Optimizing pcmech for mobile devices

[jimmyrules712]

Hi. Today as I was browsing the forum on my iPhone (and in making this post from it) I made a few observations regarding the experience.

First of all, overall the forum is very accesible via mobile access currently. It doesn't load terribly slow and it isnt too cluttered up to find everything.

The largest problem is with the layout of the different objects, images, adds, etc. Everything that looks perfect on a 17inch LCD is kind of screwed up on my tiny 3.5 inch screen. I know this issue has been brought up before regarding smaller screen sizes and was dismissed with the assumption that everyone has, or is moving to, larger screen sizes.

But I don't think that descision was made while fully considering the increasing popularity of small, handheld web browsing devices. And yes the current number of people using the site on a handheld is small, but it will surely increase by large numbers as time goes by (think of how many new popular cell phones are coming out with web access). Plus as technology enthusiasts shouldn't we be encouraging this newest form of wireless connectivity by supporting it on our website?

So I propose 2 possible solutions that I can think of. Either change the current site to be more compatible with all browsers regardless of screensize or second, produce a mobile version of the site that would exist alongside the regular site.

I understand that I am asking for extra work from our webmaster, but I think the long-term benefits would make it worth it.

Thoughts?

[glc]

The decision has been made by the site owner to optimize the forums for 1024x768 and higher screen resolution. I don't believe this is negotiable. However, your reason for asking is duly noted and has been added to my existing concerns. 800x600 is a pain in the neck and 640x480 is almost unusable - I can only imagine what it's like on a mobile device.

[jimmyrules712]

well as far as the forum goes, viewing all of the forum items doesn't look bad at all. In fact is is surprisingly usuable on my phone. The only issues are at the top of the screen where the adds and images are screwed up and overlapping some of the important links. If that problem didn't exist I would say the forum part of the website is very mobile-friendly.

I didn't really spend time looking at the rest of the website on my phone, the forum was my main focus at least for the time being although I guess changing the forum would involve the entire website.

[glc]

Correct - the top ad banner requires 1024 horizontal pixels to properly fit the page without covering up the links.

Purchasing a Premiere Membership will remove that banner.