[thelist] mobile expectation

Bob Meetin bobm at dottedi.biz
Wed Nov 2 15:10:41 CDT 2011


On 11/02/2011 09:58 AM, Luther, Ron wrote:
> Bob Meetin asked about mobile expectations ...
>>> What is the general expectation of users of mobile devices?
>>>
>>> Hi Bob,
>>>
>>> I'm just a mobile noob [1], but I still expect things to work.  So far the biggest annoyance, as already mentioned, is that fly-out on-hover menu navigations don't work.  So I have to look up the complete url on another machine and then type it in manually on the TouchPad if I want to get someplace like the comics page of the San Jose Mercury News ... because I can't navigate to there from the main page.
>>>
>>> (Yeah, I suppose I might be able to load their 'app'.  Assuming they even have one.  Unfortunately I don't have a lot of interest in cluttering up the machine with bunches of site specific apps.)
>>>
>>> The other annoyance is that you can't easily play Sudoku or work a Crossword puzzle.   ;-(
>>>
>>>
>>> Oooooh! ... Just plugged in some powered external speakers.  Obviously it cuts down the mobility but Wow, what a difference with the sound!  And they were just sitting there taking up space on my desk anyway ...
>>>
>>> Np: The Tubes - White Punks on Dope.
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> RonL.
>>>
>>> [1] I've had my 'fatboy' HP Touchpad less than a month now.  Overall I'm very pleased with it.
>>>
>>>
Thank you Ron, Erik and David.  This is good feedback. My eyes are tired and I've also resisted getting absorbed into the mobile universe.  It's really a different mindset.  Much of what I'm hearing is accessibility, and common sense.

Like I might have said, I picked up a used iPod solely for the purpose of testing. Unfortunately it went south a couple days ago so I can't truly live the experience.  With Firefox I have an add-on called User Agent Switcher.  It provides a view for iPhone, also IE.  When I go to iPhone 3.0 mode it will recognize sites that have been designed with mobile views, but with those that haven't (no detection) it delivers the default desktop site.  In this mode dropdown menus work, so what you say is good feedback. A navigable site map would be critical for these.

I visited a few of the behemoths, cnn.com, nbc.com, yahoo.com, a couple state sites, also espn.go.com.  Many of these are using device detection and some are sending you to a mobile specific domain.  Once I get my working iPad back it'll be a little easier to make sense.

What about youtube videos or other flash (and maybe other format) videos?  Is there anything to be wary of?

-Bob


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