archangelbeth: An egyptian-inspired eye, centered between feathered wings. (Default)
archangelbeth ([personal profile] archangelbeth) wrote in [site community profile] dw_suggestions2011-12-21 06:28 pm
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Separate Customized Posting Page for Mobile Devices

Title:
Separate Customized Posting Page for Mobile Devices

Area:
Posting To Dreamwidth

Summary:
Make it possible to have a customized posting page that recognizes when one is on a mobile device (or can be reached quickly, at least).

Description:
I just turned on the beta version of the new posting page and it. is. awesome. I can't <I>quite</I> duplicate the set-up that I'm accustomed to or the Ultra Perfect For Beth version (I'd like to have icon-choice up at the top <I>and</I> the bottom...), but overall? Love it.

On the other hand, the way I've put the boxes probably isn't going to agree with my phone. In the absence of a full-featured Mobile Dreamwidth app (to save drafts, yadda), how about a .mobile. posting page, where we can move the boxes around, and open and close them, to suit our <I>phone</I>-posting habits? We could have a smaller number of boxes open than our usual default, for instance, and arrange them all in a column, and presto! Much more phone-phriendly, er, friendly than, say, boxes surrounding the text-entry box!

Drawbacks: having to save two custom pages per user. Having to either recognize mobile devices (and have a way to go to the non-mobile site when people don't want their device recognized; an iPad could probably use the default posting page, while an iPhone would cry), or add a "jump to mobile posting page" somewhere. Gives users More Things To Think About.

Benefits: Makes posting from a phone or tablet easier, even without an App For That{TM}! Showcases the flexibility of the Almost <I>Perfectly</I> Awesome posting page!

Poll #8879 Separate Customized Posting Page for Mobile Devices
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
18 (32.1%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
5 (8.9%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
1 (1.8%)

(I have no opinion)
32 (57.1%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

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northern: "northern" written in gray text across a raven (Default)

[personal profile] northern 2011-12-26 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
I'd love an app instead.
denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)

[staff profile] denise 2011-12-26 07:07 am (UTC)(link)
Obviously an app is something we'd like to have! And we've tried several times to get somebody to develop one, but the problem is, our backend APIs (which apps and desktop clients have to use) are suffering from a very, very great deal of technical debt, and we need to put more energy into paying down some of that technical debt before it'll be easy for third-party developers to integrate with the site.
northern: "northern" written in gray text across a raven (Default)

[personal profile] northern 2011-12-26 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I'm not *expecting* an app - just thought I'd put it in the comment that it would be nice. ;) I know you have tons and tons of other things to work on.

Happy holidays and thank you for the great update yesterday!
green_knight: (Bee)

[personal profile] green_knight 2011-12-26 12:50 pm (UTC)(link)
A lot of the time I find myself using my mobile browser instead of any dedicated app, so I really want both.
ninetydegrees: Art: self-portrait (Default)

[personal profile] ninetydegrees 2011-12-26 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
As long as it doesn't mean http://www.dreamwidth.org/mobile/post is phased out because any new fancy page (not to mention an app) wouldn't work with all mobile devices and, as much as I love the new Create Entries page, I'd rather keep something relatively simple and light on my phone.
archangelbeth: An egyptian-inspired eye, centered between feathered wings. (Default)

[personal profile] archangelbeth 2011-12-26 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I did not know that page was there! Cool!

If there were a separate Mobile Posting Page, I would hope that there would be the option to go for the bare-bones "lite" page you just linked, or the flashier (but please not Flash!) version with the boxes, in a tickeybox somewhere. *looks hopefully at the magic programmers*
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2011-12-26 08:42 am (UTC)(link)
Oh! While I'm thinking of it, also a mobile edit page, if there's no such thing already.

(The save button doesn't show up on my poor Pixi. It's tragic.)
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)

[personal profile] azurelunatic 2011-12-26 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I would like the ability to customize the existing mobile page or its successor, but with a simple link to go to a shove-things-around page rather than a Heavy Interactive Gear Thingy; people could in theory use a different computer for the re-arranging rather than their mobile device, and rescue it if they made it Not Work.

Not that it particularly ought to have much more than include y/n and vertical sort order.
green_knight: (Default)

[personal profile] green_knight 2011-12-26 12:54 pm (UTC)(link)
with-changes:

A step on the way would be a mobile posting page for everybody (with option to switch to standard) - that way, all the boxes could just line up one underneath the other, without the sidebar getting into the way. I think I'd use this quite a lot. Customised mobile posting pages sound like something that would go well with the suggestion I'm still working on, which is custom mobile styles.
kyrielle: Middle-aged woman in profile, black and white, looking left, with a scarf around her neck and a white background (Default)

[personal profile] kyrielle 2011-12-26 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I really, REALLY would prefer a page I can easily get away from.

I use an iPhone.

I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate mobile views on my iPhone. Regular web views are, barring Flash (which the phone can't render) infinitely more usable.

I don't mind if this is implemented but I do mind if my device gets forced to the page and no way off it to the regular page.
matgb: Artwork of 19th century upper class anarchist, text: MatGB (Default)

[personal profile] matgb 2011-12-26 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
IAWTC. Many many times.

I've been using various Opera Mini/Mobile versions on my phone for the last 5/6 years and I've loathed "mobile" views ever since, I especially loath them when I'm forced there. A decent mobile browser, even on really old WAP phones, doesn't need a different version, it needs a version that degrades nicely and properly makes use of @media CSS.

I know not everyone can install different apps on their phone, but making sure the update page follows standards and degrades well would work better than a cludgy simplified 'mobile' view designed for crappy default phone browsers.
archangelbeth: An egyptian-inspired eye, centered between feathered wings. (Default)

[personal profile] archangelbeth 2011-12-26 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I hate being forced to a Mobile site, too! (Thus the parenthetical "and have a way to go to the non-mobile site when people don't want their device recognized"... O;> ) Adding a cookie for "default to non-mobile site" would be the way to go, from my limited web-programming osmosed knowledge?

I mostly am thinking, "If I post from my phone, I want to see things in a more vertical order, and with fewer of my options showing by default; if I'm on my computer, I want more options showing by default (I can shove them off in the right-hand sidebar), and making use of the horizontal space. Thus, having two forms -- one automagically recognized for my phone but not necessarily for my iPad -- would do the trick."
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