Tropical Fish Forum

Think Fish Website => What's going on at Thinkfish => Topic started by: Robert on April 29, 2015, 10:27:00 AM

Title: Responsive design
Post by: Robert on April 29, 2015, 10:27:00 AM
Hello

Some of you may have noticed a slight change in design on the forum.

I've edited the theme to make it responsive to mobile devices. It should make the site a little more easier to use on your phones and smaller devices.

 :cheers:
Title: Re: Responsive design
Post by: Sue on April 29, 2015, 04:26:58 PM
Is this why everyone's posts are in a different place? The wider the info on the left (name, status etc) the further over to the right that the text of the post is positioned. Eg this post is a lot further to the right than Robert's.

And my signature now goes all the way across rather than just beneath the post.





16:48, 30 Apr 2015
Edit to note that the above no longer apply!
Title: Re: Responsive design
Post by: jesnon on April 29, 2015, 04:29:32 PM
Only problem I've noticed is photos in threads get a little squidged!
Title: Re: Responsive design
Post by: Robert on April 29, 2015, 06:02:55 PM
I'm still tweaking but generally it should improve the layout and experience for mobile users. I'll take a look at the squidiged issue too!
Title: Re: Responsive design
Post by: Anne on April 29, 2015, 09:15:23 PM
Earlier today I used my iPhone to access the site and it was better.  Previously I had to enlarge the page and turn the screen landscape to make the print big enough but by doing so I cut off everyone's name.

Now you can read who's written what without having to enlarge it.  Much better.  Thanks  :cheers:
Title: Re: Responsive design
Post by: Robert on April 29, 2015, 09:51:54 PM
Great hear Anne, thanks for the feedback! 😊

Sue, those issues you mentioned should now be diminished.

The image thing Jesnon might be a little tougher to solve. They're created by a script and then resized on the fly, if I have the time I'll dig in to the codebase and see what can be done. 😊
Title: Re: Responsive design
Post by: SteveS on April 30, 2015, 09:14:48 AM
Since I've been giving you a little stick recently - with tongue firmly in cheek of course - I thought I would write and congratulate you on the responsive design. It's success can be judged by the fact that I didn't really notice, either on my PC or on my tablet. I don't use a phone!

This may sound like faint praise, but I consider it a major success; Look at the Horlicks the BBC have made of their "responsive" design; Half the content, huge blank spaces and a font that I can read from across the street.

Well done and, can you have a word with auntie please?
Title: Re: Responsive design
Post by: Robert on April 30, 2015, 09:39:00 AM
Ah, thanks Steve!

That's great to hear!

The real driving force behind it is the fact that more of us are using our phones to access content on the web (probably why the BEEB had a go too) There are millions of 'old' type designs out there which render horrendously (ooh is that a little pun) on smaller devices and where that happens people often hit the back button.

The other thing of note is that Google have announced that mobile responsiveness will also become a ranking signal in their mobile search engine results pages (SERPS). For me, the whole point of thinkfish is to get as many here as possible talking, sharing, taking the piss out of the admin as possible so if this little update helps then it's a win.  :)

The main site itself (outside of the forum) will be a bigger challenge as it is full of singular pages which will take me literally a month of Sundays to rejig.

In any case, thanks for the feedback, it's genuinely appreciated  :cheers: