AppleInsider Mobile Version Feedback - Page 2

I have an iPhone 4s with IOS 6.0.1 and also cannot see anything on the website to toggle between desktop view and mobile view for the forums. Can we get some clarification about this feature? Is it in private beta or should we be seeing it? Thx.

The beta works great, very good and easy interface. Best I've seen.

Hey maybe this website with enough progress, the website could be a IOS app, the full website works great in both versions.

I find it a lot easier to keep track of subscribed threads than the main site.

I don't think that having an excerpt of the latest post is not a very useful information. Here's why:

• Depending what was the last post that you read, knowing the beginning of the latest post is useless because you will need to go back anyway to continue reading where you left off.
• Removing the excerpt would give back some space, and therefore show more content.
• With the gained space, you could show how many pages there are for that thread, additionally to the nickname of the last poster and the timestamp of the post, and the total number of posts.

Fine so long as you have the power as a mod to remove obnoxious ones.

Can't seem to find how to ignore folks without going back to desktop.

I can't find that option either.

 

Glad to know that that wasn't just me. 

 

Another thing that might be useful, if it is possible, is having 'ignores' also block replies to the person. I mean if you don't want to see what they are saying then you don't want to see it whether it is them or someone quoting them. But you don't always want to block the folks that are doing the quoting cause they aren't always bad. 

 

Another option in this regard would be to be able to ignore threads and/or subthreads. This way if someone is normally 'good' but they have a moment of insanity you can block that tangent and replies but see the rest of their stuff. 

 

Same with being able to exclude certain types of articles. Some folks are livid that anything about any lawsuits is being posted. So what that they don't have a gun to their heads making them read it, the fact that it is there forces them to go into the forums on every article and talk about how those things shouldn't be posted. If they had the power to 'exclude' certain keywords (and those words are always on the appropriate articles) then they could ignore that topic to their hearts content. 

Couple of wishlist type things. 

 

1. Correct the padding on the 'comments' link. It's bad on the desktop version and horrid on the mobile one. Sometimes the first comment is shoved up almost off the top of the screen, other times it is. 

 

2. I know we can adjust the number of posts we see on a page but what about no pages at all. Why not let us have the option for a flat scroll of everything no matter how long it gets. Going with that, a way to jump straight to the first unread message (perhaps based on time and date of the last visit to that particular thread) would be useful. And why not an option for nested replies. Works great on a number of sites and this one could be another. 

Just wanted to chime in to say I'm loving the mobile beta forum.

There are plenty of additional features that would be nice to have but this is such a brilliant start and user experience on the iPhone that I hope its goes live for everyone soon because I want them to enjoy it, too.


PS: I suggest doing a quick article on it, linked with red text, when it does go live so people are 1) well aware of it, and 2) have a communal outlet for voicing their praise and criticisms in one place, instead of on every thread like with the forum and site change up months back.

This is pretty cool so far on my iPhone. Great work! Btw, I'd happily fork over $5 or so for a native objective c based iOS app. As good as HTML is, it has some limitations. Which is not to say this isn't this isn't a million times better then what the desktop version looks like on iPhone. Thank you thank you!!!!

Seems to work great on my iPad too. Wow

Heck... I even like the Mobile version running on my Mac better than the Desktop version... and yes, I would buy a native Mac version too.

As a nice to have.. maybe for a later version. I'd like to suggest for the "like" icon to work more like Facebook and not take you to a different page for a comment. Simply, give the guy or gal a +1 and be done with it. I think people would be more likely to "like" things if it was less effort and didn't take your attention away from reading down the posts, by taking you off to a different page and require a "reputation comment". Also, as a bonus, it would be nice to quickly see the list of people who "liked" the post. Again, without taking you off onto a different page to see this info.

How do you keep track of new articles that way? A separate tab with the main page and hitting refresh every so often?

Loving it myself as well! Ad I'm only trying it out on an iPad, haven't picked up my iPhone yet.

One thing: I just responded to JeffDM's post #44 and after that I wanted to respond to Sol, but the site quoted Jeff again, instead of Solipsism. On a second try it went well. Will report back if this turns out to happen more often.

I would love if there was a way to get a notice if someone replied to something I posted, instead of subscribing to the thread. Sometimes there's more off topic discussed than the point or question I had and going into the thread and searching for replies is kinda dumb. Unless I'm missing something: is there a way to see replies from others on my posts?

OT: this mobile version rocks on iPhone, especially on the 5 with it's taller screen!

I think when they first added Huddler the site allowed you to follow certain people as friends so you could get a notice when they posted to any thread, even if you hadn't been on it (not sure if that is correct or if it's still working). That's about the closest I've seen to what you ask for from the forum software.

That said, I have set up my own way of being alerted to posted that mention me. In my Mac's Mail app I have set up a rule that will let me know. The flags will also carry over to my iDevices so long as my Mail app is open when it first comes through (which is a horrible way to have to do this. Apple really needs server-side Mail rules if they want people to take iCloud Mail seriously). The middle selection alerts me of a private message from AppleInsider.

While that's a nice way of getting an alert through your Mail.app wouldn't it be easier if you just selected 'Immediately' instead of the default 'Daily Digest'?

Fully agree on the server-side rules request!

Oh, I do get notified immediately, but because of that I get a post from every thread after I've refreshed on the AI site (assuming I'm logged in). What my rule does is alert me with a sound, flag, and icon bounce when it's a message directed to me in some way.

There needs to be an option to not load images. I like the way the mobile version of AI, by default, does not load images unless requested. The forums should do likewise, or at least make it an option. I hate burning through my precious mobile data for images I specifically chose not to load when reading the article, once I move over to the comments.

There's no thumbs-up counter, nor can I read a thumbs-up text, if posted.

I can't log in to the forums on my iphone 4 because the log in area disappears after a few seconds of popping up. Its on the right hand side where the ads are. Any recommendations?

Also, is there a mobile forum site? I can't seem to find it.....

Sure, I'd love to try it. I won't complain, per se, but i'll let you know what I think 

There aren't that many things to complain about… And I've shared pretty much everything that I've encountered.

I don't know if this is posted elsewhere, but since the auto login area isn't working on my device, is there a faster way of logging in than going through the whole process every time? I have to log in every time because it doesn't remember me as a user or that I was just there 5 minutes ago (iphone 4 ios 6.0.1)

I know that this is not related to the mobile forum, but we really, like really, need a direct link to the Forums from the mobile homepage (iPhone.appleinsider.com) or any article. Perhaps in the page footer?

Does hitting the "comments" button at the bottom not send you into safari and straight to the forum? Or are u looking for a link to the forum home page

Sometimes I find the page jumps to the top or bottom when I'm scrolling, especially while the page is loading. (No, I'm not hitting the top of the screen). It happens semi often

Is there any functionality in the software to allow the reply window size to be increased? It's about right for the iPhone, but smaller than I would like to see on the iPad.

The latter. I don't necessarily want to comment on that particular news post. Just get to the forum homepage.

Fully agree. It's 'ok' on the iPhone5, it might be a little too small on a 3.5" screen. But on an iPad in landscape it's only 5 lines high, too little for my taste. (on a desktop one can drag the bottom-right corner to make it bigger). Especially too small if one wants to re-read the message you're replying to. Here's a terrible .png I made:


edit: also add the 'quote and reply' button on that single 'menu bar'. Perhaps an I and U next to the B as well - in landscape orientation that is.
Edited by PhilBoogie - 11/24/12 at 1:13am

The Reply bar goes away when you but hit the Quote and Reply button. You can scroll the page to see it but they have made it no take it up screen real estate if you are making a reply.

I like the idea of a larger window for typing, more buttons for markup, and moving it all to one bar.. On the iPhone 5 there it's not as large as it could be.

This is what I see now and a basic idea of what I'd like to see.



I know the top bar is cluttered and using Preview I cant really make it pretty but you only press those buttons a couple times on average per post (perhaps even just once if you don't use markup, links, images or even preview a post before sending). The most important thing is the window for which you are replying, especially if you have quoted someone.

Note my quick and dirty mockup removed the Trash button. I just don't think it's necessary as I doubt it's used much. If you want to remove all the text from a window you tap once, select all, and backspace.

The header at the top that says "Appleinsider" with the buttons likes to appear and disappear when scrolling on the iPhone 4. It's frustrating b/c I move the text to the top of the screen to continue reading, and then the bar pops back up and I have to scroll down to see what is now covered up

I'm browsing AI mostly through my iPhone using safari. The problem is, once I go from article to forum I cannot get back to the articles unless I use the back arrow on safari. Everything else seems to bring me back just to the forum home. It would be great to get back to the main page using the home instead.

Please TS, can we get this current 5 line reply box expended please? Sol posted this mockup...and I want it.

FYI, optimizely ad on mobile site isn't clickable.

Also, I tried to email about it and it got rejected as spam. Pretty annoying I must say.