bumping to see if anyone but Brad and I use an iPhone... I've been *thinking* about getting one. I'm looking to see if I can make a 'mobile style' for people who are using mobile phones. Problem is, there are so many types of phones and pda's that there's no way I could buy a bunch of phones and pda's to test viewing with.

My biggest concern is whether this site really lends its self to distillation to such a small screen.

Are many of you using pda's or cell phones to access the site?

What are your viewing results?

Have you tried the pda link (http://elsmar.com/Forums/archive/index.php?pda=1)?

Does just using an RSS feed make the most sense, or do you actually browse pictures and such as well?

I access the Cove with my (not so) smartphone. I wish there was a no-graphic version of the cove for phone access.

The two parts I access the most are:
The last 10 responded to threads and the Posts last 24 hours sections. The Posts Last 24 Hours (http://elsmar.com/Forums/search.php?do=getdaily&exclude=143) link does not show on my phone screen. Not sure why.

It takes a lot of scrolling to get to what I want to see, when I access the site via my phone.

The pda link you have suggested is not useful to me.

Yep. Right now.

I am technology-challenged, and budget-challenged so I am using my PC :o

I use PC. People who are accesssing the site with other gagets experince their share please!

Marc, have you searched the vBulletin archives?
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=174375

Technically that's a style for vB version 3.7. This forum is on version 3.8.3. Note that the style was last updated on 27 July 2008.

Yes, I watch the vB org site and have watched the mobile style stuff. I would *really* like to find a dependable solution.

The style depends upon this mod: Mobile Phone / iPhone / PDA Detection and Style Assignment (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=173239) which was last updated on 16 Mar 2008. It's a thread with about 290 posts. There are quite a few unresolved bugs. Believe me, I've been following this 'mod' for quite a while.

Let me ask this - What happens when you use the RSS or XML feed to tell you about new posts? That's your objective, correct (to watch for new posts)?

Have you tried the Monitor New Forum Posts (http://elsmar.com/Forums/vaispy.php) link?

There is simply no way I can make every page in the forums Mobile Phone / iPhone / PDA 'friendly' at this time that I can see, so we have to come down to your telling me your expectations. If you have examples, please give link(s).

Please take some time to fully explain what all of the problems you are experiencing are (knowing that you currently have a problems with some text colour).

Also - Because all of this is so specific, please tell me the make and model of Mobile Phone / iPhone / PDA you have as well as the operating system (and the OS version / build number).

Are many of you using pda's or cell phones to access the site?I have used my cell phone to access the Cove, but only sparingly. That may change, however: Only yeasterday (!) I bought an LG KM900 Arena (http://www.lge.com/uk/mobile-phones/all-lg-phones/LG-touch-screen-phones-KM900.jsp) cell phone. As soon as I have it set up, I will use the Cove as a guinea pig to see how it performs.

/Claes

Marc, thanks for looking into this.Let me ask this - What happens when you use the RSS or XML feed to tell you about new posts? That's your objective, correct (to watch for new posts)?I don't use the RSS/XML feeds.Please take some time to fully explain what all of the problems you are experiencing are (knowing that you currently have a problems with some text colour).I use my "smartphone" (HTC S620) to browse the phorum. The basic problem is: because of the size of the screen, it takes a LOT of scrolling to find links and read the information. Just imagine if your computer monitor was 2 inches tall by 3 inches wide.
Some sites have a feature with an automatic recognition of being accessed via a pda like phone and switch to a "text-based" mode, with no or few graphics, such as, for example, www.google.com/pda (http://www.google.com/pda). I thought VBulletin would develop such a feature. So, for example, all sidebar banners at The Cove would be disabled when accessing the site via such gadgets.

Thanks again.

I have used my cell phone to access the Cove, but only sparingly. That may change, however: Only yeasterday (!) I bought an LG KM900 Arena (http://www.lge.com/uk/mobile-phones/all-lg-phones/LG-touch-screen-phones-KM900.jsp) cell phone. As soon as I have it set up, I will use the Cove as a guinea pig to see how it performs.

/Claes Feedback appreciated.

Marc, thanks for looking into this.I don't use the RSS/XML feeds.I use my "smartphone" (HTC S620) to browse the phorum. The basic problem is: because of the size of the screen, it takes a LOT of scrolling to find links and read the information. Just imagine if your computer monitor was 2 inches tall by 3 inches wide.
Some sites have a feature with an automatic recognition of being accessed via a pda like phone and switch to a "text-based" mode, with no or few graphics, such as, for example, www.google.com/pda (http://www.google.com/pda). I thought VBulletin would develop such a feature. So, for example, all sidebar banners at The Cove would be disabled when accessing the site via such gadgets.

Thanks again. The vB people have only built in the 'PDA' link in the archive. Then again I am not aware of ANY bulletin board type software which has a good PDA view built in.

I have read a lot about the PDA aspect but it keeps coming back to forums not being a format which lends its self to small screens. In reading webmaster forums the consensus is that you really need two different development teams because to make something workable on such a tiny display requires a totally different layout.

It wasn't so long go that people with 15" monitors set at 640 x 480 were complaining. I looked into that as well, and came to the same conclusion of most webmasters - It just isn't worth trying to make a site for such a small screen and resolution in this day and age.

Consider this:

Over 1 month and about 276,658 visitors:

http://elsmar.com/jpg/Browsers.jpg

I won't begin to say the numbers are exact, such is the nature of log file analysis. None the less... Not many come here via PDAs or cell phones. There comes a point of diminishing returns on trying to tailor something like a web site to such a small group of visitors.

Companies like Google have quite vast resources so putting together a group to address the issue of a small set of visitors is less of an issue, not to mention most big sites do get quite a few people accessing their site with these devices.

I did speak with a developer recently who develops apps for some cell phones. He told me that one of the things that makes it very difficult is that even amongst the same type of phone different software versions often render the same screen differently so he has to use the simplest screens even when a bit more complexity would be nice because the newer phones can handle it.

I'm keeping my eye on this aspect, and I encourage feedback, but I cannot commit to a PDA / cell phone format in the near future.

Feedback incoming... Does just using an RSS feed make the most sense, or do you actually browse pictures and such as well?I tried both, and I think I'll stick to RSS for the time being: Real browsing will mean a lot of downloading which is fine as long as you connect via WiFi, but will cost you an arm and a leg via 3G. I tried connecting via WiFi at home and it worked fine, but the fact that I have perfectly good PC's there rather defeats the purpose of connecting by phone. :rolleyes:

I used the web reader and RSS reader provided with the phone and threw Opera Mini in as well. They all worked fine, but of course there was a lot of zooming and scrolling. The screen is nice, but my eyesight is not. :notme:

/Claes

I used to browse with my phone (Cingular 8125 = HTC Wizard), but I cancelled the Internet on the phone for cost reasons. As I recall, it was always very slow loading and difficult to read. I would have liked to have had something a little more friendly, but I generally only used it at the airport anyway. Most anywhere else it was quicker and easier to use my laptop.

I use my smartphone a lot (HTC Tytn II - windows mobile) and i would really like the cove could be used by the phone browser.

I use RSS to monitor new threads, but sometimes i need to answer a question qhen in only on the phone.

The last time i tried this (some days ago) i noticed that i could not login.

I'll browse occasionally on my phone (HTC Touch Pro) with Opera. Posting is pretty difficult and I avoid it and a layout that requires less left to right scrolling would be nice it's not a major problem. As resolutions go up the issues people have will go away in a couple years. Right now my cell is the same resolution as those people with 15 inch CRTs (640x480), WVGA is getting more popular now. I'd guess the next step would be SVGA (800x600) or 1024x768 in the next couple years.