New Mobile Site

[anat0l]

Just saw the announcement of the new mobile site.

As per it seems the UI revolution around the world, mobile sites are starting to be skinned very similar to the iPhone menu concept (i.e. with ">" widgets, smooth full-screen-length bars for each item, and so on).

A few key problems with it, however:

• I've said it plenty of times before, but can we please have a mobile log-in screen? If the log in is for a Silver or Gold member then produce the mobile site; if not then just proceed to the normal full site. I can't imagine that it cannot be hard to provide this...because it reduces me to tears that I can't use the mobile site on my mobile because first I have to log in using the full site and then coughbersomely find the skin change menu to switch to the mobile skin.
• The new mobile skin doesn't appear to allow you to access anything except for threads. You can't access your CP, PMs, subscribed threads, blogs, see new posts and so on.
• Worst of all - perhaps - the link "Full Site" does not work! Perhaps it's because I set my default skin to the Mobile one, but now unless I log out (which achieves little) I can't view the full site again. Clicking the link "Full Site" just brings me back to the mobile version of the full Community page. Basically it means that once I'm in mobile skin mode, I can't access my control panel to change the skin back to normal.

As I'm posting this to you, the last point essentially means that I'm stuck in a purgatory of only being able to post and create new threads and nothing else.

I'm sorry, but I have to say that the new site is lacking badly. I know, a lot of you will just say, "Well then, don't use it!" Which is fine, except I want to use it - it's just not a very well designed mobile site.

I suppose there are too many people on this forum who also could not care less, having the iPhone app all this shermozzle about a mobile site means very little.

 

[anat0l]

Oh a couple of other things:

• You can't edit your posts in mobile mode - at all. Yes, this is why I'm replying to my own post so close to the first one; in the default skin I would've just edited it.
• There is no breadcrumb trail when a thread is displayed, so you can't return to the previous (or any level of previous) forum(s). The only way to go back is to click on the Grid icon, which returns you to the Community page (i.e. the highest level). Then you need to re-navigate back down to the forum you were in.

 

[anat0l]

Phew! Just managed to extricate myself from AFF Mobile skin and change my default in my settings once again.

I had a fiddle around with the "Full Site" link in Mobile mode and instead of the link it gave me via

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/?styleid=-1

I tried

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/?styleid=1

which seemed to work (I'm browsing back in PC mode).

I have no idea if that actually points to a correct style, but it got me out of mobile mode.

There is really some work to be done before mobile mode actually is decent in the UI sense. I'm not joking.

 

[Lawlass]

I haven't been able to get out of mobile skin I'm completely disabled and can only access AFF through my iPhone app

ETA: following anat0l's link above worked. Phew!

Definitely do NOT change your default settings as recommended in the announcement!

 

[straitman]

I have sent a PM to admin regarding the issues as raised on this and the other thread.

 

[admin]

Firstly, apologies for the problems some of you are experiencing when trying to revert back to PC Mode. There clearly is a problem, and I will be investigating exactly what the problem is. If you are stuck, use the link anat0l provided. If you are still having problems, please PM me.

The problem only exists if you select Mobile Mode from the Settings, there is no problem if you select Mobile Mode from the dropdown box at the bottom left of the screen. So please use that option, until a solution is found.

Regarding the other issues raised: Yes, we are aware that the Mobile Mode is not perfect and does have its limitations. It does not - and probably never will - offer all functionality available in PC Mode. Mobile Mode is a standard vBulletin product which has just been released. They have advised that they will be improving it in future releases. So, please be patient. (It certainly is an improvement on the old Mobile Mode.)

Apologies again for the problems some of you were experiencing.

 

[Ewing]

I'm not a fan of mobile sites, but I am placated as long as there's a way to easily get out of them.

However, I started getting this on threads last night (reading from my email notifications):

It looks like the mobile site is now default for mobile devices. I had no idea what was happening until I went direct to the main page and clicked "Full Site" at which point everything started working again.

 

[admin]

Yes, the Mobile Mode is (being tested) the default mode for our GOLD and SILVER users when they access AFF on a smart phone, and after they have signed in. I haven't "officially" made an announcement because its still being tested and we are continuing to investigate other options.

You can always het back to the normal made by selecting "Full Site".

There is no impact for non GOLD and SILVER members, and no impact on the iPhone App.

Please bear with us as we investigate alternative ways to access Mobile Mode.

Thanks

 

[PineappleSkip]

Any update on what is happening with the mobile site trap - i.e. once in there, I found it difficult to extract oneself. A real Chinese Maze. Also couldnt find links that took me past the first ten posts.

Just managed to extract myself, thanks to Anatol's link, after having been lost there for two months.:shock:

Cheers skip

 

[Robert K]

should get the iphone app! it's amazing

 

[samh004]

should get the iphone app! it's amazing

Not everyone has an iPhone but an Android app is on the way, other than that, I don’t think I’ve used the mobile site for over a year.