http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash_Player

No, the iPad doesn't support Flash - neither do most recent Android tabs either - at least officially...

iOS has never supported Flash. In fact the latest version of OS X (Mavericks) stops Flash content from running in something Apple call "Power Saving Mode."

Maybe it is a case of 'what you don't have you don't miss'.

If you go to html5test.com you will see the lack of features web designers have to cope with though that is only part of it. Fancy stuff not working means many web apps are no go on IOS.

At least with 7.1 Apple did manage to alleviate some of the memory problems of IOS though I suspect their browser support will always be lacklustre. Allowing WebGL to run only via paid iAds in a web browser only is a crafty move.
Yet for good long term financial reasons they mainly want web developers doing native, thus non portable apps.

Ok then. iOS 7.1 Safari 412 out of 555. Not too shabby. Safari 6.1.2 (OSX) 397. Uhh OK. Chrome 33 (Mac) 505. Not full marks *sadface*; Firefox 28 (Mac) 448 poor.

So Safari iOS scores better than Safari OSX and is not that far behind Firefox for the desktop but, in your opinion only, is crippled as browsers go.

Glad we sorted that out, then.

Cant say I've noticed a problem on iOS with websites recently. A while back the only site I had a problem with was the BBC but almost all video/audio plays and the ones that don't aren't worth worrying about. Better to be safe and bug free than watch video.

Whilst it may have been an issue a few years ago, I can't remember the last time I tried to watch a video on my tablet or smartphone and wasn't able to. That not only applies to my iPad, but also to my Nexus 4 which also doesn't have flash installed.

Funny thing is Google pushes HTML5, but then they go and use their own non-standard extensions for their browser and something else for others. So just like before, only with HTML5.

Its not that Apple lags well behind the near 500+ HTML 5 scores obtained in other platforms its the restriction of features.
Restricting 3D support in the browser/web app to iAds only a the main eye opener though.

Like I said, what you don't have you don't miss. Most companies will offer up an IOS app instead and anyway, the web app on IOS will simply limit what you see, just like Nokia did before they abandoned Nokia Here on IOS.

Nokia more likely removed it to grab a headline about that lower user experience on the IOS browsers. Users on IOS should be allowed to install a web engine to help prevent this clever limiting monopolisation of the web.

As long as you approach the iPad for what it is, restrictions have no real impact on the browsing experience. We'd like every browser to support WebGL on all platforms but that's just not the case ATM. As for iAds - I don't think I've ever seen one. Which is a good thing.

I'd rather sacrifice a few browser features for the richest and most diverse tablet App ecosystem on the planet.

And getting back to the issue of speed, didn't the iPad Air wipe the floor in browser performance, beating everything apart from Surface 2? That was 6 months ago - perhaps the landscape has changed since then; for all I know since then Samsung have released 3 new tabs in 4 different sizes in a desperate attempt to keep up.

95% of the internet will work fine with an iPad and the latest iPad is practically as quick at loading pages as most laptops/desktops now. Clearly the issue here is either wifi or isp related.

Anyone still running a public website that requires flash for it to work these days really needs to have their head examined.

Mobile computing i.e. tablets and phones have spawned another and different generation of the browsing public. The new generation don't want to fiddle with the hardware or OS, even if they know how to. Apple have created a walled garden for this generation, they don't have or want to worry about add ons, side loading, jail breaking, bugs or viruses they just want to be able to have a problem free experience. The iPad gives them this and more. Any web site or developer that wants to be mainstream and doesn't cater for this will get left behind. That isn't to say that Android is dead but it needs to improve to maintain its viability in this market.

Now to return to the OP's question, again the problem is unlikely to be the iPad and more likely to be the ISP's management of its bandwidth, his own wifi environment or a combination of both.

i think you might be right with the last paragraph...today the ipad is painfully slow and the pages are sticking / mot loading for minutes at a time ...to where its almost unusable so it must be somethng like the hub connection/ signal......sometimes its fast though during the weekdays..my old computer is connected by ethernet cable and its much faster whilst this ipad is linked to a hub..which is a few yrs old ..

Nokia's problem for Here is they didn't have viable market share on iOS - it really was that simple. Google Maps has the third party mapping market pretty sewn up. That runs quite happily in a browser if you desire, but performance and functionality is obviously better with their app.

Me hijacking a thread again - sorry. On my ipad, when I make a spelling error a correction in blue comes up. How does one use the word in blue?

Just press the space key.

I thought it was a web app, and being so Apple's controlling web engine stops features from existing.

We don't know the full reason but as a web app it certainly had would have Apple's limitations imposed.

It is a web app but had an app to launch it. They've pulled the launcher app. But http://here.com does still work from iOS. Perhaps some features don't work properly, but it's not immediately apparent what they are?

As I say Google Maps also does work as a web app. Albeit performance is not as good as the native app. It's also far more convenient running in the background as proper app, providing navigation notifications and messages etc. rather then as a web page.

'Here' was very late to the market on iOS and had no chance against well established offerings like Google Maps IMHO.

Out of interest I wonder what Here's market share is on Android? I suspect it's not much.

No 3D web browser features allowed/.

Its the same reason many web games can never work, Apple only lets you use WebGL for iAds in a browser.

Ahh. With you now. Here's 3D maps don't work on iOS via the web app.

Many thanks.