Is there a 'mobile' version of the Hydrogenaudio website (i.e. like there is at Gearslutz, where it auto selects it for you)?
You might try using the Opera Mobile browser. It tries to reformat web pages for smaller screens.
^^The suggestion seems a little extreme.
I know vBulletin has mobile styles. Maybe there's something similar in IP.Board?
EDIT: by the way, even when browsing this on the desktop, the default font size is waaay too small.
Just found this: "The IPS Community Suite includes a built-in mobile skin that enables users of any mobile device to access your community on the go. Mobile devices are automatically detected so users see the optimum display."
Sounds just what we need...
EDIT: by the way, even when browsing this on the desktop, the default font size is waaay too small.
It's the same as lots of other sites and I'm viewing at 1920x1080 on a 22" screen so it should be smaller for me. This edit box has a smaller font but the normal display is fine.
A bit of Firebugging and the main font is 13px, which is larger than most sites which default to 12px so not sure of your issue?
A bit of Firebugging and the main font is 13px, which is larger than most sites which default to 12px so not sure of your issue?
To clarify, I do not find the font size in which an open thread is displayed too small. I find the font size when browsing the forum topics too small. So, for example, what you see when you go to http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=25 (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=25).
There's a lot of empty space, too. I think the space could be managed more effectively. Due to the extremely small font size, I find it almost impossible to read the text when browsing the forums on my smartphone. I also need to zoom in a lot before I can nagivate via the touch screen. (If I don't, I miss all the time.)
Lastly, the font size in the text editor is too small for my taste as well.
I agree with 11px being too small which it is on the link you posted. There isn't too much empty space at all, lose any more and it'll be a cramped mess.
I often moderate with an iPhone which is much more tasking than simply reading and posting. I don't see the big deal.
I often moderate with an iPhone which is much more tasking than simply reading and posting. I don't see the big deal.
There's a big difference between it being just about usable, and it being optimised. If there's an easy/free way of getting that optimisation, how about trialling it?
I know it's easy to ask when you're not the person who has to do the work to set it up, but for a "technology resource" I think we look a bit backward by not having this.
Cheers,
David.
There are 2 limitations here:
1) We are not on the latest IPB version (and have no plans to upgrade), so we can't use those addons/skins.
2) My experience with mobile-specific sites is downright horrible, *especially* if they try to detect the mobile device and make retarded assumptions based on what they think they know what a mobile user whats or what the device is. I have 4" phones, 4.7" phones, 7" tablets and 10" tablets here with a variety of browsers and they make me want to kill web designers every day.
For that reason alone, I think as a "technology resource" we should absolutely NOT try to offer a mobile version of the site, because those are a completely misguided effort. I consider them a disease created by misguided designers that must be rooted out. On that subject:
DO YOU WANT TO INSTALL TAPATALK/OUR RETARDED APP INSTEAD?
Just kidding.
I haven't seen much forums that I considered OK for mobile use yet. I'm actually interested in examples.
This doesn't mean I think the current design/CSS is any good for mobile devices. My main annoyance is that the font inflation that Firefox Mobile and Chrome use gets confused by the post structure IPB uses. But I have the same problem on all discussion forums I visit :-/
I haven't seen much forums that I considered OK for mobile use yet. I'm actually interested in examples.
http://www.head-fi.org/ (http://www.head-fi.org/)
Very pleasant to use (casually) on both my 4.6" smartphone and my 7" tablet.
I haven't seen much forums that I considered OK for mobile use yet. I'm actually interested in examples.
Croatian IT magazine BUG has it's site and forum which do look good on mobile devices, and is more than usable:
http://www.bug.hr/forum/ (http://www.bug.hr/forum/)
I prefer HA as it is with Safari on my iPhone over HeadFi; at least for reading, anyway.
I often moderate with an iPhone which is much more tasking than simply reading and posting. I don't see the big deal.
Maybe it renders better on an iPhone (or a certain iPhone model) with a certain browser (Safari).
On my Android smartphones (Samsung S4 Mini, 4.3", 540x960, Google Nexus One, 3.7", 480x800) it's hard to use HA in my opinion on both Firefox Mobile as well as on Android's stock browser. I don't know, maybe my eyesight is not as good as others. But, again, I find the experience of browsing HA very frustrating, whereas I don't have issues with browsing a number of vBulletin forums that provide a mobile style ("vB4 mobile style"). Hence my initial suggestion to look into mobile skins.
Examples of web sites that I consider friendly for my smartphones include ubuntuforums.org and native-instruments.com/forum. EDIT: I just checked out the aforementioned head-fi forums from one of my phones and also find the interface superior to HA's. EDIT2: needless to say, HA is far from the only forum that could be better optimized for mobile. For example, the XDA developer's forums look pretty bad on my S4 Mini, at least when using Firefox Mobile.
I guess I won't be getting an android anytime soon.
I borrowed a friend's iPhone just to see. I'm a strong Android factionist, personally. There are few significant differences in rendering. Neither is much of a hassle.
I don't get the point of wasting dev time on an "improvement" this trivial. It works. It's a site designed in the days before smartphones. Whatever. I can browse just fine on either platform.
I turn the phone on its side and double-tap on a post and the scroll down. Front size is just right for reading.
I do most of my HA reading from Chrome on Android and find that it works fairly well. I have to zoom on some pages but that's a relatively minor inconvenience relative to things like replying and quoting from a touchscreen.
Thanks for the site suggestion, I will check those out and see what they're running. At some point the whole server setup will need updating, and I'm open to dropping IPB at that point if there's better alternatives.
I turn the phone on its side and double-tap on a post and the scroll down. Front size is just right for reading.
That sounds similar to my android phone (on GIngerbread 2.3) and tab (KitKat 4.4). Double-tap zooms the text of the post to fill width available, landscape or portrait orientation.
That works for me on most posts, but on some threads a number of posts (manually selected by poster?) have long lines in a small font, half or less the default.
So if you zoom in you can't see the whole line.
Ironic that it was only BEFORE smart phones that you could select your default size and font in your browser preferences and almost all web pages worked with it.
There are 2 limitations here:
1) We are not on the latest IPB version (and have no plans to upgrade), so we can't use those addons/skins.
2) My experience with mobile-specific sites is downright horrible, *especially* if they try to detect the mobile device and make retarded assumptions based on what they think they know what a mobile user whats or what the device is. I have 4" phones, 4.7" phones, 7" tablets and 10" tablets here with a variety of browsers and they make me want to kill web designers every day.
For that reason alone, I think as a "technology resource" we should absolutely NOT try to offer a mobile version of the site, because those are a completely misguided effort. I consider them a disease created by misguided designers that must be rooted out. On that subject:
DO YOU WANT TO INSTALL TAPATALK/OUR RETARDED APP INSTEAD?
Just kidding.
I haven't seen much forums that I considered OK for mobile use yet. I'm actually interested in examples.
This doesn't mean I think the current design/CSS is any good for mobile devices. My main annoyance is that the font inflation that Firefox Mobile and Chrome use gets confused by the post structure IPB uses. But I have the same problem on all discussion forums I visit :-/
It is really a pity that you are not planning to do any forum upgrade to make it available on Tapatalk as well. Although I hated Tapatalk for a long time, I have recognized significant improvements in the usability of Tapatalk over the last months. And so far, it is the only app, which makes forums really usable on mobile phones.
And as I use my mobile (Android) phone 99% of all times for interacting on forums, it is quite essential that I have a good mobile app for that. I can use Tapatalk with CA, jRiver, Head-Fi, and many other forums. But not HA, which really sucks on Android, as it is unusable. Which is a pity, as I would like to read more on this forum.
And not having a mobile version in 2015 is - well, quite 2000...
And not having a mobile version in 2015 is - well, quite 2000...
And having a special mobile version is so 1990's - remember WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)?
And having a special mobile version is so 1990's - remember WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)?
Disagree. In practice, the UX is better with special apps. I understand that in theory, you can do the same thing for browsers. But you just do not see that happing.
Even if we're not talking apps but merely serving different versions of the site to clients with different user agent strings, I still think it improves the UX. E.g., vBulletin, the world's most popular forum software, by default serves a different style to mobile devices. It makes forums so much more usable on a smartphone IMO.
In practice, the UX is better with special apps.
Maybe, marginally. But do I really want an app for every web site I visit semi-regularly?
In practice, the UX is better with special apps.
Maybe, marginally. But do I really want an app for every web site I visit semi-regularly?
Try it by yourself. Install Tapatalk, search for like jRiver, Computer Audiophile, Head-Fi, and whatever. You will see what a great improvement it will be to use ONE app for several forums.
Currently I am writing from Firefox on Android with a 6inch display smartphone and it really suxxs!
And not having a mobile version in 2015 is - well, quite 2000...
And having a special mobile version is so 1990's - remember WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)?
Definitely wrong. Today you would have responsive sites, which automatically adapt to the user device.
Definitely wrong. Today you would have responsive sites, which automatically adapt to the user device.
Yes. HTML5. No need for separate apps.
I registered with Tapatalk to look at their plugins ages ago, and they've been bugging my inbox ever since. Nothing about updates to certain plugins. Just constant suggestions as to how I can better use their service to promote "my" forum.