Smart 'Phone styles

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crfriend
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Smart 'Phone styles

Post by crfriend »

There have been a few requests for smart 'phone styles in the forum of late, and since I know that lots of folks (try to) access the board via such devices it makes sense to try and accommodate them. The upshot, however, is that I cannot test anything smart 'phone related because I do not have one, and with any luck will go to my grave never having had one (save the one that an ex-employer shoved at me as an electronic leash).

So, here it is: The gauntlet has officially be thrown down. The list of alternative styles for phpBB are freely available on-line, and seemingly a few are designed for 'phone and tablet devices. Find one that appeals to you on your device -- this applies to everybody who has such a device. Nominate it by linking to it in this thread. I'll gather up responses after a couple of weeks, take a look to make sure that they're compatible with what we do (and part of what we do is customize some of the HTML, so any additions cost me time and effort every time an update happens), and install the top two by number of nominations (I dislike the "winner-take-all" notion of elections). Please try and keep it to styles that are compatible with phpBB 3.0.x; 3.1 is in the wings, but I'm waiting for the update frequency to die down a bit before making the jump.

Personally, I'd be happy to find a style that'd look good displayed on a good old-fashioned Teletype Corporation ASR-35. Feel free to call me a fossil. Aside from the skirts, I'm just that sort of boy.

May the best styles win.
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Taj
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Taj »

My old phone was being problematic so I replaced it with a bigger screen unit. No problems reading the cafe as it is now. I defer to those with bigger problems.
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Couya
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Couya »

Can anyone over 40 actually read (unaided) anything on a phone screen (smart or not)?

For every day life, my eyesight is fine, but phone screens are a waste of time for me. At least on my Macbook I can enlarge the print when necessary.

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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Caultron »

Couya wrote:Can anyone over 40 actually read (unaided) anything on a phone screen (smart or not)?...
Zoom helps, but page layouts designs specifically for the smaller screen and for tapping rather than mouse-clicking are best.
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wsherman
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by wsherman »

Hi Carl

I started accessing the Cafe' on a iPhone 5 and a iPod 5th generation and didn't have any problems and the same is true of the iPhone 6 I currently have any difficulties I have lie in Apple's IOS 8.whatever operating system not the Cafe'. by the way voice over works quite well with reading the Cafe' to me, I'm currently using the "Alex" voice.

I'm absolutely no expert but "If it ain't broke don't fix it." "wink"

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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Reaper_Man »

i use firefox for android for my browsing (which actually isn't very much on my smartphone) as it has a text size option in the settings, i just set it to the largest and it's easy to read and it alters the layout of the text to flow down the screen so i don't have to scroll left/right to read it
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Caultron
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Caultron »

Although a single counter-example could prove me wrong, I inclined to think that different CSS wouldn't be enough to produce much of an improvement for smartphone users. That's because the smaller screen demands more pages with less information on each one that a desktop or tablet interface.

I was hoping someone had written a full smartphone app that ran off the same database as the browser-based phpBB app, but I gather nothing like that yet exists.
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crfriend
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by crfriend »

Caultron wrote:Although a single counter-example could prove me wrong, I inclined to think that different CSS wouldn't be enough to produce much of an improvement for smartphone users. That's because the smaller screen demands more pages with less information on each one that a desktop or tablet interface.
I've seen CSS do remarkable things to a page, which is why I put forward the notion that guys who have these sorts of devices take a look at some of the other CSS bits at the page I suggested.

I don't own a "smart" 'phone so cannot adequately test things, and one of the things I will NOT do is "Windows-8" the forum. The world is vastly more than tablets and cell' 'phones. And, yes, I am going to be a hard-nosed prick about that; unlike Microsoft, I am not going to ruin things for the vast majority to make things cute for a few. Done. Game over.
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Milfmog »

crfriend wrote:...one of the things I will NOT do is "Windows-8" the forum. The world is vastly more than tablets and cell' 'phones. And, yes, I am going to be a hard-nosed prick about that; unlike Microsoft, I am not going to ruin things for the vast majority to make things cute for a few. Done. Game over.
And for that, this user is very grateful :D

Have fun,


Ian.

PS, Although I have a smartphone (aka "work shackle") and I value this forum, I am not so desperate that I need to know what is going on here in real time. The forum will wait until I have an opportunity to access it on a piece of kit that does the job well. If pushed I can use the iPoo to read the forum as it is and that will do for me.
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Tor
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Tor »

crfriend wrote:...one of the things I will NOT do is "Windows-8" the forum. The world is vastly more than tablets and cell' 'phones. And, yes, I am going to be a hard-nosed prick about that; unlike Microsoft, I am not going to ruin things for the vast majority to make things cute for a few. Done. Game over.
As another user who is posessed of neither "smart" phone nor any other touch screen device, I too appreciate this.
human@world# ask_question --recursive "By what legitimate authority?"
wsherman
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by wsherman »

Hello and Good-day!

I just wanted to toss in an extra two bits and add a different veiwpoint on smart phones.

Had I lost my sight compleatly even twelve years ago my life would have been quite different than it is today. My iPhone is like an electronic swiss army knife as it allows me to access so much in my enviroment. There are apps that perform tasks that range from very simple to some that are complicated. Some examples are a light detector that lets me know whether there are lights left on at bedtime or not, another identifies currency, still another reads tprinted text, others tell what is the color of the garment I am about to don. Some apps provide news & entertainments such as described movies and television programs or allow access to books and magazines etc.. I could go on but you get the picture.

While I am grateful for this amazing bit of technology I am concerned at times about what it is doing to our culture and society, if you've read Ray Bradbury's "Farenhight 451" you will understand what I'm talking about. We have indeed a two edged sword in our hands that has the potential to do great harm or great good it's all in how it is utilized. For the reasons stated above I would not be without a smart device in point of fact in todays enviroment I'm not sure I could do without one without difficulty. If Apple had not taken the disabled community into consideration life would be much more interesting for those of us who need a bit of a hand up now and again.

Carl I'm with you about windows 8 even with my limited computer knowledge it is a poor operating system. I upgraded to windows 7 from XP but will not go further until Windows 10 comes out and is shown to be reliable. Having said that I wonder what things would be like if "touch screen" tech had not come along?

Well I hope I haven't bored anyone to death with this. Here's to the future may it be the one we hope for and not the one we fear!

Slainte'
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crfriend
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by crfriend »

wsherman wrote:Had I lost my sight compleatly even twelve years ago my life would have been quite different than it is today. My iPhone is like an electronic swiss army knife as it allows me to access so much in my enviroment. [...] While I am grateful for this amazing bit of technology I am concerned at times about what it is doing to our culture and society, if you've read Ray Bradbury's "Farenhight 451" you will understand what I'm talking about. We have indeed a two edged sword in our hands that has the potential to do great harm or great good it's all in how it is utilized.
Just so it's said, I am not bashing those who have such device -- as I know that they can indeed be life-changing machines -- I'm just not willing to compromise the vast majority for the benefit of a few. That said, screen-readers have been around for a few years, and I am sensitive to them. My own personal web-site renders perfectly on text-only displays, and takes a fraction of the bandwidth of many "modern" designs. From what I am given to understand, screen-readers love that idiom.
For the reasons stated above I would not be without a smart device in point of fact in todays enviroment I'm not sure I could do without one without difficulty. If Apple had not taken the disabled community into consideration life would be much more interesting for those of us who need a bit of a hand up now and again.
I am sensitive to this, and that's one of the reasons I strive to keep the pages "clean".
Carl I'm with you about windows 8 even with my limited computer knowledge it is a poor operating system. I upgraded to windows 7 from XP but will not go further until Windows 10 comes out and is shown to be reliable. Having said that I wonder what things would be like if "touch screen" tech had not come along?
The touch-screen has been around for a good many years but suffers from problems, mostly down to the fact that humans are notoriously dirty critters. For instance, I'm not even sure how many times I have to clean my reading-glasses off during the course of a day; when I carried a "smart" 'phone leash from my prior employer, if I was actively using it I'd find myself wiping the screen on the hem of my skirt every ten minutes or so to merely keep the thing legible (this is where skirts are another advantage -- your typical bloke in jeans has nowhere to do that with; a bloke in a skirt can wipe the screen clean on the inside of his hem almost without effort).
Well I hope I haven't bored anyone to death with this.
Never!

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Couya
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by Couya »

"Bored", Bill? Not at all (Carl beat me to it, of course!).
Just delighted to learn that Apple have made useful things for people like yourself, though I'm sure your canine companion does far more for you, does he not?

Not quite sure how "Fahrenheit 451" comes into this. I have to admit that I read fewer books than I used to, partly because there is so much to read on the web, but also because small print tires my eyes very quickly these days. Even if paper books and magazines are going out of favour, does it matter? The content is far more important than the medium, and as long as people have things to tell the world, I am sure we shall go on writing articles and books, and not only SMS (plural of SMS?).
I remember thinking, years before computers became popular, that reading and writing would go out of fashion to be replaced by telephones, radio, comics (bandes dessinées) and tv. Today, however, far more people, like ourselves, are exchanging thoughts and information with the aid of the the good old alphabet, more than ever before. And it is great that Bill can join in.

Martin
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by pelmut »

You may be surprised/pleased to know that most parts of this forum are readable on iCab 2.9.9 on Mac OS 8.6 (albeit slowly). It would be nice for me if you could keep this backwards-compatibility, just in case my ageing MacBook gives up and I have to keep in touch using the even-older office desktop Mac G3.
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Re: Smart 'Phone styles

Post by crfriend »

pelmut wrote:It would be nice for me if you could keep [...] backwards-compatibility [...]
There was never any intent on changing the default style or the older one -- this was always intended to be an add-on that folks could select by choice. Only users who explicitly changed their forum style in the "User Control Panel" would notice a difference.
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