So you
don't need to
reformat the dates to get a plot to work with
Safari? Or
Firefox? Here are some details I've found. The date fields all have html form code similar to this:
<input id="plot-select-date-start" type="date"
min='2016-02-01' max='2016-07-02' value="2016-07-02"
style="width:98%;"></input>
What appears in the field when you first open the page is the "value" attribute. It is obviously created, probably on the server (likely php) as the current date. Granted, there is a tremendous amount of javascript and it could be done that way. The point is, the 'format' is displayed with "-" as the 'correct/appropriate/approved' separator for the year, month and day of the month. This html is what is sent to every browser (although I can't currently see the source in an iPhone). There is even this in the <head> area:
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
That implies, to me, that WeatherCloud does not need/use a separate "mobile site" (because it doesn't need to, all css is likely built for small screens first, so it can easily scale to any size window/hardware).
However, there is still some "browser sniffing" because Opera changes the display of the date input "value" as seen in the browser. I don't see any user settings in that app, so I can only assume that one of the dozens of javascripts does this only in Opera (or other browser I haven't checked).
In Opera (which now also uses Web Kit)
the date is formatted with "/" instead of "-".
My point is, proper coding should be used to protect the site from code injection to help prevent the site from being hacked. I will assume Weather Cloud does that. There are already methods, in every coding language I've ever heard of, that provide that code. This tangentially protects the user/viewer from visiting a 'dangerous' (phishing, malware downloading, etc.) site.
But "proper" coding also checks for properly formatted data. Phone numbers may need to allow non-USA numbers. Is it allows to have the area code surrounded by "(" and ")"? Are the numbers allowed to use "." or only "-" to separate the area code, prefix and last four numbers? Etc., etc., etc. Additionally, "allowing" different input of the data, doesn't mean that its "stored" format has to be the same.
The least a site can do, if only one format is allowed, is to display that format so it can be seen even as the user is entering the data. Another way is to select the part of the data that the user wants to edit. In this case, Opera automatically highlights the year, month or day when the user clicks in any of those areas. FF and Safari just place the cursor where the user clicks. I suspect this is simply different levels of support for HTML5. Opera also provides a mini-calendar to select the entire date; that's a function of the new possible capabilities of HTML5.
I'm not knocking WeatherCloud's improvements, I just think they seem to be more concerned about "look" than "feel". Apparently others have figured out how to 'make' the plots to work, despite no visible info from WeatherCloud. Frankly, blaming the problem on "PC-centric coding" is disingenuous and misleading.