David S. Wallens wrote: It wouldn't get any of the content that appears on the site, including message board posts. Basically, it would be cut off from the rest of the internet, frozen in time if you will.
Some people like living in the past
David S. Wallens wrote: It wouldn't get any of the content that appears on the site, including message board posts. Basically, it would be cut off from the rest of the internet, frozen in time if you will.
Some people like living in the past
They can live in the past, but they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other.
And we're not closing the mobile site to be malicious--or to force people to see ads, etc. Honestly, we're not that organized. Or mean.
Up until recently, the mobile site as well as our main site were both running on an old, unsupported version of Django. That's partly what has caused some recent outages. We also dodged a few big bullets, too, from what I'm told. So, we're updating the main site to the new OS. This should keep the site humming along.
Why not do the mobile one, too? Because the mobile site operated as a separate entity, as it was basically untethered from the main site when we did the mobile optimization. To keep it going would mean maintaining two websites, which we don't have the time or money to do.
I understand, and don't hold it against you guys, but it's unfortunate.
Any way to force the "mobile optimization" version on a desktop?
bluej wrote: Any way to force the "mobile optimization" version on a desktop?
I'm not sure what you mean, but let me see if this helps. I'm now at my laptop. If I grab the corner of my browser window and make it smaller, the site automatically redraws itself to fit the smaller window. That's the mobile optimization stuff at work. (And I'm sure I'm using some incorrect technology; I forgot to study web design while in college.)
Also, here's a little more backstory. In three or five years, what will be the preferred web browsing technology? Smart phones? Tiny phones? Giant phones? Mid-sized tablets? Micro-tablets? Super-sized tablets? Tiny laptops? Giant-ass desktop screens?
We don't know, either. The mobile site couldn't adapt to every situation, which is why we made the investment in the mobile optimization. That way the site will always work with your preferred screen size--now, tomorrow, or in the future.
David S. Wallens wrote: And we're not closing the mobile site to be malicious--or to force people to see ads, etc. Honestly, we're not that organized. Or mean. Up until recently, the mobile site as well as our main site were both running on an old, unsupported version of Django. That's partly what has caused some recent outages. We also dodged a few big bullets, too, from what I'm told. So, we're updating the main site to the new OS. This should keep the site humming along. Why not do the mobile one, too? Because the mobile site operated as a separate entity, as it was basically untethered from the main site when we did the mobile optimization. To keep it going would mean maintaining two websites, which we don't have the time or money to do.
Was the old version Django unchained?
In other news, yay I'm a half dork now 
And Bravenrace, you have an iPad 1, right? Also, which operating system?
Is there a way to optimize the viewing experience with some personal settings I can't find? With the avatars plus the tic-tacs after each post a single page takes about 30000 thumb swipes to get from top to bottom. I also prefer most recent on top, but I haven't figured out how yet.
In reply to ryanty22:
You stole my joke, but I'll tell it anyway
If the mobile site is left there unconnected would it be Django Unchained?
Did someone say Unchained?
Oldopelguy, tell us more, too: what device, OS, etc. I just grabbed my iPhone 4S, and the message board is looking nice to me. (And no, I'm not just saying that.)
Thanks.
reading through, I figured out the problem as I am a genius. Use an android tablet and youll be fine
I had the same issue on my galaxy phone. I run firefox mobile on my nexus and tablet and have no more issues. I never see the box anymore.
On all the time on my phone, you may notice my attrocious spelling is worse than usual when I am on it and never had the problems, Went on the site on my four yr olds Nabi 2 tablet and it ran nice just like my phone which is a galaxy note 2
The new site is honestly a pain in the dick to use on a phone.
Reading and posting in threads is fine, mostly. (Quoting posts is terribad.)
Getting into the threads is another matter. The page numbers are too close together to ever get the right thing selected. Blowing it up to make it big enough to accurately click results in the whole thing going tits up and moving to an entirely different location on the topics list.
And the lack of a full time latest topics button is bad for mobile use. The drop down is really finicky. I end up just hitting my home button on my browser everytime where I have a shortcut saved to generate latest topics. Probably looks awesome on your website visit stats.
What we're seeing is the difference between something made for mobile devices vs something that resizes for them. The old m site was made specifically with mobile devices in mind, so it was as lean and fast as I could figure out how to make it, everything was spaced for fat fingers, and in general it was built to work on your puny phone (which was likely much punier when it was made).
But all that said, it was a significant extra chunk of code to keep up with, and worse, it was a chunk of code that was tucked away from everything else and easily forgotten. Even when it was new, keeping it in sync was a pain in the butt.
Add in the out of date Django version and it's done. Nobody can justify the time and effort it would take to update it.
There are things I would do differently than the new site is doing, but if it was still my call, I'd make the same call here and kill the m site, too.
I'm on a Nokia winblows phone and if I. Turn the phone sideways then only about half of my vertical space is headers and footers on each post instead of actual text. With the phone upright the ratio is better but the footer on one post plus the header on the next takes up more than half of my screen. That means transitioning from one post to the next is at best text on the screen, scroll an entire screen, read first part of second post, scroll some more to finish reading the second post.
And the old mobile was bad for trying to delete a post instead of editing because of my fat finger. I have no hope of being able to hit an editing icon with my finger.
I completely stopped coming to the site on my computer once it went to the new format because of all the navigation time it takes to get where I want to go (here) and just read some thread titles and see if I care about any of those topics. I've been exclusively on my phone because the mobile site just worked better for me, but I just can't do all this scrolling and resizing.
oldopelguy wrote: I'm on a Nokia winblows phone and if I. Turn the phone sideways then only about half of my vertical space is headers and footers on each post instead of actual text. With the phone upright the ratio is better but the footer on one post plus the header on the next takes up more than half of my screen. That means transitioning from one post to the next is at best text on the screen, scroll an entire screen, read first part of second post, scroll some more to finish reading the second post. And the old mobile was bad for trying to delete a post instead of editing because of my fat finger. I have no hope of being able to hit an editing icon with my finger. I completely stopped coming to the site on my computer once it went to the new format because of all the navigation time it takes to get where I want to go (here) and just read some thread titles and see if I care about any of those topics. I've been exclusively on my phone because the mobile site just worked better for me, but I just can't do all this scrolling and resizing.
One reason I really like my galaxy Note 2 is I dont have to worry about my fat fingers because it has a stylus with the phone. It really makes some sites easier to navigate
I switched over to the main site on my phone. It's not horrible, but it is slower then the mobile site was. If it makes life easier at the world HQ of GRM, I'm good with it.
Thanks for spending the money and the time to give us a place to be PITAs. 
I didn't even know we had a mobile site, as using Dolphin on my Motorola RAZR maxx has been perfectly reliable with the desktop site. No pop ups, none of the other issues others have had.
David S. Wallens wrote: And Bravenrace, you have an iPad 1, right? Also, which operating system?
In the hopes of helping to narrow down the issue, my ipad 1 is running ios 5.1.1 and I am using Safari to get my browse on.
EastCoastMojo wrote:David S. Wallens wrote: And Bravenrace, you have an iPad 1, right? Also, which operating system?In the hopes of helping to narrow down the issue, my ipad 1 is running ios 5.1.1 and I am using Safari to get my browse on.
Same here without any issues: iPad 1, iOS 5.1.1, Safari.
You'll need to log in to post.
