mobile brainstorming post

[denise]

dreamatdrew is working to gather information about how people use the mobile version of a website, with an eye towards improving dreamwidth's mobile offerings, so:

* what features would you want to see on a mobile version of dw? what things would you not want to see?
* what does the current mobile version do well? do badly?

(please also mention what phone/mobile operating system you're using, for reference)

Also, for anyone interested in the process of improving mobile dreamwidth, dw_mobile is the new comm for the project team.

Comments

[snakeling]

I use an Acer Liquid with Android.

I'd like it if DW could recognise that we're using a mobile and offer the mobile version even when accessing the regular pages, like Wikipedia.

I'd prefer to see the actual posts on the reading page, but with no icons, and all images replaced by placeholders.

I'd love to have a version of the entry page with no icons.

RE: Entry Page

[dreamatdrew]

Just to clarify, http://www.dreamwidth.org/mobile/post currently does not have any images at all. If you are happy with your default user icon being used for mobile posts, and do not intend to cross post a mobile entry, then that page will work for you right now. (This is not me saying that it's a bad idea, at all; just pointing to what is there right now in case you were unaware.)

Re: Entry Page

[snakeling]

Oh, no, you misunderstand me. I wasn't thinking about the update page. (And while I'm at it, it's inconsistent that it's called "update" on the normal site, and "post" on the mobile site.)

I was talking about opening a page from the mobile reading page, like here. (And right here it should be "style=light", since "format=light" is there just for legacy purposes.) See how every comment has a user icon? It's clutter, and bandwidth drain.

Re: Entry Page

[dreamatdrew]

/me groks in fullness

[kyrielle]

I'd like it if DW could recognise that we're using a mobile and offer the mobile version even when accessing the regular pages, like Wikipedia.

...please, only if it offers an easy way to get out and, preferably, to stay out in the future. Some percentage of users will dislike the mobile site, and I dislike almost all of them. Mobile sites generally seem to be clunky and annoying, and I vastly prefer the non-mobile view on most sites. Of course, Dreamwidth being Dreamwidth, it might be the second site ever where I like the mobile view.

FYI

[dreamatdrew]

We're also accepting ideas/critiques/etc. at http://dw-mobile.dreamwidth.org/278.html .

[karathephantom]

BlackBerry Tour user here, seconding the suggestion that the reading page show actual posts without images instead of just the post subjects and usernames. Perhaps with an automatic cut for length after a certain number of characters?

I do very much like that the DW mobile homepage isn't too cluttered, though. (The LJ mobile homepage is so busy that I find it a little unusable.)

[sophie]

LJ's old mobile site is still available, if you want it - you just have to go to http://www.livejournal.com/mobile/index.bml instead of just http://www.livejournal.com/mobile/ , which redirects to the new one. You might find that one easier to use.

[karathephantom]

*blinks* That's *so* much nicer. Thank you!

[aveleh]

On the other hand, I *don't* want Dreamwidth to recognize that I'm using a mobile browser and force me to use it - or at least I want to be able to easily switch it off. Something more like twitter, I think?

I purposely have my browser set to say that I'm using a regular browser instead of a Blackberry (Curve, for reference) and that's because I hate getting redirected to a mobile style instead of getting to use mine.

Actually, what I'd really love is for there to be a default mobile site, that users automatically get, and for logged-in users to be able to select a secondary style for mobile use. (I instead just design my style to work well for my own mobile use, and put up with how it looks on a regular browser.)

/ramble ramble.

[jd]

Although one problem I currently have with Twitter's mobile is that ... it was very easy to use my phone's browser to switch to web view, because I wanted to see if it could handle it, but my phone ended up not being able to handle it very well, so now I can't get my phone to switch back! (This is mostly because the page is too wide for my browser, which does not have horizontal scroll bars.) So if we do a switchy thing, it needs to be easy to switch back and forth from a mobile browser.

[draigwen]

I'm currently using an N900 which means I use Firefox on my phone, so theoretically I don't need a mobile site... but then again I'd still probably use one rather than the non-mobile site.

It's been a while since I've used the mobile site but I think, from memory, it doesn't show the number of comments by a post - I think this is my main 'must have' if the reading page just lists titles and users. Ideally I'd like it to say 'new since last visit' too.

I definitely think a simple post entry page would be good.

One thing I'd love, and I'm not sure if this would be part of the mobile site or a separate suggestion, would be to have two set styles for the journal: one for normal browsers and one for mobile browsers. I always liked the mobile s2 style that was developed on LJ, but since you'd have to turn it on as your permanent style it didn't really do the job for me. Having two styles set would allow people to have a more fancy mobile style if they have fancier phones like mine, but a plainer one for the older or simpler styles.

[jd]

I'm pretty much on the lowest rung of phone internets, I think. I have a Katana LX that uses NetFront as its browser. Basically, I want a mobile version that is low enough footprint that it will still work on my phone :) (I already have a problem where I can't get to entry pages in mobile view; my phone complains "too many redirection".)

[kyrielle]

I use an iPhone 3G and use the built-in Safari browser. And I just use the same style I browse the site in. It's a little hard to read - I have to turn it long way and I zoom in to the post width - but it's not bad.

On other sites, I often spend my time trying to break OUT of the mobile interface. Almost every mobile interface I encounter is kludgy, TOO big in the type so that I have to scroll and scroll and scroll and MY FINGER IS TIRED and I still haven't finished the text, and it omits features. Usually, it omits features I want.

Wordpress is a lovely example of one that doesn't. The Wordpress mobile view as I experience it on the iPhone is pretty nice. Except I want the text a bit smaller, because argh my finger. I also keep my work laptop set to resolutions that my coworkers think I'm insane for, though, so I realize I may be an outlier on that particular topic. Adjustable/controllable font size would be a good thing.

What I would most love on a mobile view: space links and buttons apart. That is the worst bit of using the same view I use on my computer - on that tiny little touch screen, trying to hit the link I want and not the one next to it. It's kind of like the game Operation, only worse. :P

ETA: have now looked at the Dreamwidth mobile site. And at the LiveJournal one. The LJ one is better in that it has more of the functionality I'd want to be able to get to and it's prettier, and the friends page on LJ is better, but both are annoying. And I do not like the sparseness or the look in general. It's eye-strain inducing with the high contrast.

[sky]

I use an iPod Touch for mobile websurfing on a regular basis, so I suppose you can file that under iPhone. Usually the built-in Safari, occasionally Opera Mini.

Things I like about the current mobile version:
-It's fast and easy to load
-I don't have to adjust zoom to make the page readable (I have to do this on LJ mobile because their ads stretch the screen)
-Provides easy access to the rlist

Things I dislike:
-It's very plain and frankly kind of ugly
-Rlist just links to entries instead of displaying the full text

Things I want:
-A rlist that displays full text with icons and images scaled for the mobile screen
-Dreamwidth stylings and sans serif font
-Mobile theme for the front pages (i.e. Recent Entries view) of journals, particularly communities
-Mobile version of profile pages
-Easier access to track, memory, etc buttons on individual entry view
-Ability to choose icon, lock to custom access groups, and other fiddly options on the Post page
-Some kind of mobile interface to the Latest Things page would be really shiny.

[tenshinochouwa]

I use an iPod touch, so most of the time I just use the regular site for both LJ and DW, since it can handle it. However, I use the LJ mobile site sometimes, and one thing that I hate about it is that the title of the post isn't a link to the post. The link is, like, hidden and hard to hit with my touchscreen, which is *so* annoying. So essentially, please don't make it hard to find and/or click on the link to the post. Other than that, I'm pretty much good with whatever.

[jducoeur]

Having just pulled out my Android and tried it, some suggestions:

Reading filters just have to be top of the list, but it looks like you've got that one under control.

As mentioned above, tweaks to the buttons when in the mobile format -- a bit larger and better-spaced. Pressing the desired button is just a bit tricky.

Post-to-post navigation is a big can of worms, but would be useful, and I don't see an obvious way to do it currently. That is, the mobile reading page is currently just a list of topics, not a list of full posts like in the ordinary interface. This means that, to really *read* my full list, I have to keep diving into a post, read it, "back" in the browser to get back into the list, find the next post, go into that, and so on. PITA.

At least with my relatively high-bandwidth phone, I find myself wanting "previous" and "next" buttons that navigate *within my reading page*, rather than within this particular poster -- that is, from reading a given post, I want a button to go to the next post on my reading page.