Official Mumsnet mobile thread part 3

[DawnMumsnet]

Morning all,

And welcome to the new thread!

As SarahMumsnet said at the end of the last thread, we have Tech on call for fixes this weekend, and various MNHQers will be here to talk and help wherever we can.

We'll be adding to the rolling list of bugs, glitches and dislikes (see below), so please keep the feedback coming. Do remember to list which device you're using, which operating system, and which browser, so we can identify the specific issues.

Right then, who's first?

Test

I can see that some improvements have been made, but it is still not usable due to the brightness for me. Bright lights and glare trigger migraines and the is still too bright.

Are there any old iVillage users here who remember what happened when they started to make changes to the site and didn't listen to the users?

Pleased to report i now have the 3 dots whilst using the default browser on my Samsung galaxy although don't have a bookmark option.

Mobile site is at least usable now HOWEVER I can't see that I've posted until I've refreshed the screen which is pretty annoying! Browser issue or is this being looked into?

iPhone 4s
Safari
iOS 7.1.?
I posted earlier about not having bookmarks available - I fixed it! I reset my password, and magically the bookmarks option now appears.

A win!

On iPod 4 (old, I know), Safari.

I cannot post!!!!

I have tried several times and it just gets stuck.
It doesn't even post several times.
(from laptop now)

@InculKate

LOL WTF?

(IPod touch 5g, latest iOS, safari)

Erk. Odd shortcut bar behaviour is on our list.

If your blue/shortcut bar is floating in the middle of your page can you post with your browser, device and OS please?

(Morning btw)

@PseudoBadger

Now I've sorted my posting issue by switching to Chrome, can I complain that I hate flashing adverts that promise messages are waiting?

Yay for posting! Thanks for downloading Chrome. We'll ask our ad team to block that ad

Samsung Galaxy tablet
Android 4.2.2 all software up to date
Chrome browser

Will get back to you with niggles when on laptop. Mobile site is really difficult and slow to use now.

Samsung galaxy s4 seems ok now. Can open my tiao. for you all. What a week you have had! Is there a blue haze around mumsnet towers?

Just a niggle.

Nexus 7
Android 4.4.4
Chrome 36.0.1985.135

In TIO characters are incorrectly displayed, although they display fine within the actual thread eg "C&P" which shows in the thread as "C&P"

@MrsVamos

PPS

Also don't like faffing to get to 'active' if you aren't logged in. Very annoying. Press 'talk' then 'active'. Grrrrrrrrr.

And. I really, really, really miss 'view all messages'.

If I am just quickly checking a thread and not logged in its so much harder remembering where you got to on a thread.

I suppose the answer is HQ want us all logged in to use MN properly.

All sorts of things work a lot better if you're logged in - to be honest we assume most regular users will be logged in as a matter of course.

We'll be adding back the option to 'view all messages' soon.

@lazydog

Samsung galaxy S3, Dolphin browser 10.3.1, Android 4.4.2.

Watched threads post counts doesn't change even if you go and read all the new posts and hit bookmark on the very last one. I even tried logging out and then back in (which, incidentally, it won't let me do unless I tick the "keep me logged in" box??) and it doesn't help.

Oh, and on a related note, I really miss the "bump and reset" function...

Sorry - fixing numbers of posts in Threads I'm Watching is on our list!

The bump and reset option will also be coming back soon.

@LineRunner

The 'Mumsnet Kids Tees' ad is nicely static but I am shocked at the missing apostrophe.

Arf. Thanks for the ad reports, we have passed them all on.

@JellyBeansHaveNoAgeLimit

HOWEVER I can't see that I've posted until I've refreshed the screen which is pretty annoying! Browser issue or is this being looked into?

I'm not sure tbh - anyone else having this problem?

@Lweji

On iPod 4 (old, I know), Safari.

I cannot post!!!!

I have tried several times and it just gets stuck.
It doesn't even post several times.
(from laptop now)

Sorry Lweji - this may be an old software issue. Are you able to download a different browser?

@LEMmingaround

Samsung galaxy s4 seems ok now. Can open my tiao. for you all. What a week you have had! Is there a blue haze around mumsnet towers?

Um... no comment?

Hello,

A couple of updates re accessibility. We're very keen to get this better so please do continue to feedback on changes.

As well as the testing against web standards we also look to other sources of accessibility best practice. We look at the BBC mobile accessibility standards, Apple design standards and the Government digital service guidelines.

But we recognise that looking to standards can only take us so far so we also test with real users and in future we'll make sure to include a wider range of users with additional needs.

Since releasing the first prototype last week we've been listening to feedback and researching migraine and seizure triggers and best practice for dyslexia readability and making improvements.

Some needs conflict with each other so we're trying to strike the best balance for everyone so please do keep letting us know what you're experiencing.

So far we've increased the thickness of the font and line spacing and added alternating colours on active. Hopefully you've seen improvement in glare without losing readability.

We understand it is largely the fixed advert at the top at the screen that continues to present a problem.

Unfortunately we have less control over the content of adverts so we can't restrict the space to only static ads. No advert should flicker however so if you do spot a culprit guilty of that please let us know and we'll do our best to block it. By flicker we mean change more than 3 times a second.

We do have a plan for an alternative to the fixed ad at the top which we believe will help massively and we intend to make that change on Monday.

Many thanks for your continued feedback we really do appreciate it and if anyone would like to join our beta testers please do let us know!

A few people have asked about our motivation for change...

Listening to feelings about mobile talk and the talk app we wanted very much to create a mobile experience that replicated the functions of the desktop site. In the past there have been various functions that people coming from mobile have missed out on.

Part of the problem in the past with the older designs has been a lack of screen space to fit all the options people wanted. Over the course of many months we worked on and tested several designs to see which would strike the best balance between functions and content.

It's a tricky balance and inevitably led to more menus rather than buttons lest we end up with a page of buttons and no posts.

We completely acknowledge that in some cases that meant actions that were once 'one click' would now be two. For that reason the lower blue buttons were a well received addition for regular users in testing because they could be populated with one click ways to the most common actions.

We also wanted the site to be easy to use and welcoming to new users. In our testing we found that unfamiliar users found the newer mobile designs easy to understand.

We're still testing and continuing to iterate, some things we can only discover through exposure to the full audience so your feedback is really valuable.

Thanks Jessica that's both interesting and helpful information.

FWIW I vastly prefer the new site now part from the niggles on the to-dol list.

Sorry Lweji - this may be an old software issue. Are you able to download a different browser?
No, only if I buy a new one.
But... I was able to post before, just not in the last few days.

The rest is working well, as far as I can tell.

Issues as posted earlier this morning.
Very slow - am using home wi-fi and didn't have that issue previously.
Am also a desperado for the show whole thread option and to return to where I last viewed rather than the top of the thread.
The drop down menu looks as though it's going to connect (bar changes colour) but the menu rarely does drop down so I can't mark to watch a thread etc.
I'm also finding that sometimes I'm taken to random threads which weren't even showing up on my screen list. Maybe my tablet is haunted?

@emotionsecho

Rowan, your comment about users updating browsers in order to use the new site - the old site supported all the various browsers and devices perfectly well. The new site is even struggling to support users with brand spanking new all singing and dancing devices, so even if you suggested to your users to update their equipment they probably still couldn't use the new site. To me this raises the question on the purpose of the new site, it doesn't support users with older devices as the old one did, and it doesn't support users with more modern devices as the old one did, so what exactly does it support, what has it been designed for?

It really shouldn't be this much hard work for your users. How long is it going to take for the new site to be up and running properly and accessible by all the users and their browsers and devices as the old one was, or is that just not going to happen and only a select few will be able to access it on specific devices/browsers?

Hello,

Our aim is definitely to make the mobile site accessible and useable by as many people as possible.

To that end we spend a lot of time looking at the most popular ways of accessing Mumsnet and testing those, we also try to test as many others as possible. It is difficult to support every device out there (especially older ones) and that's true of the desktop site too. We do want to be able to take advantage of features supported by newer technologies and browsers and alas that does mean a few things won't be available to very old browsers. In the case of desktop for example, bookmarks aren't supported by some of the older Internet Explorer browsers.

All that said we do try so if there is something that isn't working for you let us know because we may be able to fix it.

A thickie question from me - I was previously using the mobile site but it has suddenly today defaulted to the desktop site. Have you made this so?