TexAgs Mobile Development (updated 11/18/11)

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ooshwa
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11:09a, 12/31/09
TexAgs Mobile Development Log

02.22.12 - UPDATE: minor changes to the display of featured storied on the front & premium pages
12.28.11 - FIX: styling: long usernames in replies & blockquotes in stories
09.14.11 - UPDATE: quick quote, vote against a post, and link to main site PM
09.14.11 - UPDATE: added subscription stars and 12thMan tag
08.15.11 - UPDATE: Ads added for non-subscribers
08.09.11 - UPDATE: added color change to replies by premium staff
08.05.11 - UPDATE: auto-forwarding to mobile site enabled. transfer links added at the bottom of forum pages
07.29.11 - UPDATE: Added private message notification and link (to main site)
07.22.11 - FEATURE: mobile post editing added
03.05.10 - FIX: minor bugs in posting
03.04.10 - FEATURE: mobile posting added
02.15.10 - FEATURE: watch list feature added
02.15.10 - UPDATE: L's and G's added appropriate recruiting topics
02.12.10 - FIX: spirit tag
02.12.10 - UPDATE: replies per page increased to match main site
02.05.10 - UPDATE: graphic enhancements
02.05.10 - FIX: favorite forums order
01.28.10 - FIX: last post link
01.26.10 - FEATURE: favorite forums feature added
01.26.10 - FIX: minor image linking bug
01.25.10 - FEATURE: added "drop to bottom" button in title bar
01.22.10 - FEATURE: image thumbnails
01.22.10 - FEATURE: site scaling constant in landscape mode (iphone)
01.21.10 - FEATURE: topics views & watch list now updating
01.21.10 - FIX: picture showing up in thread
01.21.10 - FIX: remember login fix
01.21.10 - FIX: long forum names wrapping in title
01.20.10 - FEATURE: private forum access
01.20.10 - FEATURE: user login
01.14.10 - FIX: locked thread styling
01.13.10 - FIX: post date incorrect
01.12.10 - FEATURE: basic forum viewing
12.31.09 - Prototype release (layout and styling)

Mobile FAQ

Q: What type of device is supported?
A: The mobile site is intended for smartphones with a full functioning browser. Browsers with limited HTML, CSS and JavaScript support are not supported (including BlackBerry phones prior to v4.7).

Q: Why is the site so simple and plain?
A: Every effort has been made to keep the mobile site as simple and clean as possible for the greatest compatibility across mobile platforms and to ensure the best speed possible over wireless networks.

Given the multitude of phones and mobile browsers, I appreciate any feedback on your experience with the mobile site. In such feedback, please be sure to incluce your phone model, your browser and browser version.

[This message has been edited by ooshwa (edited 12/28/2011 9:17a).]

[This message has been edited by ooshwa (edited 2/22/2012 4:19p).]
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AggieT
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11:37a, 12/31/09
Is there any way to make the posts appear in English?
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TravelAg2004
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12:46p, 12/31/09
quote:
Is there any way to make the posts appear in English?

If you notice, regardless of what link you click on, you always go to the same topic. This is just a first release to let us see what the site will look like on our phones.

Looking good! A couple of comments (I'm on an iphone 3GS):

1) You could probably get away with increasing the text size by 1 or 2 units (whatever you are using). I don't have any issues reading it, but I've still got great eye sight. I know we run into this issue a lot at my software company...people complaining about the small size of the text.

2) Can we keep the alternating row colors? It's a simple thing, but it really does make it easier to read and separate out topics.

Thanks again for taking this on!!
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3:27p, 12/31/09
Jason_Ag98
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4:10p, 12/31/09
I'm curious why post submission/editing is the last thing on the list? It seems to me that should be the second most important functionality after basic forum viewing.
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nactownag
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5:42p, 12/31/09
Looks fantastic from my Palm Pre.
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nactownag
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5:44p, 12/31/09
Is this just going to be a URL like mobi.texags.com or something?
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RockOn
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8:58p, 12/31/09
Looks good on Droid Eris
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ageez90
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12:20p, 1/1/10
Looks good on my Blackberry Bold...thanks for doing this. We NEED it!
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Snow Monkey Ambassador
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8:17p, 1/1/10
Good job! I've been waiting for this for a long time!
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yoshi
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9:36p, 1/1/10
I take it some of the links are intentionally broken (ie, Aggies Only takes you to Aggieland).

The layout looked pretty good and loaded fast enough (3G loading via my home WiFi connection). Ill try to get you some feedback via 3G and Edge on my device when I can.

Have you thought about password saving? It is kind of a pain to have to log in to see my watch list with the regular site every time. I realize its a security concern as well, just wanted to bring up a thought though.

No more constructive thoughts for now, Ill try to get some more testing in though and report back. Thanks for the hard work on this!
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GarlandAg2012
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12:42p, 1/3/10
Looks great on safari for iPod touch (I assume this is the same as iPhone).

The skip to first/last, next/previous on the blackberry bold is a little messed up but still totally usable.
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aero96
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5:19p, 1/3/10
Looks great on my iPhone (2nd generation)... this could be very bad for my productivity!
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txaggie_2011
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12:55a, 1/4/10
This looks perfect!
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FHKChE07
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3:41a, 1/4/10
Oh thank God. This looks great on my BB 9700 using the standard browser. But I echo the above posters about have the alternating colors.
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Fuzzbutt
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9:16a, 1/4/10
Looks pretty good. I would agree with the alternating colors, and even maybe allowing a thread to be highlighted if it was on your watch list. Also, one way to get around the password thing (somewhat) is to do what mint has done with theirs to allow a pin number to be used to access the program.
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Fuzzbutt
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9:17a, 1/4/10
I would also think that the forum posting should be one of the first things added. Even before editing or voting.
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txaggie05
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9:49a, 1/4/10
Looking good so far (iPhone 3G).

Couple thoughts:
1. I agree w/ the previous comments on the alternating colors in the topic listing. I don't think the posts in the thread need to alternate since you have the gray bar before each post.

2. If you're going to use User Agent data to automatically kick people to the mobile version of the site, make sure you give them a link to the full version of the site. I hate it when websites don't do that and you're stuck in their mobile site.

3. How are you going to handle images/image tags? Force the image size to fit the width?

Anyway...just my quick thoughts. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!
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ooshwa
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10:30a, 1/4/10
Thanks for all the feedback. Here are some responses...

I am not a huge fan of the alternating colors, but hey, this thing isn't just for me. I understand that they improve readability for many. I will work-up an alternating color scheme for the topics list.

The main font should render at around 13px under normal browser settings. I tried 14px and thought it was a tad large. For iPhones, you can simply rotate your phone to the horizontal layout. I know some of the minor texts borderline at too small, but I'm hoping to balance sufficient info without over cluttering. I'd love to hear additional opinions on this.

At this point, I was planning on simply using an alternate URL for the site. Thus, no automatic redirect based on the user-agent. Thus, the full site would still be available.
I will make sure you are not required to login each time (unless you opt too, of course).

Can I get any more details on this:
quote:
The skip to first/last, next/previous on the blackberry bold is a little messed up but still totally usable.


My initial plan for pics inside posts was to make them all links. Later on we could look at a server-side resizing to make thumbnails (and perhaps give the user the option of which to use).

I understand the questions about posting coming so late. The answer is a bit complicated. In a nutshell, I need to wait and see how some other related development efforts pan out before I jump into rewriting the posting code, but I want to keep the mobile site moving forward. By moving it to a later stage, I can keep going.

You will still, however, be able to access the current site to post.

Thanks again for the feedback. Please keep it coming!

JOSH
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GarlandAg2012
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12:29p, 1/4/10
quote:
Thanks for all the feedback. Here are some responses...

I am not a huge fan of the alternating colors, but hey, this thing isn't just for me. I understand that they improve readability for many. I will work-up an alternating color scheme for the topics list.

The main font should render at around 13px under normal browser settings. I tried 14px and thought it was a tad large. For iPhones, you can simply rotate your phone to the horizontal layout. I know some of the minor texts borderline at too small, but I'm hoping to balance sufficient info without over cluttering. I'd love to hear additional opinions on this.

At this point, I was planning on simply using an alternate URL for the site. Thus, no automatic redirect based on the user-agent. Thus, the full site would still be available.
I will make sure you are not required to login each time (unless you opt too, of course).

Can I get any more details on this:

quote: The skip to first/last, next/previous on the blackberry bold is a little messed up but still totally usable.



My initial plan for pics inside posts was to make them all links. Later on we could look at a server-side resizing to make thumbnails (and perhaps give the user the option of which to use).

I understand the questions about posting coming so late. The answer is a bit complicated. In a nutshell, I need to wait and see how some other related development efforts pan out before I jump into rewriting the posting code, but I want to keep the mobile site moving forward. By moving it to a later stage, I can keep going.

You will still, however, be able to access the current site to post.

Thanks again for the feedback. Please keep it coming!

JOSH


First of all, I realized I have my browser set to default to column view for when I read the real TexAgs. In that view, the arrows and labels are stacked on top of each other instead of being along a row like they are in Safari:

http://i50.tinypic.com/2zxqyyg.jpg]

In regular page view, they still seem a little quirky. On the left, the arrows are on top in the light grey bar and the first/forward are in the black area (camera didn't pick it up very well). On the right however, they are switched where next/last is on top and the arrow logos are in the black bar below that:

http://i46.tinypic.com/jh8tci.jpg

Sorry if the pics are large.

edit: made images links to keep thread readable -staff

[This message has been edited by TexAgs staff (edited 1/4/2010 12:58p).]
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Fuzzbutt
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12:40p, 1/4/10
It would be pretty cool if there was a link straight to a thread on the normal page if posting isn't going to be supported for a while. That way we wouldn't have to refind the thread.
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ooshwa
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1:00p, 1/4/10
Fuzzbutt, that should be doable.

GarlandAg2012, thanks for the pics. Very helpful. Do you mind if I email you directly (via your account email) for blackberry bold feedback as i tweak things?
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GarlandAg2012
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2:50p, 1/4/10
Not at all, I would be happy to give feedback.
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yoshi
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4:26p, 1/4/10
ooshwa, may want to give us a list of devices that you have people on board to give you feedback on. you may be able to grab some extra helpers for devices you havent played with it on yet.

quote:
The main font should render at around 13px under normal browser settings. I tried 14px and thought it was a tad large. For iPhones, you can simply rotate your phone to the horizontal layout. I know some of the minor texts borderline at too small, but I'm hoping to balance sufficient info without over cluttering. I'd love to hear additional opinions on this.


fonts and layout looks fine to me and im using my iphone vertically. i cant stand having to rotate it to horizontally and the layout right now does not require me to do so.
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MW03
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9:32a, 1/5/10
On Palm Pre (webOS)... side by sides







[This message has been edited by MW03 (edited 1/5/2010 9:35a).]
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ooshwa
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2:45p, 1/5/10
thanks MW03, very helpful.

the palm is definitely rendering those fonts a bit smaller than on my iphone.

do you have any font-size settings in that browser? are they on default/medium?

do any of you css gods know if the palm browser's default font size (100%) is 16px?



[This message has been edited by ooshwa (edited 1/5/2010 2:45p).]
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MW03
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3:29p, 1/5/10
as of webOS 1.3.5, there is no option for resizing the text. That being said, it works in landscape similar to the iphone, and you've got "tap to zoom" as well as "pinch zoom", so I probably wouldn't worry about it showing up smaller on my device at all. Besides, it's already light years larger than the standard Texags rendering.

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PTXaggie08
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10:44p, 1/5/10
I am on an Iphone 3G...

Can we make the site have a cool icon, so that when you save the favorite to your home screen that button is all nice and pretty???
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ag09
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12:05a, 1/6/10
i just tried it on a Nokia E71 and it looks great. I used the native symbian browser and tried it on opera mini 5 beta 1. both rendered fine but just as everyone else has mentioned, the font could be a bit larger. on opera mini, it saw all of the forums as well as the threads as one large link instead of multiple ones.
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Fuzzbutt
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9:31a, 1/6/10
Is there any time frame for Release 1?
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ooshwa
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10:38a, 1/6/10
shooting for next Friday (15th)
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flipper
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1:22p, 1/6/10
The opera mini browser on my BB Curve did not like the mobile version. It wouldn't let me scroll down; it selected every forum at once for some reason.

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Mega Lops
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4:03p, 1/6/10
I second the request for an iPhone home screen icon!
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ooshwa
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4:48p, 1/6/10
quote:
I second the request for an iPhone home screen icon!

I'll make sure we have one in there.

btw, the link above will not be the permanent address of the mobile site, so no need to bookmark it yet.

[This message has been edited by ooshwa (edited 1/6/2010 4:50p).]
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hatchback
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12:21a, 1/7/10
Wow! This is excellent! Thanks for all of the hard work on what will be a very helpful addition to this website.

I've been checking it out on my iPod Touch. One of my typical site browsing habits is to click on the last post made, but this action does not happen with the mobile version. I understand that it is just a start, but having this "feature" would make the mobile version that much more helpful for me.

Thanks again, and I can't wait to watch as this project develops!
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