Author Topic: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?  (Read 5911 times)

johnwasser

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mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« on: April 12, 2014, 04:49:49 pm »
Hi, sorry if this has been discussed, I could not find such thread.

Many times I read this forum in either android phone or tablet. The current forum HTML template is not optimized for this. Some paragraphs appear huge while others can not be read which forces the user to zoom in/out and/or pan a lot. For instance I had to reverse the order of posts (newer on page 1 ) because it is extremely difficult to open the last page on a new tab, in a mobile.(You have to long press a single character :) )
My request is: can we install a simpler template that appears only for mobile and is more useable? I think many forum software allow this.

Thanks for attention, love this forum.
Best regards

Indy

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2014, 04:55:53 pm »
The problem is not necessarily a problem with the template.
Sometimes it can, but sometimes it's not.
For example, problems that aren't caused by the template occur when people upload pictures that are wider than 1000 pixels.
This makes the forum page wider, for a normal PC, it means you need to scroll to the right (or nothing happens when you have a bigger screen like most people do nowadays).
But a tablet will scale it to fit, meaning that the text is far too small.
We have rules here on our forum that state that images wider than 1000 pixels should be thumbnailed instead, and people are free to report such issues.
So even changing the forum template (if there even is one), will not fix that issue.
I will look into installing a secondary template, if they exist or not, so people are choose to switch between templates.
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johnwasser

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2014, 05:23:09 pm »
Yes, the banner affects. Here some screenshots from a nexus 7 tablet, default zoom. In the index page, only about 1/4 of screen area is actually dedicated to thread titles, the entire section on the right (number of views) could be removed for mobile, imo.



This issue is only significant in portrait of course.
Thanks

Indy

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2014, 05:29:20 pm »
Can you try and turn the tablet and show how it looks then?
The site was never intended to be read from a portrait based tablet.
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johnwasser

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2014, 05:53:36 pm »
Sure. Looks like this.


/BR

ADL79

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2014, 11:34:24 am »
Maybe Tapatalk integration would be a possibility? I use this app on my phone and tablet and browsing forums with it makes life much easier.
I am not sure if it can be integrated into this forum but a quick search revealed that its available for the smf forum software.

Anyway the big pictures within a thread might still be a problem on devices with a small display...

I would also like to browse this forum more often on a couch so I appreciate your work to improve our surfing experience.

Indy

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2014, 11:40:27 am »
Sure. Looks like this.


/BR
I have to say that on the landscape mode of the tablet, I don't see the problem, the side looks as it should.
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KwukDuck

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2014, 03:45:21 pm »
We are working on some big changes, i'll add to the list of options we should consider.

johnwasser

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2014, 04:10:00 pm »
Thanks!
My number 1 issue is trying to get to the last post of a thread, on a new tab, you have to click on the last page 1,2,...14. This is very hard to do on a mobile. User has to long press around 2 seconds and 50% of times it will enter into text selection mode because he was not pressing the link.
One could reverse the order of the posts, allowing to open it by pressing on the title, as I did, but then everything is read upside down :)
I'll see if i can find a template that is nicer 4 mobile something like this
Tapatalk could also be an option..

viyape4074

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2020, 05:55:29 am »
I know this thread is very old, but I've been a long time lerker and have never made an account or contributed because i mostly use a phone to browse and this forum is very difficult to browse on a phone.  Having recently worked with a simple machine forum, if your interested in having a better mobile user experience I recommend using a responsive theme like Reseller (https://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=2806).

dissenter

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2020, 02:38:22 pm »
This is very hard to do on a mobile.

Just use usable devices (e.g. a laptop) and no 'mobile devices'.
I don't understand why people torture themselves with tiny screens and bad keyboards.
Fight war criminal Putin and his depraved henchmen.

Where morons set the rules, there go mainly fools.

By the way: the forum title is 'the perfect boobs' and not 'the most bloated and most botched boobs, lips and asses'. Just saying ...

Indy

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2020, 05:07:21 pm »
This is very hard to do on a mobile.

Just use usable devices (e.g. a laptop) and no 'mobile devices'.
I don't understand why people torture themselves with tiny screens and bad keyboards.
While I personally completely agree. I hate using mobile devices, it's not good for your posture, and the keyboards are horrible.
We do need to accept that people don't use desktops/laptops as frequently anymore. Some of my friends actually got rid of it. They do everything on their phones nowadays.
Frustrating, I know!
I want something good to die for, to make it beautiful to live.

dissenter

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #12 on: April 24, 2020, 10:25:00 am »
.... people don't use desktops/laptops as frequently anymore. Some of my friends actually got rid of it.

It is ok if people replace their car with a kettcar/quadracycle. Their decision, not my beer.
But if they expect that all cars slow down to make it easier for kettcars/quadracycles to keep up, it becomes my beer.

Quote
They do everything on their phones nowadays.
Frustrating, I know!

I dont regard it as frustrating, for me it is more funny to watch people torturing themselves.  8)
Fight war criminal Putin and his depraved henchmen.

Where morons set the rules, there go mainly fools.

By the way: the forum title is 'the perfect boobs' and not 'the most bloated and most botched boobs, lips and asses'. Just saying ...

Indy

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2020, 02:19:25 pm »
I dont regard it as frustrating, for me it is more funny to watch people torturing themselves.  8)
What I find interesting about that is:
RSI and other related issues are known to occur with office professionals. However, they've been trained and instructed to deal with this and invested into a good chair, desk and workspace.
Now, there's a new problem: the 'text neck' problem. But unlike with office professionals that can be instructed, everyone is faced with it. Some people know to deal with it, but many don't. And many can't be instructed/protected.

I'm happy there's things as web.whatsapp so I can deal with this behind my desk. And also one of the biggest annoyance is that instagram doesn't really play well with desktops and forces you to use your phone instead. So I refuse to use it.
I want something good to die for, to make it beautiful to live.

viyape4074

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Re: mobile/tablet friendlier layout (active for mobile only)?
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2020, 07:46:45 am »
It is ok if people replace their car with a kettcar/quadracycle. Their decision, not my beer.
But if they expect that all cars slow down to make it easier for kettcars/quadracycles to keep up, it becomes my beer.

I respect your opinion that a large screen device is the best method of operation, and I agree that the forum shouldn't change how it functions for desktop users.  That's where using a responsive theme for SMF comes in; it provides a tailored look and function for the various device screen sizes out there.  No compromises necessary.

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