LRR Mobile Edition

News and Announcements about LoadingReadyRun
User avatar
Paul
Super Moderator
Posts: 1000576
Joined: 15 Apr 2005, 18:31
First Video: Tetris
Location: Victoria, BC

LRR Mobile Edition

Postby Paul » 16 Feb 2013, 09:27

Hey Dudes and Dudettes,

For the last week or so I have been working on a dedicated mobile version of the LRR website and I would like to get some feedback and hopefully some compatibility testing for a wider range of devices.

You can see and try out the mobile site at http://m.loadingreadyrun.com

Feedback I am looking for:

Everyone
  • Any glitches, rendering bugs or weird behaviour?
  • Is this something you think you would use?
  • Are there any parts of the site or information you think are missing?
  • It probably won't be practical to make mobile-optimized versions of every blog post, but would links to the lastest blog entries be useful?
  • What about the LRR Twitter feed?
  • The right-most button in the navbar in the footer should always send you to the desktop version of the page you are looking at. Is this a useful feature or is it just confusing?
  • I am generally against redirection for mobile devices, but would you like to be automatically sent to the mobile-optimized version of a video page if you are viewing it with a mobile device? (eg. if you follow a link to GPLP Cursed Crusade PT24, on your phone, would you rather be sent to the mobile version)
  • This will probably be the new way to access the mobile version of the forums (the old way only worked on iphone and forced users to use the mobile theme). I have made mobile versions of what I see as the most useful pages (reading topics, post new topic, reply, etc) but there will be some pages that are are not reformatted. phpBB has tons of different templates and it just doesn't make sense to change all of them. Are there any forum pages that you use all the time that you think would benefit from mobile optimization?

iPhone Users
  • If you add the mobile home page to your Home Screen, it should open as a full screen web app. This has the advantage of more screen real estate and being separate from general Safari browsing but the rendering might be a little slower, you lose the back button and offsite links are forced to switch to Safari to open. Is this a worthwhile tradeoff, or would you prefer to just access the mobile site in the standard Safari browser?

Android/Windows Phone Users
  • I have tried to make the mobile site compatible with as wide a range of devices as possible, but I haven't been able to do much testing on non-iOS devices. Does the site work properly on your device? Does the layout break in any obvious way (it should automatically expand to fill your screen)?

Please list you device browser and OS version in your reply.
Thanks for the help!
User avatar
Dominic Appleguard
Posts: 1536
Joined: 24 Apr 2008, 20:05
Location: Chicago

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Dominic Appleguard » 16 Feb 2013, 10:50

Android user here.

When I open the forums and scroll, the button bar slides up with the forums instead of staying put at the bottom of the screen.

That's the only error I've found so far. I haven't yet tried using the site to watch videos, listen to podcasts or post in the forum.
User avatar
Graham
Super Moderator
Posts: 15038
Joined: 09 Mar 2004, 19:37
Location: Victoria, BC
Contact:

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Graham » 16 Feb 2013, 11:07

That happens to me too. Does it only do it the first time, like it does to me?
User avatar
General Michi
Posts: 1875
Joined: 26 Sep 2010, 02:37
First Video: 3 PS3s
Location: Dublin

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby General Michi » 16 Feb 2013, 11:34

Aye, same problem on Android. Can't see or think of anything else though. You out-do yourself Paul.
We put the brick on the accelerator.

Image Image

Twitter Steam Tumblblar
User avatar
Paul
Super Moderator
Posts: 1000576
Joined: 15 Apr 2005, 18:31
First Video: Tetris
Location: Victoria, BC

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Paul » 16 Feb 2013, 12:22

Also, what browser/os version are you running?
User avatar
Dominic Appleguard
Posts: 1536
Joined: 24 Apr 2008, 20:05
Location: Chicago

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Dominic Appleguard » 16 Feb 2013, 12:52

My OS is Android version 2.3.6. I'm using the default browser, which apparently is just called "Browser".

I don't know what Graham does that fixes it, but it's pretty persistent on my end. As I navigate around the forums the button bar doesn't stay put.
User avatar
Master Gunner
Defending us from The Dutch!
Posts: 19383
Joined: 29 Oct 2006, 12:19
First Video: How To Talk Like A Pirate
Location: In Limbo.

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Master Gunner » 16 Feb 2013, 13:06

Android 4.0.3/HTC Sense browser

Everything looks pretty good to me. Only "bug" I noticed is that when I click on one of the tabs at the bottom, the highlighted "link area" it shows me seems to have no correlation to the button I pressed (it may just be highlighting whatever is just behind the bottom bar, actually). The buttons themselves register fine though, so no complaints.

I don't really watch videos on my phone, I mainly just use it to get on the forums. So I wouldn't mind automatic redirection to the mobile version of the forums at all (it worked just fine on my Android phone until you put the new mobile site up).
TheRocket wrote:Apparently the crotch area could not contain the badonkadonk area.
Twitter | Click here to join the Desert Bus Community Chat.
User avatar
Keab42
Posts: 6662
Joined: 27 May 2009, 16:38
Location: In England

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Keab42 » 16 Feb 2013, 15:14

Paul wrote:Also, what browser/os version are you running?


If you've built the mobile site with JQuery Mobile, that can be a problem with some scrolling areas.

*edit*

Testing on a Nexus 4 running Android 4.1.1 using the default Chrome browser.

Slight gap beneath menu bar especially noticeable when scrolling vertically as horizontal scrollbar is also visible (hard to screencap)

Image

Forum gains some bullet points at the bottom.

Image

Looks like pinch to zoom isn't disabled for me:

Image
Keab42: Keeb-forty-two Deal with it. @Keab42 | | +Keab42 | | Tumblr
User avatar
Lord Chrusher
Can't Drink Possible Beers
Posts: 8913
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 22:53
First Video: Door to Door
Location: In England.

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Lord Chrusher » 17 Feb 2013, 04:28

Can the LoadingReadyRun title image at the top of each page be a link to m.loadingreadyrun.com much like the title image on the desktop site links back to loadingreadyrun.com please?
Image
We are all made of star dust. However we are also made of nuclear waste.
Remember to think before you post.
Image
Kapol
Posts: 6120
Joined: 25 Nov 2010, 03:31
First Video: Whisky Tango Foxtrot
Location: The ever-shifting landscape of the mind

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Kapol » 17 Feb 2013, 15:30

A couple things

-The site seems slightly too large for my phone on the mobile site. You mentioned it was supposed to scale, which I assume means I shouldn't be able to 'scroll' to the sides like I'm able to.
-If you use the tool bar at the bottom to go to the forums, then try to go to the main site, it leads to a Not Found page.

Those seem to be the only real problems. I'm of the opinion that the site should automatically redirect to mobile-friendly pages for mobile devices, with the option to go to the full site. Mostly meaning that the site would be better off automatically detecting if it's a mobile device if possible. That way people can google it easier and don't have to remember to put in the m. first.

Having things like feeds as options for the bottom options bar seems like it would be good, but cluttering it too much would cause issues I believe. I'm thinking mostly about the twitter feed here.

The video pages seem fine for now. But I'd suggest having the podcasts link to the audio version first on mobile with the video version being a click link below. I mostly say that because I figure smart-phone users who might be using data-plans would rather have the audio to save some data. But having the options insures that nobody is unable to get what they want.

My device is a Sony Ericcson Xperia Play using the basic Browser running version 2.3.4 of Android.
User avatar
RAIC
Posts: 305
Joined: 01 Oct 2006, 07:47
First Video: How To Talk Like A Pirate
Location: Arnhem, The Netherlands

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby RAIC » 18 Feb 2013, 00:50

The iPhone 4 I have is my first smart phone, which I've had since just this month, so I'm not really experienced with browsing sites that much. This is the first mobile-optimized site I have encountered, so I can't compare it with other sites, but everything seems to be working fine on my end.

This definitely is something I would see myself using. Don't know how often I would, though.
A mobile version of the first blog would be nice, but I would suggest adding a button that links to the non-mobile version for older blogposts, or just that button instead of the first blog at all. If adding a blog(button) would clutter the site or anything I wouldn't mind it not being there at all though.
I don't use twitter, and I don't really follow you guys there, so I'm not missing it.
Do like the linking to desktop version feature, it isn't confusing to me at least. This could also just be used if adding the blog would be too much hassle.
Also, I agree with Kapol on the idea of redirecting to mobile-optimized versions, with the option to get to the regular one.

iPhone specific: I noticed the slight increase in load time when I launched the site through the home screen, but this wasn't bothersome to me at all. The loss of the back button and constant switching to the safari app is though, so I really prefer to just use safari instead. The amount of screen space safari gives is plenty for me.

I hope this is helpful.
tak197 wrote:Guys! A Good Looking Ginger DUDE! We have the internet equivalent of a unicorn in our presence.
Kapol
Posts: 6120
Joined: 25 Nov 2010, 03:31
First Video: Whisky Tango Foxtrot
Location: The ever-shifting landscape of the mind

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Kapol » 18 Feb 2013, 09:39

Another thing I've found is that, when looking at the forum, the toolbar stays roughly where it was originally was when I scroll down. Meaning it doesn't follow me as I go through the page.
User avatar
AdmiralMemo
Posts: 7358
Joined: 27 Nov 2011, 18:29
First Video: Unskippable: Eternal Sonata
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Contact:

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby AdmiralMemo » 18 Feb 2013, 10:39

Everything looks great and functions well on a HTC Thunderbolt with Android 4.04 using Chrome.
Kapol wrote:I'm of the opinion that the site should automatically redirect to mobile-friendly pages for mobile devices, with the option to go to the full site. Mostly meaning that the site would be better off automatically detecting if it's a mobile device if possible. That way people can google it easier and don't have to remember to put in the m. first.
Same here.
Graham wrote:The point is: Nyeh nyeh nyeh. I'm an old man.
LRRcast wrote:Paul: That does not answer that question at all.
James: Who cares about that question? That's a good answer.

Image
User avatar
Dominic Appleguard
Posts: 1536
Joined: 24 Apr 2008, 20:05
Location: Chicago

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Dominic Appleguard » 18 Feb 2013, 10:39

Kapol wrote:Another thing I've found is that, when looking at the forum, the toolbar stays roughly where it was originally was when I scroll down. Meaning it doesn't follow me as I go through the page.

Yeah, that's the error I was describing. Android?
Kapol
Posts: 6120
Joined: 25 Nov 2010, 03:31
First Video: Whisky Tango Foxtrot
Location: The ever-shifting landscape of the mind

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Kapol » 18 Feb 2013, 14:09

Yea. I mentioned that in my first post.
User avatar
Metcarfre
Posts: 13676
Joined: 08 Jul 2008, 13:52
First Video: Not Applicable
Location: Vancouver, B.C.

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Metcarfre » 18 Feb 2013, 14:24

Kapol wrote:Another thing I've found is that, when looking at the forum, the toolbar stays roughly where it was originally was when I scroll down. Meaning it doesn't follow me as I go through the page.

Yep. iOS for me.
*
User avatar
Paul
Super Moderator
Posts: 1000576
Joined: 15 Apr 2005, 18:31
First Video: Tetris
Location: Victoria, BC

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Paul » 18 Feb 2013, 16:06

Thanks for the feedback! I have updated the mobile site with some of your suggestions and a few tweaks to try to make it more compatible.

- Header now links to home page
- Twitter feed on home page
- Unfortunately Android < 3.0 and iOS < 5.0 don't handle fixed toolbars very well and I don't know if there is much I can do about it. The only way to make it work is to disable page scaling, which I have done on most of the pages (everywhere except the forums). I am not comfortable completely disabling scaling on the forum pages as sometimes forum content can be larger then expected. As a compromise that should allow it to render the navbar better, I have disabled zooming in only. Those of you with older mobile devices, have you been to a website on your device that has a working fixed navigation bar? If so, please send it to me as I would like to see what they are doing.

Please make sure to refresh to get the new style sheet and content.

Kapol wrote:-If you use the tool bar at the bottom to go to the forums, then try to go to the main site, it leads to a Not Found page.

I have not been able to replicate this error, could you tell me exactly the series of links you are following?
User avatar
Dominic Appleguard
Posts: 1536
Joined: 24 Apr 2008, 20:05
Location: Chicago

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Dominic Appleguard » 18 Feb 2013, 17:57

Took a bit, but I found one.

m.wired.com has a fixed navigation bar that works on my phone.
Kapol
Posts: 6120
Joined: 25 Nov 2010, 03:31
First Video: Whisky Tango Foxtrot
Location: The ever-shifting landscape of the mind

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Kapol » 18 Feb 2013, 19:21

Paul wrote:
Kapol wrote:-If you use the tool bar at the bottom to go to the forums, then try to go to the main site, it leads to a Not Found page.

I have not been able to replicate this error, could you tell me exactly the series of links you are following?


Using the toolbar, if I'm on the forum and then attempt to go to the main site by the rightmost button (the large screen), it leads to an error page. The same button that using on the other toolbar pages causes you to go to the main site's version of that page.

More speficically it says:

Not Found

The requested URL /forum/undefined/forum/ was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


My assumption is that this is due to the fact trying to go to the main site via the toolbar simply attempts to go to the main site version of the current page. On mobile devices, this results in an error since there doesn't appear to be a 'normal' version of the forum for mobile users due to attempting to find something that isn't there. But that's just a guess.

If that doesn't replicate the problem, I can post a series of screen caps on what I do to cause it.
User avatar
Paul
Super Moderator
Posts: 1000576
Joined: 15 Apr 2005, 18:31
First Video: Tetris
Location: Victoria, BC

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Paul » 19 Feb 2013, 08:44

Not Found

The requested URL /forum/undefined/forum/ was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


Ah, ok. I think I see the problem. Apparently some browsers don't support the javascript function I was using. Try it now.
User avatar
Metcarfre
Posts: 13676
Joined: 08 Jul 2008, 13:52
First Video: Not Applicable
Location: Vancouver, B.C.

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Metcarfre » 19 Feb 2013, 09:17

Using iOS 4, I personally find the lack of a back button very annoying.
*
User avatar
Dubious_wolf
Posts: 2761
Joined: 30 Nov 2009, 09:52
First Video: Mercenary Solutions 2
Location: My room eating YOUR cheese-its

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Dubious_wolf » 19 Feb 2013, 09:18

Paul you are a sexy sexy man. who builds sexy mobile interfaces.
STAMP OF APPROVAL!
(no bugs from what I saw)
^( " )^
winner!
Kapol
Posts: 6120
Joined: 25 Nov 2010, 03:31
First Video: Whisky Tango Foxtrot
Location: The ever-shifting landscape of the mind

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Kapol » 19 Feb 2013, 15:01

Paul wrote:
Not Found

The requested URL /forum/undefined/forum/ was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


Ah, ok. I think I see the problem. Apparently some browsers don't support the javascript function I was using. Try it now.


Yup, that worked. Though I'm still having the issue where the toolbar doesn't want to scroll down when looking at the mobile version of the forum.
User avatar
Keab42
Posts: 6662
Joined: 27 May 2009, 16:38
Location: In England

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Keab42 » 19 Feb 2013, 16:21

Forums now have the header and footer bars on my android.


In terms of fixed footers, early android browsers have petty poor CSS support but I think you can do something with JavaScript and absolute positioning.

I can still zoom in. I wonder if Chrome for Android ignores the viewport meta tags.. *makes mental note to research*
Keab42: Keeb-forty-two Deal with it. @Keab42 | | +Keab42 | | Tumblr
User avatar
Paul
Super Moderator
Posts: 1000576
Joined: 15 Apr 2005, 18:31
First Video: Tetris
Location: Victoria, BC

Re: LRR Mobile Edition BETA

Postby Paul » 20 Feb 2013, 12:12

Ok, so I have done some research on this, and it looks like there isn't really a good way to do a fixed position toolbar in Android <=2.3.3 without disabling page zooming. As an alternative, I have made the forums fall back to a normal footer at the bottom of the page if an older version of Android is detected. It isn't ideal, but I think it is better then having the navbar floating in the middle of the page, possibly obscuring content.

Return to “Site News”



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests