In Safari 17.0, the Responsive Design Mode was updated with two major changes.
- The quick device view icons that were at the top were removed in favor of a simple resizable web view.
- New integration with Xcode simulator for easily opening a website in a devices native simulator.
The new simulator integration is nice. It definitely promotes giving a much better testing of webpages since we get to see the webpage in the native app/environment. I think that this new integration is welcoming.
However, removing the device views has been a major step backwards. These views gave us quick access to checking webpage layouts across different devices with the click of a button. As a web developer, I am aware that these views are not a guarantee that the website will be fully functional on the device clicked on. The simulator is better for that.
But during the development process, these views were good for quick sanity checks as it was quick and "close enough". Having to launch multiple simulators to test on two different iPhones and two different iPads takes a lot of time. The devices have to boot up each and load the website. This wastes minutes of time vs the fraction of a second it did before, just for a quick check.
Another downside of the simulators is that if I am testing a web app that requires a login, I need to log into each app on every simulator. The older responsive design mode just used the exact session that I was logged into Safari with.
I submitted this as feedback as well... https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/13225118
