Hatter's_Delight 1 Share Posted October 7, 2017 How do you feel about the mobile option on sites? I've had issues in the past where the mobile looked nothing like the true skin, or it hide things that needed easier access too. Because of this we've turned off the mobile version of our site for the time being until we can figure a way to have everything pretty easy to find. This has made me curious how everyone feels about the mobile versions. Do you use it? Do you automatically switch to the desktop? Do you even know that's an option for your devices(or computer going into mobile)? I know it helps save data because your device isn't trying to load everything all at once, it only pulls up what is new, considered more important, but you spend more time searching through to find what you are looking for if maybe you're a new member trying to find all the hoopla, or a member who's lost access to a computer, only just found a link for your phone in an old email after a week and all your posts are buried. I've completely lost track of threads because they were hidden and I just couldn't actually get to them without the direct link. Ascension of Darkness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CovertSphinx 710 Share Posted October 7, 2017 I automatically go to desktop mode. It's just easier for me. In Mobile Mode, I would have to manually go into each forum to check for new posts. Whereas on the Desktop version I could see right from the home screen where there were no things or not. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huskerdust 625 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) I tend to use desktop skins in some places and mobile in others, depending of course on usability. I am often surfing sites on a mobile device so the mobile skin or a desktop skin that works well on mobile is pretty essential to me. Edited October 7, 2017 by Zozma 1 Reality is an illusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uaithne 543 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Hmm. I'm very protective of my data. I don't think I'd join a site that didn't allow me to use the mobile mode unless there was a very data-friendly, graphic-reduced desktop skin. But sites these days have so many graphics, I don't really want to deal with that from my phone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sage 289 Share Posted October 10, 2017 I actually designed my new skin with mobile accessibility in mind. It was difficult to do for a first time, but our member response has been so appreciative of it. We use Jcink, so I disabled the default mobile mode and just designed the new skins using media queries so that it scales according to screen size. I actually learned a lot while doing this - like the importance of scalable font sizing, the importance of buttons and dropdown menus, how non-toggleable sidebars are the devil, and so much more. I really gained a great understanding of what you need to design things for different screen sizes. And it was hella rewarding when I finished. If a mobile layout is designed correctly, you shouldn't need to click through a million screens to get what you want. We live in an age now where most websites are accessed through mobile, so good design is essential. Unfortunately, forum designers are still catching up to this idea, especially in the real of rp forum designers. Which is unfortunate. I discovered that most of my members access the forum on their phones, so that really drove me toward making a layout that was more usable for them. My mobile layout is easy on graphics, has an easy to read font size, and focuses on the text. Alerts are easy to get to, there are buttons for recent topics and the member list, all of our information articles are in a dropdown menu, and the sidebar/cbox is toggleable so it doesn't get in the way. You can see which forums have new topics in them since your last visit, and we don't have too many subforums that you're forced to click through to get to the content. Those were the features I discovered to be key while I was designing. Also, because I designed the mobile layout for my site instead of relying on the default, it perfectly matches our skin! 2 1 a dark, urban fantasy; inspired by sailor moon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josie 198 Share Posted October 20, 2017 On sites that have a mobile option, I switch immediately to desktop. On my own sites, I do not use fixed-width measurements (pixels), so everything scales down nicely to a smaller screen. All you might have to do is zoom in to read, but everything works still and you can find what you need to find just the same. 1 WANTED: flamboyantly rich & famous family members, workers for a creepy foundation, & an AI handler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypher 4 Share Posted October 25, 2017 As someone who uses premade skins, I wish that more skin makers who put their stuff on resource sites built with this in mind. Or at the very least, I wish there was an easy way for me to plug this stuff in and do it myself. I've dabbled with doing the percentages thing before, but that was an exercise that failed miserably. So what I do now is change some stuff and then immediately check the desktop skin on my phone to see if it looks decent enough and is functional enough for pinch and zoom. If it is, I stick with it. Sidebar: the lack of skins that actual theme Jcink's mobile variant is also depressing, and if I knew what went where in the CSS to do it myself, I'd try to hack something together there too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Morrigan 1,826 Admin Share Posted October 26, 2017 1 hour ago, Cypher said: As someone who uses premade skins, I wish that more skin makers who put their stuff on resource sites built with this in mind. Or at the very least, I wish there was an easy way for me to plug this stuff in and do it myself. I've dabbled with doing the percentages thing before, but that was an exercise that failed miserably. So what I do now is change some stuff and then immediately check the desktop skin on my phone to see if it looks decent enough and is functional enough for pinch and zoom. If it is, I stick with it. Sidebar: the lack of skins that actual theme Jcink's mobile variant is also depressing, and if I knew what went where in the CSS to do it myself, I'd try to hack something together there too. This is my next big project. Not only creating themes that are mobile friendly but customizable per site and to teach others how to do this. 1 Profile set made by myself and original Artwork by Fae Merriman, my daughter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypher 4 Share Posted October 26, 2017 1 hour ago, Morrigan said: This is my next big project. Not only creating themes that are mobile friendly but customizable per site and to teach others how to do this. Sweet. Even something as simple as pointing people in the direction of what to change themselves would go a long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sage 289 Share Posted October 30, 2017 It's actually not hard to skin jcink's mobile layout! Most of the work is already done for you, but I don't think there's a handy css guide anywhere that tells you what you need to do step by step. Perhaps this is something I'll look into doing when I have a spare moment, because it's fairly straightforward. That would at least give you somewhere to start @Cypher! 1 1 a dark, urban fantasy; inspired by sailor moon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts