frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Hi;

I know this topic has come up before, but lets all see what can be done to fix it.

It's a fact that none of the 'themes' choices work well from a tablet:
* n810, n81v2 and Classic are all too slow, laden with graphics, ads, and other stuff.
* mobile I is probably the best, but it has some maddening problems, such as no "reply" button when reading a private message, no thanks button, no list of the most recent poster when in userCP and viewing subscribed threads, no list of the poster's seniority or thanks count, etc.
* mobile II is fast, readable, but has no options while posting - no quote, url, etc. And, if one needs to get out of it, the only option is to go to "normal" wait the required 30..40 seconds for all the Images to load, then switch again. Arrgh!
* mobile III is the pits. Sorry to be harsh.

I think that Mobile I could be fixed, and is the best one to try to improve. All it needs is a few options.

I'm really tired of having to constantly have to drop back to Classic from mobile I just to reply to a private message.

How hard will it be enhance Mobile I? Is this a task for Reggie? Can anyone help him?

Lets do something!

Steve

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Classic works fine.

Reggie is working on a tablet-friendly layout for the next round of site revamps.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

i have no idea what all that mobile I and III is, but i sometimes use skweezer.com on ITT and other websites if the internet connections is weak/slow

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

It's good to hear that Reggie is working on another version of mobile. Mobile I is almost ideal.

General's observation that classic works fine makes me wonder if I have a faulty n810. Under chinook and diablo both, a typical ITT page in classic takes about 20 seconds to load - i.e. to reach a stage where I can scroll, enter text, or use it. In mobile the delay is about 4 seconds.

These numbers are the same regardless of my location - at home on 802.11b with cable modem, or at work on 802.11g with 90% of a 100 Mbps pipe available.

Edit: I measured the time from pressing "submit" on this post until full control returned; 36 seconds.

Do others see similar delays?

For comparison, various desktops - Mac OSX, Windows XP, different flavors of linux - all load the same pages in classic in about 1.5 seconds.

Perhaps my expectations are too high....

Steve

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Isn't it a shame there should be a theme we'd have to select for using the a tablet related site on the tablet?
shouldn't it be the default?

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Or the site could load the "tablet" version by default when the a browsing tablet is detected.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

... which would be a very elegant solution I'd recommend for other sites, but not for ITT.

I believe it's more than a technical problem. It's the emotional message of "your tablet doesn't cope with the real internet, that's why we need to send you to a simpler version for your simple client"... this doesn't fit well with Nokia's marketing for these devices.

The site should look the same on the Tablet as it does on any desktop PC. Never make users feel they don't get "the real thing" when browsing with their tablets.

Customized versions for mobile devices are fine and a good thing if there is a real need for a beefier desktop-version. You hardly ever have this need, and there certainly is no such need on a simple forum where text is the main content. - A lot of desktop users (including myself) would benefit a lot from a faster and better layout/design of ITT. My old laptop chokes more on this site than the newer tablets ;)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Heck, itT brings my dual-2.5GHz G5 to its knees every once and a while, it's something of a feat that that poor 400MHz ARM11 can even load it. ;)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

ehehe, exactly.
It is kinda heavy on a regular desktop too.
:)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Um, probably worth mentioning - the front page of the ITT is not a forum page and is not affected by the themes. And the main page is the main problem. :)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

I have a css file that works well unfortunately the attachment system won't let me attach it here :confused:

I'll try uploading it somewhere and then linking to it.

It makes ITT much easier to navigate on the small device.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

It is rather ironic that one of the best forums for the NIT is one of the worst as far as browsing it with the NIT. You would think it should be one of the best!

I don't think most people that use this site regularly really care emotionally if our tablets don't cope with the real internet. I would be happy if it just worked well. Real internet or fake :)

Sarcasm aside, what I am trying to say is that I think most forum users know the limitations of the NIT and having to browse an optimized forum isn't going to upset anyone.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Certainly not.

It's just that I think that a site so devoted to the tablets should also do its best to promote them, to make them look good. - Transporting the message of "not good enough for the real internet" ist not the kind of promotion I think of ;)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Ok, here is a complete copy of my chrome directory. This is for people comfortable with mucking with the terminal and altering your microb settings. It will screw with things like google maps and some google mashups, feel free to delete those lines from the userContent.css.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Here is what is looks like under my chrome. It's amazin what you can do with a little bit of css.

This is right after loading the main form page and the general section. I have not scrolled at all, the tops of the pages have been wiped out by the CSS.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Oooh, that screenshot looks awesome. I think I'm going to have to learn this 'css' thing. Thanks for the chrome starter-kit, brontide.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Hmmm.

This CSS thing is fascinating, if confusing.

I dabble with web design, and am sort of comfortable with CSS in that context. I never considered applying CSS to a browser. Are the two related or is this a case of an overloaded operator <css> ?

Will download and then try to read and understand!

Thanks Brontide;

Steve

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

You can overlay additional css command to everything, a domain, or a url. I use this to turn elements on or off as well as adjusting the site to better fit the tablet.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

i would be quite happy with the all white mobile skin, if someone could fix it so that it would put "reply to" links on all posts, not just those i make...

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

CSS and tables is murder on performance. Especially when your CSS is the crummy IE-friendly kind.

I advise using proper more targeted CSS selectors, seeing if the board can output non-table layout code and adding in the /IE7/ script.
I've had stunning success with this javascript "suite" all the way down to IE5.5....

The way most people have gotten themselves into using CSS these days (due to IE), you can totally see why the browser would croak on all the instructions. I cringe thinking of the thread graph*...

* Were you able to make one ;)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

It seems that in Minimalistic view the last reply name in a thread is never change even when a new post is posted by a different member. That is what is displayed on my N8000.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Anybody able to use the search forums on an 810 with the default theme?
I click on the search link, opens up a box. Click for text in the search box with stylus, but as soon as I go to the built-in keyboard and input anything the search window disappears!

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

I've found that Mobile II is the best theme to use ItT from a tablet.

Cons are that quick reply to box doesn't work and that some nice to have data isn't displayed (post counts etc). Pros are ultra fast and ultra readable

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

When I encountered this on my N800, I started using the advanced search link.

Hope that helps.

Russell

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

check out the new minimalistic for all you mobile and mobile 2 users ;)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

Mobile 2 is still better that minimalistic

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

how so?

because you dont have to deal with the quick menu?

Minimalistic is wasting space, you have to scroll much more than with mobile 2. I like also mobile 2 clean layout.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

well i find minimalistic easier to navigate thanks to its larger target areas, so...

i guess thats why the mobile themes are still around, different people, different tastes :)

the world would be boring if it was not that way ;)

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

the minimalistic is good,
is there some way we could set it as default depending on machine?
Should I have an account gemniii42nit, gemniii42lap, gemniii42bigmonitor?

Right now I'm typing laying in bed, (back injury) and am STUCK. Often I'm at a laptop or a workstation.

I used to use classic but the ads kill it on the nit

But thanks for the mini.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

what i do was set a default to classic on my desktop, and then use links that specifically apply the wanted theme on my N800.

the link i got was by using the theme selector at the bottom of the page in classic or N810v2 theme (and possibly one of the mobile ones to).

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

I have come to really like the minimalistic theme on the nit...especially in portrait mode.

Is there any way to edit this theme so that the 'page <1...5...>' buttens are larger? Maybe full width across the screen?

Thanks
matt

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

ok. the minimalistic theme is pretty snappy on the tablet, but the main page which shows what topics are being discussed takes forever to load. i check this forum pretty often and it is a real pain. this is a forum website. it should load fast.

Re: frustrated with using ITT from a tablet!
 

This is an old thread about to be absolutely deprecated by the upcoming move from ITt themes to talk.maemo.org themes. It's better to close it and let it go.

If you are in a hurry please open a new thread specific to the Minimalistic theme, although it is probably better to wait just few days until the new theme comes. http://maemo.org got the new design today and Reggie has started to work in the corresponding theme that (apparently) will be quite lightweight and perhaps even 'minimalistic' compared to the current default one.

The problem you mention about the load of the main page should change. talk.maemo.org will be the main page of the forums and http://maemo.org will be the main-main.