Poll: Escapist Mobile anyone?

[mParadox]

Right now, I'm typing this on my phone while lying on the bed. You know why? Because a phone is a lot more portable than say, a laptop! I like laptops but really phones are better for portability.

Any who! Phone Internet explorer that I am, I find it remarkably tedious browsing through this sites. Seeing that this place has no mobile version. Which is just sad considering the amount of people who come here daily.

Question/discussion value! Would you like to see a mobile version of the Escapist?

I know I would love to see one. 8D

 

[Esotera]

Pub-club [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/subscription/details#mobile] get at least some version of it, although I imagine that for us peasants there will probably be a full mobile site available within a year or two. It'd be absolutely insane not to make one, considering the rate at which everyone is adopting mobile internet.

 

[Raven's Nest]

My phone can handle full websites fine so I actually prefer them to mobile sites.

BUT

Since the layout change, has anyone else noticed that you can't scroll all the way across the screen horizontally anymore? Its actually really bad, I can't even browse threads properly any more because I can't reach the page numbers.

If any escapist IT staff reads this please let me know if this is a known problem or just something affecting my phone (Samsung Galaxy S2 running ice cream sandwich)... I'd much appreciate this problem sorted as I do 75% of my escapist browsing on a mobile.

 

[Esotera]

I reckon that everybody should just put pressure on the mobile phone developers to put proper bloody browsers onto their phones. Perhaps if the operating systems didn't use execrable languages like Objective-C, or obese languages like Java, they'd have a better time of it.

Java is the right choice for Android as it's relatively low-level but still runs the same across a wide-range of devices thanks to the JVM. Good luck getting achieving that with something like C. I won't comment on Objective C as I don't know anything about it.

It'll become less of an issue as phones/tablets become more powerful, but right now we're stuck with lightweight browsers that don't have a tremendous amount of resources. It's mainly the responsibility of webmasters to deliver pages that have a small size, don't have massive amounts of javascript/jquery, and that have a decent sized font and various other factors that will work with phones. This will be far more noticeable than 10-15% improvements in browsers.

 

[devotedsniper]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOO

I hate mobile versions of the sites i can never find my way round them, at least if your going to make a mobile version of a site have a link for the normal one as i can't stand having to try and navigate cut down sites.

Granted i might feel differently if i had a small screen phone but i don't and the majority of phones are now touchscreen so using the standard site shouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

[mad825]

Since the layout change, has anyone else noticed that you can't scroll all the way across the screen horizontally anymore? Its actually really bad, I can't even browse threads properly any more because I can't reach the page numbers.

Yeah, I have.

Viewing the escapist full windowed (maximised) otherwise posts get choppy and navigation seems more difficult. I've been on some really bad forums but this takes the biscuit.

 

[Volstag9]

Every time I use a mobile site I immediately try to switch back to the normal site.

Sometimes there are problems with using the "full" site on a phone, but i find that generally mobile sites sacrifice a lot of stuff to make the site "easier to use with phones".

So in short, no.

 

[Shinsei-J]

Running most of my escapism from my Ipad so I would love this.
I can't really watch content to often due to the whole no flash thing, which is pretty annoying in this day and age.
The Escapist could also do some cool stuff with the marketing like free codes to pub club members and $3 for the regulars.
This would also give people who can't afford the membership a chance to support the site.

I'd be happy to buy it.
Also I've been think about this for days now and was about to do the same.
Damn ninjas

 

[Darren716]

I would love to have a mobile escapist since most of the time I use my ipod to get online since I carry it everywhere

 

[evilneko]

I have a phone that is technically capable of web browsing.

I would however very much not want to use it for such. It's a very old phone. >.>

 

[Applejack]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOO

I hate mobile versions of the sites i can never find my way round them, at least if your going to make a mobile version of a site have a link for the normal one as i can't stand having to try and navigate cut down sites.

Granted i might feel differently if i had a small screen phone but i don't and the majority of phones are now touchscreen so using the standard site shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Yeah totally agree if they force mobile version give us an option for normal site cause I would get lost too.

 

[DanielBrown]

Since I'm apparently the only one left who doesn't own one of those fancy computer phones thingamojangs I don't see the point. For me.

I gotta get a new phone soon...

 

[Lucem712]

I'd love for the Escapist to have a mobile site, the layout is a bit too complicated for anything like a little phone. (I'm sure it's fine on tablets.)

Though, I wouldn't mind it if they just integrated some sort of ios/'Droid app to view the forums. 'Cos trying to read/reply/post is difficult. (I wonder how one would go about making such an app.

)

 

[Ekit]

I would love to see an Escapist iPhone app.

 

[bobmus]

Pub-club [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/subscription/details#mobile] get at least some version of it, although I imagine that for us peasants there will probably be a full mobile site available within a year or two. It'd be absolutely insane not to make one, considering the rate at which everyone is adopting mobile internet.

Do we? I've certainly not noticed it. (Unless you mean our ability to play videos)
Browsing the forums and chat is pretty unpleasant on an iPod, so I'd love a mobile version.

 

[Terratina.]

Yes.

My crappy Blackberry cannot handle the website with its layout change and browsing is very, very painful. I wouldn't mind just a mobile site for the forums, though, where most of my mobile browsing hours are spent on.

 

[mParadox]

Do we? I've certainly not noticed it. (Unless you mean our ability to play videos).

I think he's referencing the Kindle version. :O

'cause if we did have a mobile version, I certainly wouldn't be complaining. <.<

 

[Agent Cross]

It would be nice, although I never really use the mobile view on my phone. I seem to have less issues on most sites that way.

My only real complaint would be how much of a pain in the ass it can be to logout on a touchscreen. When the site had a simple logout button, I had no problems. However, since the new changes, the drop down menu used to logout just irritates me to no end.

 

[bobmus]

It would be nice, although I never really use the mobile view on my phone. I seem to have less issues on most sites that way.

My only real complaint would be how much of a pain in the ass it can be to logout on a touchscreen. When the site had a simple logout button, I had no problems. However, since the new changes, the drop down menu used to logout just irritates me to no end.

Logging in is even more frustrating. I don't want to load 2 pages before I can log in!!

 

[thenumberthirteen]

I'm not sure. While mobile browsing is becoming more and more popular each year phones are becoming powerful enough to render we pages as good as a desktop browser.

I don't think a mobile page is needed. There was talk of an official app a couple years ago, but I'd guess they decided to redesign the site to make it more accessible to moblile devices instead. Having a mobile site means that users have two different experiences with your site rather than a single identity and style. A mobile site or app will likely be less feature ritch than a desktop site. I doubt an app will have forums for example. Also it'd mean more money would have to be spent on development and maintanence for a, relatively, small gain.

I think with the last redesign they should have really put effort on making it compatible with mobile devices. I'm almost certain it was an important point to test, but they should have removed "mouse over" features because I haven't seen a mobile browser that allows that.

TLDR: No they shouldn't have a mobile site, but instead make the main site more mobile friendly.

If any escapist IT staff reads this please let me know if this is a known problem or just something affecting my phone (Samsung Galaxy S2 running ice cream sandwich)... I'd much appreciate this problem sorted as I do 75% of my escapist browsing on a mobile.

Have you mentioned this in the tech team group? That's where you report bugs and issues. The IT guys don't read threads all that often, but always check that group.