louisgray.com - Latest Comments in louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

ontarioemperor — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:34:03 -0000

I am not trendy. Perhaps I'm a Luddite. :) I'll telex you more details on my archaic phone interface.

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

ontarioemperor — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:32:47 -0000

Chris, just saw your 12/19 comment on mobile GReader at louisgray.com. If mobile GReader included notes capability, it would be absolutely perfect.

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

Louis Gray — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:50:09 -0000

Ontario, given this is an early adopter blog speaking to a tech-savvy
audience, we have high expectations for our readers. That you surf
with the equivalent of IE 4 is something I don't want you telling
anybody else, as it reflects badly on the site and my fellow writers.
Promise you won't reveal this again.

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

Claire — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:59:03 -0000

Nah, I don't think having a mobile audience is as important as you make it sound here. People who can't look at a simplified mobile version of it but really want to read your blog still will may it be by waiting longer for loading times or just waiting until they get in front a computer. I doubt you'll lose many readers without a mobile version.

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

Chris Baskind — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:56:10 -0000

GReader's mobile interface is by far my favorite Google service. Blazing fast and east to read.

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

Daniel J. Pritchett — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:41:35 -0000

Great points, Emperor. A lot of third-party widgets (as well as these comment systems) rely heavily on Javascript. I imagine DISQUS could fail gracefully to a lo-fi JS-free mode with server-side access (i.e. WordPress plugins) or if the comments were loaded in a frame (Blogger et al).

I've used FFtoGo and liked it, I only recently abandoned it in favor of the native FF iPhone page.

Can you give us more insight on the kinds of things that break on your phone? I'm guessing Flash, JS, and any kind of video...

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

ontarioemperor — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:27:49 -0000

Daniel, you have some good points, but they don't go far enough.

Don't assume that everyone has an iPhone or equivalent. My mobile surfing is done on a first generation Motorola Q running the equivalent of Internet Explorer 4.

If I were on my phone right now, I wouldn't be able to add a Disqus comment to this post. In fact, I couldn't even surf to FriendFeed and leave a comment there - Benjamin Golub had to create a special site called fftogo to allow me to comment in FriendFeed.

Now some of this will be taken care of in the next couple of years as the older phones break down and are replaced, but it's still something to keep in mind.

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

ontarioemperor — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:26:17 -0000

Flash, JS, most (not all) video, some audio, some audio streaming.

In defense of Disqus, I forgot about its email interface, which has
allowed me to respond to your comment.

--
mrontemp - blog by Ontario Emperor
succinct and all-encompassing
http://mrontemp.blogspot.com/

Re: louisgray.com: You Can't Afford to Lose Mobile Readers

Daniel J. Pritchett — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:15:07 -0000

I'd like to highlight FriendFeed's iPhone view as well as Google Reader's iPhone view as particularly good examples of mobile-optimized browsing.

For a nice all-purpose mobile page (i.e. not iPhone specific) take a look at CNET Mobile.