Problems with site on phones etc

[Admin]

Can everyone please let me know what problems you may be having with viewing this site on your smart phone, iPad or other devices apart from your normal PC.

 

I will have a look at what changes need to be made to facilitate better browsing of the site on these devices but I need to know where to look.

 

I know there is a problem with the menu and I will incorporate what comments you have all made about the menu like the Classifieds etc when I enhance it for mobile devices.

 

So please let me know...thanks

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Ian;

 

I've now done a bit of browsing and a few posts from my new HTC Desire.

 

The site is really quite usable and the text area of posts, when expanded to fill the screen in landscape mode is quite readable without having to scroll horizontally (just). Horizontal scrolling is required to see who made the post. I don't find this minor use of horizontal scrolling to be annoying, because it is only once per post. The type is fairly small at this zoom level and so suitability may vary depending on users eyesight. I generally run my laptop at 1920x1200 and I know that lots of people find that to be too small.

 

The same is not true for the thread lists. Having to constantly scroll horizontally to read first the thread title / poster and then the forum info over on the right is a bit of an inconvenience. Then for selection, especially if selecting a specific page of a thread, the page needs to be zoomed significantly to overcome the fat finger syndrome.

 

Selecting specific pages of a thread requires some zooming but isn't an issue.

 

I'm having some trouble selecting text to create a link, but that is a phone / user issue.

 

The only site issues I've noticed on, HTC Desire, so far are:-

 

• Menu bar text flows onto the line below and overwrites the submenu item texts. Usually only the last menu item, so it is just too wide for the way that the HTC Desire browser (I assume it's a lite version of Chrome. I't's identified as WebKit and of course Android is Google).
   
   
  
• The Search Box and magnifier are displaced onto the submenu and probably overlay the "Advanced Search" menu item.
   
   
  
• Only "Advanced Search" is available because the action of selecting the search text entry field, to activate the keyboard, also invokes "Advanced Search". The "Advanced Search" submenu item does not appear on the phone browser. Even zooming the search box to fill the screen does not reveal the "Advanced Search" menu item, so it looks like it is the width of the browser window vs the width of the main menu. Note that the same displacement and behaviour occurs if you narrow your browser on a PC.
   
   
  

 

 

How does it go on your Samsung with the extra 0.3" of screen? Maybe no different because the resolution is the same?

 

I believe that generally, one of the challenges with SmartPhones is the big range of screen sizes / resolutions across all makes / models. The original WAP was about 14 char by 3 lines from memory. Thank goodness we've come a long way since then.

 

 

[Thx1137]

The only issue I have on the iPad is the "Hi..." panel on the home screen. I always go to click "New posts" before the screen finishes loadings and the "no avatar selected" box isn't expanded to full height. The click always goes to my control panel because if it seems the click isn't actually registered until after the whole screen is fully rendered.

 

I haven't had any other problems at all though I haven't been to all pages...

 

 

[Admin]

David...On the samsung I am only having the menu issue. When viewing the site I always use landscape. When viewing posts I zoom the view of the actual post content to the width of my screen and I can read it very clearly. If I want to see who posted it, that is I can't tell by the user's signature, I scroll to the left to see the user box on the left of the post as you are doing.

 

When viewing the threads list I don't have any general issues at all. The only issue is if I want to go to a specific page of posts in a thread then I have to zoom it to select the page number but in landscape I can clearly see the thread title, who postsed it and the last post details. Perhaps it is the Samsung's screen size and clarity that helps. The only resolution to this would be to remove the advertising column on the right.

 

On the Forums Home Page that contains the list of all the forums I do again have to zoom the screen to make any sub forums like the news or aircraft specific sub forums easier to press with my finger on.

 

Not sure what else I can do to help you out David

 

Thx...With the Ipad I am not experiencing that issue. The page comes up with my avatar normal size. Now the Ipad doesn't have a cache so it can't be that. The only think I can think of is the connection you have is slower then mine thus taking longer to draw the page.

 

In the light weight phone style that I am looking into creating for these mobile units which a user can select to use I will have less graphics etc showing so I can remove the avatar from that section which should help you.

 

Thanks for the input so far guys

 

 

[Admin]

Oh, the other thing that bugs me about this site on the ipad is that I have to double press the menu if changing sections on the menu...If on the site home page I have to press (click) the forums which brings up the sub meny and click Forums again to show the forums.

 

This is to do with the fact that the code contains 2 steps, the sub menu display and the page display. Doesn't do it on my phone which is Android (Google) but does it on the ipad which is Safari