[Fixed] Mobile Skin & The Front Page

By FloatingFatMan
in Site & Forum Issues

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Shane Nokes

Posted
Posted

Like I said, new phone here so no cache issues, yet the skin was not like this 2 days ago. Clearly, you DID change something, and others on this thread seem to agree.

Oh, and nice bit of support there... Not.

Odds are you would probably have more luck if you tried asking nicely.

  • MikeChipshop and Muhammad Farrukh
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Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

IF it were a fact, then can you explain why a 1 month old device, using the mobile skin, was showing wrapped headlines instead of the scrolling ones, up until 2 days ago? Things like that just don't happen without someone changing something first.

Veteran

Shane Nokes

Posted
Posted

Can't explain it. However I can verify that the change did happen months ago. Every single mobile device I own has shown the new version for months.

Maybe just something weird with your particular device like a rendering bug where it was showing the landscape view on portrait.

Grand Master

Timan Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I'm thinking your browser had some sort of setting to where it was viewing the landscape version of the site in portrait. Theres nothing really to be done about it, sorry if I got crazy with you, but don't know what else I can do to explain it has been like this for months by design.

Currently the ONLY platform that does not wrap the headlines is WP8, due to the fact ms has us on some stupid compatibility list, so its ignoring the view port.

Proficient

Mohitster

Posted
Posted

Did the front page mobile skin get changed recently? Suddenly, I have to scroll news headings left and right to see the whole thing, where yesterday they would wrap.

Please put it back, this is a crappy change and looks awful, even on my large screen Note 2.

+1

Same happening on my Symbian Belle device using Opera Mobile since yesterday.

Can't explain it. However I can verify that the change did happen months ago. Every single mobile device I own has shown the new version for months.

Maybe just something weird with your particular device like a rendering bug where it was showing the landscape view on portrait.

I did clear my cache yesterday. So, that might be the culprit if this change was made months ago. Anyways, unwrapped news sucks! :/

Grand Master

Redmak Administrators

Posted
  • Administrators
Posted

We think it has something to do with a compressed mobile css file.

We may at one time had a compressed css file on the live servers and obviously that doesn't work very well

And even though it may have looked better it didn't look the way it was intended.

Maybe an option is something to look into because tbh I found the "old" way of displaying news better also (it's not annoying enough to make this a priority)

Grand Master

MikeChipshop Member

Posted
  • Member
Posted

It's been like this for months here to so it does seem odd that some people only just got it, even on new devices.

I actually quite like it. I can skim the articles find one i think is interesting and then swipe if i want to see if i actually would be interested.

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I'm thinking your browser had some sort of setting to where it was viewing the landscape version of the site in portrait. Theres nothing really to be done about it, sorry if I got crazy with you, but don't know what else I can do to explain it has been like this for months by design.

Currently the ONLY platform that does not wrap the headlines is WP8, due to the fact ms has us on some stupid compatibility list, so its ignoring the view port.

OK, well, firstly.. Sorry for getting snippy with you... I was just getting rather frustrated with your replies.

I can guarantee you that there are no such settings changes going on with my device. Nothing at all has changed on it between one day having the wrapped headings, and the next day having the scrolling ones. I used several browsers, and they were ALL doing it one way, and are now doing it another.

This is a change at Neowin's end, not mine.

We think it has something to do with a compressed mobile css file.

We may at one time had a compressed css file on the live servers and obviously that doesn't work very well

And even though it may have looked better it didn't look the way it was intended.

Maybe an option is something to look into because tbh I found the "old" way of displaying news better also (it's not annoying enough to make this a priority)

Assuming this is something that got changed in the last 2 days, it's very likely the culprit.

To be honest, I really can't see how ANYone would rather have to manually scroll headings rather than seeing them wrap around. One gives you all the info at a glance, the other means you have to faff around scrolling the title just to see if you're interested in the topic or not.

Why not just have multiple skins, like we do for the desktop, and let the user decide which they prefer?

Community Regular

joemailey

Posted
Posted

The fact you have to scroll to read the full headline, has bugged me from the first day I seen it. To the fact I switch to desktop mode. Which is probably harder to use, but at least I get to read the full headlines.

I'd prefer the headlines wrapped. If I'm being honest, the whole point of a mobile site is to make it more user friendly on mobiles? cutting of half the headlines goes against that.

It usually involves me doing this when I read the mobile site: Microsoft holds real and virt....(oh this seems like an interesting article, will scroll to read the rest. . . . . on 2nd thoughts not interest, just wasted my time scrolling to read the title)

Grand Master

FiB3R

Posted
Posted

This is strange, because for me, I had the opposite happen yesterday. The scrolling headlines vanished, and were wrapped instead. The headlines were also much larger. I actually liked it better tbh. Even though the scrolling is fancy, it's a pain in the arse.

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

That's the thing though.. Fancy effects will NEVER replace ease of use, and if there's one thing you NEED when browsing on a phone, it's a site that's easy to use.

For me, Neowin was easy to use on a mobile 2 days ago. Now it's just pants.

Grand Master

Timan Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

This is strange, because for me, I had the opposite happen yesterday. The scrolling headlines vanished, and were wrapped instead. The headlines were also much larger. I actually liked it better tbh. Even though the scrolling is fancy, it's a pain in the arse.

What platform are you using, if this is windows phone 8 we're in the hands of microsoft to remove us from the compatibility list :(

That's the thing though.. Fancy effects will NEVER replace ease of use, and if there's one thing you NEED when browsing on a phone, it's a site that's easy to use.

For me, Neowin was easy to use on a mobile 2 days ago. Now it's just pants.

And we appreciate the feedback, maybe the next update to the mobile skin will not have scrolling headlines. But for now, we just need to pretend its metro where everything is cu...

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

^ Nope. Not gonna happen. Instead I'll just keep away from the news page when mobile, and seeing as part of the site is now unusable for me on mobile, I might as well do away with the other annoyance on mobile that I've put up with for now, ads.

Grand Master

Timan Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

^ Nope. Not gonna happen. Instead I'll just keep away from the news page when mobile, and seeing as part of the site is now unusable for me on mobile, I might as well do away with the other annoyance on mobile that I've put up with for now, ads.

Feel free to subscribe to remove the ads from the mobile version of the site.

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah, that's really going to happen when I'm not happy with the mobile skin, isn't it? I'll leave ads on in the desktop version (which IS where most of my site use is), but they're gone on mobile. Sorry, but if I'm putting up with one annoyance, then I'll lose the other one.

Grand Master

_neutrino Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I noticed the scrolling a while back and It appears to be working without issue for me. I suppose it would be a bit of a surprise for it to happen all of a sudden however, being used to it I assumed you were reporting an issue as well.

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I'm aware of that, actually. I'm using it to point out that I'm -really- annoyed about the now broken mobile skin.

I'll happily leave ads on on my desktop, where 85% of my Neowin access happens; but I'm only putting up with ONE annoyance on my phone, especially as it costs me part of my allowance for them. I used to use the front news page a lot, now it's useless to me.

Grand Master

FiB3R

Posted
Posted

What platform are you using, if this is windows phone 8 we're in the hands of microsoft to remove us from the compatibility list :(

And we appreciate the feedback, maybe the next update to the mobile skin will not have scrolling headlines. But for now, we just need to pretend its metro where everything is cu...

WP7.5 but it had reverted back to scrolling headlines this morning. :iiam:

Proficient

Mohitster

Posted
Posted

Ok. Here it is how it's looking on my Opera Mobile for Symbian for the last three days or so! :/

2lcnzhz.jpg

Hope the admins could empathize with my situation....it is really irritating ....I can still see the whole headline in landscape mode but then I don't use my mobile in landscape much and it's an irritating hassle particularly in situations where you don't have both hands available! :/

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