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digitalmars.D - [Improvement] Forum's Interface on Mobile

reply "MattCoder" <mattcoder hotmail.com> writes:
Hi,

Anybody besides me thinks that is hard to use this Forum on a 
mobile system?

I tried to navigate using my Galaxy Tab 3 - 7", and VERTICALLY 
it's almost impossible to click on the right Topic without zoom 
in. Now I imagine how it work on 4.5" mobile phone screens?

Couldn't we create a new interface focusing the mobile? What do 
you think?

PS: Sorry my english.

Matheus.
Nov 27 2013
next sibling parent reply "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh quickfur.ath.cx> writes:
On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 12:22:23AM +0100, MattCoder wrote:

 Hi,
 
 Anybody besides me thinks that is hard to use this Forum on a mobile
 system?
 
 I tried to navigate using my Galaxy Tab 3 - 7", and VERTICALLY it's
 almost impossible to click on the right Topic without zoom in. Now I
 imagine how it work on 4.5" mobile phone screens?


IIRC, it's just a matter of writing up a separate CSS stylesheet for
mobile devices (make buttons bigger, single-column layout, etc.), and
linking to it in the HTML with the appropriate tag for "mobile". Mobile
browsers should be able to pick it up then, without needing to change
how the non-mobile site works.



 Couldn't we create a new interface focusing the mobile? What do you
 think?


[...]

Pull requests are always welcome. :)


T

-- 
Don't drink and derive. Alcohol and algebra don't mix.
Nov 27 2013
next sibling parent =?UTF-8?B?Ikx1w61z?= Marques" <luis luismarques.eu> writes:
On Wednesday, 27 November 2013 at 23:36:40 UTC, H. S. Teoh wrote:

 Pull requests are always welcome. :)


If possible, do it in a "responsive design" style, the same way 
the forum already is quite responsive to window resizes, hiding 
the sidebar, etc.
Nov 27 2013
prev sibling parent reply Jacob Carlborg <doob me.com> writes:
On 2013-11-28 00:35, H. S. Teoh wrote:


 IIRC, it's just a matter of writing up a separate CSS stylesheet for
 mobile devices (make buttons bigger, single-column layout, etc.), and
 linking to it in the HTML with the appropriate tag for "mobile". Mobile
 browsers should be able to pick it up then, without needing to change
 how the non-mobile site works.


It's never that easy. Especially if the site wasn't built for that in 
the first place.

-- 
/Jacob Carlborg
Nov 27 2013
parent "Chris" <wendlec tcd.ie> writes:
On Thursday, 28 November 2013 at 07:37:58 UTC, Jacob Carlborg 
wrote:

 On 2013-11-28 00:35, H. S. Teoh wrote:


 IIRC, it's just a matter of writing up a separate CSS 
 stylesheet for
 mobile devices (make buttons bigger, single-column layout, 
 etc.), and
 linking to it in the HTML with the appropriate tag for 
 "mobile". Mobile
 browsers should be able to pick it up then, without needing to 
 change
 how the non-mobile site works.


 It's never that easy. Especially if the site wasn't built for 
 that in the first place.


True true. Web design is only easy in theory, but when it comes 
to implementing it, arrggghhhh!

But I agree with the original post. It's a bit tricky to hit the 
right thread. I always have to zoom in and scroll on my mobile 
(cell phone). However, it's not a big deal, imo.
Nov 28 2013
prev sibling next sibling parent Joseph Rushton Wakeling <joseph.wakeling webdrake.net> writes:
On 28/11/13 00:22, MattCoder wrote:

 Anybody besides me thinks that is hard to use this Forum on a mobile system?


Generally I find that reading is OK but writing posts is tricky -- mostly 
because it's a PITA to select and cut quoted text using a small touchscreen
device.

The main usability issue I encounter browsing on a phone screen is to do with 
jumping forward/back in a thread.  Things would be much nicer if 
first/previous/next/last thread page links were available at the top as well as 
bottom of thread pages.  It's annoying having to scroll down all the way to
find 
them, particularly if there are a lot of long posts.

These problems reinforce each other a bit, because commenting via a touch
device 
makes one more likely to quote all of the previous post, which makes posts more 
likely to be long, which means one has to scroll far more to navigate a thread, 
which means it takes more time and so one is less likely to be patient and cut 
unnecessary quoted text, which means ... etc.
Nov 28 2013
prev sibling parent reply "Dejan Lekic" <dejan.lekic gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 27 November 2013 at 23:22:24 UTC, MattCoder wrote:

 Hi,

 Anybody besides me thinks that is hard to use this Forum on a 
 mobile system?

 I tried to navigate using my Galaxy Tab 3 - 7", and VERTICALLY 
 it's almost impossible to click on the right Topic without zoom 
 in. Now I imagine how it work on 4.5" mobile phone screens?

 Couldn't we create a new interface focusing the mobile? What do 
 you think?

 PS: Sorry my english.

 Matheus.


You really want to write useful (read more than few sentences) 
reply using mobile phone? That is really masochistic, IMHO.
Nov 28 2013
next sibling parent reply "Dicebot" <public dicebot.lv> writes:
On Thursday, 28 November 2013 at 14:35:55 UTC, Dejan Lekic wrote:

 You really want to write useful (read more than few sentences) 
 reply using mobile phone? That is really masochistic, IMHO.


It was OK until they stopped manufacturing h/w keyboards sliders 
:(

On topic: probably nice improvement, but I am not really that 
bothered by zooming.
Nov 28 2013
parent reply "nazriel" <spam dzfl.pl> writes:
On Thursday, 28 November 2013 at 14:58:42 UTC, Dicebot wrote:

 On Thursday, 28 November 2013 at 14:35:55 UTC, Dejan Lekic 
 wrote:

 You really want to write useful (read more than few sentences) 
 reply using mobile phone? That is really masochistic, IMHO.


 It was OK until they stopped manufacturing h/w keyboards 
 sliders :(


Sooo trueee...


 On topic: probably nice improvement, but I am not really that 
 bothered by zooming.
Nov 28 2013
parent "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh quickfur.ath.cx> writes:
On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 01:22:56AM +0100, nazriel wrote:

 On Thursday, 28 November 2013 at 14:58:42 UTC, Dicebot wrote:

On Thursday, 28 November 2013 at 14:35:55 UTC, Dejan Lekic wrote:

You really want to write useful (read more than few sentences)
reply using mobile phone? That is really masochistic, IMHO.


It was OK until they stopped manufacturing h/w keyboards sliders
:(


 
 Sooo trueee...


[...]

Yeah, those touchscreen keyboards are soooo unreliable. So easy to miss
the keys because there's no physical key to guide your fingertips.
Worse, they automatically change orientation when you accidentally tip
the device at an angle, which often causes you to touch the wrong keys
with your palm.  Touch the wrong part of the screen and oops, you just
sent a garbled text message to your boss, making him wonder if you're
drunk on the job.

My wife constantly complains about how much she misses the BlackBerry's
h/w keyboard (she uses an iPhone now).


T

-- 
Fact is stranger than fiction.
Nov 28 2013
prev sibling parent reply "MattCoder" <mattcoder hotmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 28 November 2013 at 14:35:55 UTC, Dejan Lekic wrote:

 You really want to write useful (read more than few sentences) 
 reply using mobile phone? That is really masochistic, IMHO.


In fact I wasn't talking only about reading replies, I was 
talking about the overall interface, like going through the pages 
or clicking on the topics links. So, if is very annoying using on 
a 7" inches tablet (Vertically) imagine doing that on 4" or 4.5" 
phones.

The thing is, actually there is no style for mobile devices, and 
I just think that it would be nice to have one.

Matheus.
Nov 28 2013
parent Joseph Rushton Wakeling <joseph.wakeling webdrake.net> writes:
On 28/11/13 16:18, MattCoder wrote:

 In fact I wasn't talking only about reading replies, I was talking about the
 overall interface, like going through the pages or clicking on the topics
links.
 So, if is very annoying using on a 7" inches tablet (Vertically) imagine doing
 that on 4" or 4.5" phones.


I don't find reading particularly annoying on my phone screen, apart from the 
aforementioned issue with previous/next page links.  But of course a custom 
forum UI for touch devices would be nice.

This really is a "patches please" situation, though.
Nov 28 2013