screenshot. This line jumps between Markdown elements when I drag, either with one finger or two. I am unable to scroll to see elements which are off the page.

Steps to reproduce

• Use GitPod on an iPad (see below for detailed specs). Browser is iPadOS Safari.
• Open a repo in GitPod which has a README.md longer than can be displayed on an iPad screen
• Attempt to scroll through the preview which opens with the new workspace.

Expected behaviour

I’d expect that the scroll gesture would scroll smoothly through the whole Markdown preview, like it would any other file.

Additional information

Workspace ID: https://e554f9fa-a47e-4cae-94a3-9c77fb9054d9.ws-eu01.gitpod.io/#/workspace/soduku2
IPad specs: iPad Pro 11 2018, iPadOS 13.6.
Issue happens in both landscape and portrait orientation.
Other files aren’t affected - other files, including the source README.md file, scroll smoothly as expected.

Example repository

Workspace ID: https://e554f9fa-a47e-4cae-94a3-9c77fb9054d9.ws-eu01.gitpod.io/#/workspace/soduku2

[rogfrich]

Sorry, it was late last night when I posted this, and I missed out a potentially relevant bit of information: I've "installed" GitPod as a web app on my iPad's homepage and was running the site as a progressive web app, not a normal Safari page.

[jankeromnes]

Hi @rogfrich, thank you for reporting this issue. I was able to reproduce it on my iPad (most panels can be scrolled without issues, except the Markdown preview, or the Keyboard Shortcuts panel, which was already reported here: https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/issues/7763).

I'll take a look at both issues and see if they can be fixed in Theia. Then, once a fix is merged into Theia, we could roll it out to Gitpod within a few weeks.

[rogfrich]

Thanks @jankeromnes - Gitpod is the best solution I've found to doing proper development on the iPad, so it's great to hear this can be fixed. Thanks for all your efforts.

[C-alcium]

Just wanted to say, facing the same issue here. It's actually seriously irritating but it's super to see this has a fix in the pipe :) Looking forward to retiring my laptop in favour of using gitpod on my ipad.

[C-alcium]

Maybe this is related? https://github.com/cdr/code-server/issues/1455#issuecomment-610016124

[C-alcium]

is there any plan to fix this?

[jankeromnes]

Hi @C-alcium, yes we're still planning to fix this as soon as possible. I've already looked into it, but unfortunately my first suspicion wasn't verified, and I haven't been able to successfully debug this yet.

If you have any insight in debugging no-scroll issues on iPad, please let me know. Otherwise I'll try again soon.

[jankeromnes]

Also I think the Coder issue is about arrow keys and track pad, which have been fixed in WebKit and already work well in Gitpod/Theia.

This issue is about any scrolling at all, in Markdown previews and Keybinding settings.

[C-alcium]

If I am able to carve out some time I'll look at it, but no promises at this time of year