Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Parish Notice: Mobile Accessibility

I've had a number of compalints from iPhone users that this blog is almost impossible to read on them. I have just signed up with ProHost and made the blog much more mobile friendly.

I have added code to the template so that if you use a mobile, it will automatically default to the new mobile format. It certainly works on my Blackberry, but I need to know that it works on iPhones and other variables.

It's going to cost me money to provide this service, so I need to know from those of you who read this blog on your mobiles if you want this. I have 14 days to decide whether to continue or not.

The domain is http://iaindale.prohost.mobi if you don't get taken there automatically.

The one drawback is that I don't think you can read or make comments using the feature.

30 comments:

Arthur Dent said...

Iain, Looks good on Android (Samsung Galaxy S). This parish notices isn't yet showing, sure it will soon.
Nick

Matthew Dear said...

It works quite well for me Iain - though could I suggest you find out what mobile template that frightful libertarian hedonist Guido Fawkes uses? TBH it's a bit more slick and simple IMHO, and it allows both reading and leaving comments.

Benny said...

It's ok. Shows the first bit of the first post and then the titles of the next two.

If only you were on Wordpress, you could download a mobile theme for mobile browsers! Oh well.

AndyR said...

Are there really no good RSS readers for the iPhone? I find it very hard to believe.

Josh said...

I tend to just read the blog via RSS. I use Google reader and it appears fine both on my laptop and Android.

Occasionally videos do not show in the RSS, but it is not a big deal.

If you move the blog to wordpress, instead of blogspot there are plenty of plugins that can automatically make the page suitable for mobile devices, as well as many other wonderful things.

Bardirect said...

er . . . it seems to be defaulting to "mobile mode" even for us desktop viewers (on Firefox) but I was luck enough to press the stop loading page at just the right time on the 30th attempt!

wv:cregordo!

Richard Abbot said...

The one drawback is that I don't think you can read or make comments using the feature - then its no good!!

Jabba the Cat said...

For all iPhone owners...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg&feature=player_embedded

adrianb said...

@ Matthew Dear: Guido's template is wptouch which integrates with Wordpress.

Iain is using blogger, so wptouch is incompatible.

Benny said...

@AndyR - There's a new app called Pulse News Mini that's great for RSS feeds. Really recommend it.

Liz said...

It's automatically redirecting to the mobile site for my iPhone, and looks good. Thanks!

Mike Wood said...

Both versions seem to work fine on my iphone

Anonymous said...

AndyR: An RSS reader wouldn't solve the problem.

I click through via the tweets. It ends up on the standard website, and Iain has his fonts too small and the main column too wide to see on an iPhone screen.

Zooming in doesn't work, because then you just see part of the line.

Anonymous said...

Richard,
If you visit in mobile mode and you want to leave a comment then just click on the 'desktop' link.

Edward Bond said...

I prefer the non-mobile site for my iPhone. I find no trouble using it at all.

If you are going to have an iphone site though it must be capable of comments!

The Grim Reaper said...

Iain said "It's going to cost me money to provide this service..."

I thought that's what the advert that pepper the blog generously was meant to cover?

JuliaM said...

It's working just fine on my iPhone 3GS.

John Woodman said...

Please don't: the benefit fo iPhones (and others) is that you can look at the actual site rather than a summary. Guido's blog is a pain to look at now, as yours will be.

Anonymous said...

It works on my Nokia 5320. Not too bothered about comments; perhaps just as well as so many of them make me despair.

Not sure how to set a mobile up to make comments anyway - being a dorm in these matters.

OperaNut1972 said...

iPhone users don't need the functionality of a mobile site as they for most can view the full site via Safari, this means we can leave comments and read them too. That is unless you start using Flash instead of HTML 5;D LOL

Scary Biscuits said...

I think I prefer the main site on my Blackberry 9700.

What annoys me about 'cut down' mobile sites is they generally cut down the one thing that is easy to download and read on virtually any platform: text. On Guido's mobile site, for example, you now have to click once to get to the site and again, with a slow page load, to get to the article. It would be much easier if his main site just contained the most recent text with a scroll bar. Ditto your new mobile site.

I wouldn't pay for this version if I were you.

Dual Citizen said...

Iain. Works fine on iPhone. Thanks. You're right - can't view or add comments though.

WV - Govie!

marksany said...

You desktop site works fine on my iPhone, perhaps somevreaders dont know how to zoom, or hold their iphone sideways.

Ifbit can't do comments, forget it, comments are a blogs lifeblood

As others say, guidos mobile site is excellent. The way it threads comments is an improvement on your desktop site.

Time to switch to word press? Lots of people are doing so now.

Paul Halsall said...

Your main blog now looks a bit odd on Chrome now. The blogroll is overlaid on other features.

Stono said...

Iain, bardirect is right your auto redirect is treating desktop firefox users as jobs phoneoids instead.

so whilst its nice those people who have phones purely as fashion accessories as they clearly arent capable of using their mobile web browsers properly in the first place, can now read the site properly, how about not ruining the desktop experience in the process.

Iain Dale said...

That can't be right. I use Firefox myself and it doesn't do it for me, so it must be some setting a couple of you have.

Anyway, I will probably take out the coding so it isn't automatic.

Timothy Haire said...

Excellent Iain. Much better from my blackberry.

rudecherub said...

Iain as English Guy says, it's fine as it is in Android, I am looking at your page as it is in my normal pc browser on my phone, and if I wanted I could be commenting from my phone using the standard Android browser.

It would seem this is only a problem for users with inferior handsets

Pure Innovation said...

Iain you could save your money by modifying your CSS to include mobile specific settings such as larger fonts, disabling certain images, simplifying the layout, etc.

Most modern phones will work pretty well with your desktop site, it looks good in both the default browser and opera mobile on Android. There are a couple of rendering issues but nothing that would make it impossible to read, and all could be fixed with some CSS tweaks.

jas88 said...

"That can't be right. I use Firefox myself and it doesn't do it for me, so it must be some setting a couple of you have."

Probably something to do with their ISP: if they're using a mobile broadband dongle the detection code could be going "oh, O2, that's a mobile phone then..." - much the same way laptops on GNER trains would get Google in Swedish, because the company which provided the mobile broadband on the trains was a Swedish one...