DR Mobile

Post by **bob** » 10/29/09, 7:23 pm

kind of overkill for my purposes--I'm not going to deliver a different page to Nokia than what I give to Ericson... Not sure.

Post by **bob** » 10/29/09, 9:33 pm

OK, got something set up. If you're on a mobile device, and you go to DR, it should bring you to the mobile version instead. And, on the mob version, if you click on Full Site, it should bring you to the full site without redirecting you back to the mob site.

(If you're on a mob and you want to book the full site, you'll have to use something like http://www.dailyrotation.com/?full and another problem will be configuring the full site from a mob. Thinking these over...)

Here's the script I'm using:

http://www.russellbeattie.com/blog/mobi ... ion-in-php

and I'm also using a scrap of code from the comments here:

http://mobiforge.com/developing/story/l ... ection-php

Post by **bob** » 10/30/09, 2:47 am

Please test to your heart's content and report the results. And let me know if I've missed anything....

Gerry · Post by **Gerry** » 10/31/09, 12:22 pm

It's great but I'd get rid of the bold. Also, I'm not sure about this, however with the DR audience being used to Black and white as default, should you make the mobile version the same?

Post by **bob** » 10/31/09, 6:55 pm

Black and grey are the default on DR. I needed to lighten the grey backgrould for text to make it more readable. More contrast is needed on the small screen.That's also why I bolded it. It's black (or as determined by the users' mobile browser). Are you looking at it on a phone or a desktop, Gerry?

One more thing I want to do is create a little button to click to get to the headline's source. Too easy to accidentally click a headline.

Gerry · Post by **Gerry** » 10/31/09, 8:40 pm

I was looking at it on the gf's iPhone. If I was just going to look at in the browser it wouldn't have taken so long to give you some feedback. I'm pretty sure the phone makers would have given the default fonts more body if they though it was needed on their particular device. But ehh.

Post by **bob** » 11/01/09, 2:01 am

I'll make it bold only on the second page of headlines [more headlines] so you can compare. Tell me what you think... I definitely think the bold works better.... anyone else?

Gerry · Post by **Gerry** » 11/01/09, 10:51 am

Yep, like it much better non-bolded. I read pages in the horizontal view on the iphone btw. BTW, now I also think it would kick ass if the descriptions were also indented.

Post by **bob** » 11/01/09, 3:53 pm

now I also think it would kick ass if the descriptions were also indented.

personal taste, or do you have an objective rationale? Diddling around, I changed a few things--now only headlines in bold, extra space between headline and text, and next headline. See what you think... I'm looking for clean, lucid useability and readability.

Gerry · Post by **Gerry** » 11/02/09, 6:31 am

bob wrote:
now I also think it would kick ass if the descriptions were also indented.
personal taste, or do you have an objective rationale

Well since you changed this interface to show descriptions it's no longer easy to scan down through the list of headline titles. Descriptions are now given the same reading space as titles, where as before titles were king and you had to hover to see descriptions. If the descriptions where indented from the titles the break would be much clearer and you could just scan down the page only looking at the ones that were unindented and then looking at the description when you find a title that catches your interest.

bob wrote:Diddling around, I changed a few things--now only headlines in bold, extra space between headline and text, and next headline. See what you think... I'm looking for clean, lucid useability and readability.

I won't be able to look at this on an iphone till tomorrow night.

Post by **bob** » 11/02/09, 6:01 pm

Why don't you marry that girl, Gerry, or at least get your own iPhone....

Gerry · Post by **Gerry** » 11/02/09, 9:57 pm

bob wrote:Why don't you marry that girl, Gerry, or at least get your own iPhone....

Hmmm... marry somebody or buy an overpriced phone so that I can run tests for Bob. Hmmmm... I'll think about it.

Post by **bob** » 11/03/09, 4:40 pm

I won't be able to look at this on an iphone till tomorrow night

If anyone has another phone--not an iPhone--please tell me what you think too. This is not intended to be iPhone-centric.

buy an overpriced phone

I've had my iPhone for a week now, and I'm well satisfied. Not sure what you mean by overpriced? Compared to what? Other smart phones, or regular phones, or no phone? I paid $200 (plus the data plan-$30/month), and I believe I got value for my money.

But we digress, how about DR Mobile?

Gerry · Post by **Gerry** » 11/03/09, 9:43 pm

K, it's much better now Bob, with a clear distinction between headlines and descriptions. If anything though, the headlines take up a lot more space than they need to which leads to a lot more scrolling on the iPhone.

Here's my response to your other OT questions: http://www.shellcity.net/phpBB/viewtopi ... 9124#39124

Post by **bob** » 11/03/09, 11:35 pm

K, it's much better now Bob, with a clear distinction between headlines and descriptions. If anything though, the headlines take up a lot more space than they need to which leads to a lot more scrolling on the iPhone

Suggestions, then? Delete spacing and indent text? Currently I get approx 4-6 headlines on the vertical screen at a time. (Depending on the amount of intervening text.) By deleting the spacing, I might get one or two more headlines in the window. (8 or so lines) More if I smallen the font (which I think would be a serious mistake.)

Take a look at the free New York Times App, Gerry. See what you think of that. I've pretty much taken that as my guide for readability.