Improvements in mobile usability

[xtech]

Hi Folks, i am trying the mobile use and i find that posting is really great, but navigation in long topics needs to be improved.

Navigating in long topics with many posts is tough: i need to keep scrolling/dragging with my finger for ages. I think a vertical post scrooll bar page navigator or post grouping navigator should be quite useful, something like what exists in the "normal" version.

[Baerrus]

@xtech If you have an example where mobile scrolling is implemented well within a browser, please post a link

[xtech]

@Baerrus there are no perfect examples, but while quite different, IPBoard 4.0 (beta) groups the posts "per pages" and allows easier navigation, clicking on the page number or arrows. While not perfect, this improves mobile navigation for long topics to some extent.

In what concerns to nodeBB the perfect solution in my opinion would be to put the "x out of y" post navigator right below the top "nodeBB" horizontal bar. It will take just a little bit of screen space while greatly improving navigation. No need to code new things, just some CSS tweaking.

Or a simple draggable scroll bar. Or at least an icon to go to the last post.

[RazorAxis]

Also when typing a reply or a chat, the keyboard covers the text box. Is there a way to change it so when they keyboard comes up the text box lifts up?

[julian]

@RazorAxis gh#2417 details your issue, though we're having trouble isolating where it comes from.

v0.6.1 (fingers crossed) should contain a radical change to the page loading that should make it much easier to use on both desktop and mobile.

[RazorAxis]

Awesome thanks for the info! I have just started with the nodebb. A buddy of mine recommened it for me as i am starting a forum and set it up so i can go through the interface and work with it.. Really liking it. Appreciate the help and answers to my questions you guys have given me so far.

[xtech]

@julian awesome info! I am looking forward these improvements! i'm sure nodeBB will be a major player within a few years.

[julian]

@xtech said:

within a few years

Here's to hoping it's a great deal sooner than that!

[xtech]

It will get exponential, for sure

[RazorAxis]

I really like the layout. I more so like the mobile aspect of it. The genre I am creating the forum for has some major players, but really none that have a good mobile platform. Gonna be a big forum. so far looks to be close to 150 categories... gonna put nodebb to the test.

[Nivix]

@RazorAxis Be sure to test, test, test your NodeBB installation on several mobile devices before releasing it to the world. I casually tested my installation on my Android tablet and thought it would be fine--but so far subcategories can be very broken on mobile browsers. Sometimes to open a subcategory you must tap an inch below the one you want.

Not that they do not work, just confusing for the user. When I have some free time I will be looking at the source and trying to fix it--but for now just be wary of subcategories on mobile.

[RazorAxis]

@Nivix said:

@RazorAxis Be sure to test, test, test your NodeBB installation on several mobile devices before releasing it to the world. I casually tested my installation on my Android tablet and thought it would be fine--but so far subcategories can be very broken on mobile browsers. Sometimes to open a subcategory you must tap an inch below the one you want.

Not that they do not work, just confusing for the user. When I have some free time I will be looking at the source and trying to fix it--but for now just be wary of subcategories on mobile.

Thanks for the info. I have a few guys that I have that will be test running the site, we started today. Then gonna open it up to about 20 more to see how fluent it is. Have already had issues with a skin wacking out so I reverted back to the original. Gonna probably switch the theme to lavender soon and play with that.

Most of the guys will be using mobile when launched so this mobile keyboard deal will be greatly appreciated when it happens. Fighting it right now as we speak replying to this lol.

[RazorAxis]

I am having an issue with mobile when I try to add a side bar of recent topics on the home screen. Comes out ok on desktop but instead of reverting to the bottom on mobile it just over lays ontop of the categories...

[Xiph]

@RazorAxis said:

I am having an issue with mobile when I try to add a side bar of recent topics on the home screen. Comes out ok on desktop but instead of reverting to the bottom on mobile it just over lays ontop of the categories...

I've had fairly similar issues with widgets in the header, although this PR fixed those.

[RazorAxis]

@Xiph Thanks for the info. I will check it out.

[RazorAxis]

@julian Just fyi, I noticed today that the issues with the mobile text box do not occur on my 7"galaxy tab 4. Somewhat strange as its not much bigger then my note 4. Figured this piece of info may help you.

[julian]

@RazorAxis Very peculiar, since it happens occasionally on my Nexus 5, but not on my local development environment, which would suggest a race condition involving load times...

[RazorAxis]

@julian whats funny to is that it seems to be working on my phone atm as well. Seems like certian instances or senarios that do it. When it does it again I will take a screen shot and post it. Right now its ok. As you can see.

[julian]

@RazorAxis Refresh a couple times, hitting "reply"or "new topic" in between, it'll happen

[RazorAxis]

@julian I know!!! Super odd lol.