Re: "And the rest"
I didn't know there was such a thing linguistically as a "royal us" until now.....
The Register Android App
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Thursday 7th February 2013 10:51 GMT DrXym
Some tips for sites
Browsing the web with a tablet can be a frustrating experience. Not because the browser is bad or renders the content wrongly. It's because sites see that I'm using a tablet and implement some intensely annoying behaviour.
With that in mind, here are some rules that all sites should follow.
1. DO NOT open a popup every time I visit the site asking if I want an app to view the content I'm viewing right this instance. If I said no the last time then there is a 99.99% chance you're just annoying me by asking again.
2. Instead, DO put a discrete "get our app" link somewhere in the main page, and potentially at the *bottom* of other pages where it can be ignored if not desired.
3. DO NOT redirect the user to the "mobile" version of your website. Most tablets are more than capable of rendering the full site. Even most phones are. If you absolutely must inflict mobile on a user, use a heuristic, e.g. user agent & screen res, and ASK ONCE.
4. DO remember this decision so future visits to the site pick the right site.
5. DO put a discrete "switch to mobile" link somewhere in the main page / bottom of content where a user can switch to the mobile version.
6. DO put a discrete "switch to desktop" link in the mobile site.
7. DO NOT maintain a www. and m. version of the same site or different urls to the same content. There is no reason for this at all. Use a filter to redirect a user based no their expressed display mode to one HTML template or another. Two links just confuses everyone and makes it a nuisance to bookmark content.
There.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 11:44 GMT frank ly
@DrXym Re: Some tips for sites
Thank you for saying what I've been thinking (with less technical detail) for the past two years. I get especially annoyed with ebay and Wikipedia who always initially deliver their mobile site to my 10" tablet.
Having said that, I am pleased that 'The Independent' newspaper delivers its mobile version, because then I get just the article text, with no fancy layout bars, no adverts and no big pictures; with simple links to other articles underneath it. I've tried the main site and it's full of crud that I don't want to download or look at. I use the Google RSS news reader for my newspaper and other regularly updated websites.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 13:18 GMT Cliff
Re: Some tips for sites
Another pet hate...
9) When I have followed an external deep link to a specific article, the 'mobile' version, if it is to be served up at all, really should take me to the same target article. Some sites seem to dump you back at their front page when they decide you want the m. instead of the www. version of the site, and this is frustrating beyond belief.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 11:12 GMT Khaptain
Samsung Note
As soon as I start the applicaiton, I get a nice
"An application restart is required".
I can get to the main screen, click on the articles and get to the comments section on "some" articles. On the others, this one for example, I get network errors ( which I think in truth means timeouts of some kind or other"...) and Yes I have a good network connection I can browse to this site without problem.
Oh well, everyone has to start someone, I know a coder who is profusely sweating at this moment in time...
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Thursday 7th February 2013 19:57 GMT Alain
Re: An application restart is required
Indeed, I get "an application restart is required" every bloody time I go back to the welcome screen from the app using the home key and want to enter it again. Then, 3 times out of 4, I'm greeted by an "Unfortunately, The Register has stopped"... and back to the welcome screen where I have to start the app once again. Won't stand this for long, the app is likely to be heading towards the recycle bin soon and me back to the mobile site, I guess.
Ployer Momo9C tablet, Android 4.0.3 stock.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 11:29 GMT Lee Dowling
Can't say I'd use it.
Can't you just provide an RSS feed, or decent CSS on the website? On the few occasions I might be tempted to keep an eye on The Reg from a phone, I'll just load up Opera thanks, even on my (apparently ancient) Galaxy Ace. No installs taking up more space than I have, no separate program to be security-audited (i.e. don't use it for a year and see if it breaks for others), no specialist hassle to see the content, and no waiting for the app to come out / be fixed / get updated.
Like Slashdot, I'd just much rather you practised what you preached and did the right "IT" thing - just provide a website that isn't locked into a 1920x1600 viewing in only a particular web browser and was designed properly. The entire WAP generation passed us by because of exactly this - by the time people worked out how to do it properly, websites that hadn't bothered but just made their content more accessible actually out-performed and out-classed them. Hell, I've never even loaded up the BBC website on a mobile, even back in the WAP-compatible days, except to laugh at the technology. Just load up a "proper" browser, which isn't beyond the means of any modern device, or even an ageing smartphone, and look at the "proper" webpage.
How about we forget the Android stuff and finally publish an AAAA record in your DNS, eh? But I guess you'll write at least another 10 "IPv4 is gone, everyone should scramble to IPv6" articles before that happens - just like Slashdot do about once a month.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 17:21 GMT Ocasta Studios
Re: Oh dear...
Once the settings work... you'll be able to turn on a full offline sync mode that'll download all articles for offline reading.
Whilst we fix up the settings, if you quit the app and go back to it then the setting will work. Peculiarly this only happens on the app when installed via Google Play. Installing the build we submitted without using Google Play doesn't have this behaviour. We're investigating the bugger now!
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Thursday 7th February 2013 11:33 GMT Shippwreck1
Settings...
In the top right corner there is what looks like a settings icon, however when I tap it, it does nothing... not sure if it's meant to be a settings menu or not...
Also every time I open it I get a message saying the application needs to restart and then it exits and re-loads the app
HTC One X+ Running stock Android 4.1.1
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Thursday 7th February 2013 11:35 GMT Irongut
Why?
I've never seen the point of these website in a box apps. El Reg works perfectly in Android Chrome and if I want to download stories to read offline I can open them in tabs. I'm almost never out of wifi or 3G reception when I would actually want to read the site anyway.
I tried the last Reg app and it was so bad I've never used a website in a box app since!
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Thursday 7th February 2013 11:35 GMT Doogie Howser MD
Careful!
The dude moderating this is called Phil Mitchell, so if you are having trouble distinguishing real life from soap operas, you might get two sweaty, balding cockney types coming around your house to give you a good old fashioned knuckle dusting. That being said, didn't one of them call the police in real life when his ex-wife beat him up? Hmm..quaking in my boots now? Not so much.
Oh, and +1 for Google Currents, great suggestion for whoever said it.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 11:53 GMT ShaolinMonkfish
Not good
Like others - comments and settings not working for me. Network connection is fine thanks! Needs some work. Hard to believe this passed muster really.
Also like others have said, if you're providing an "app" it's got to do more than just provide the web-in-a-box. Otherwise why bother. Pocket more than adequately provides my offline reading capabilities already.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 12:14 GMT Nick Ryan
...and there I was thinking that HTML 5 offline storage could be a good solution to reading articles offline rather than (yet another) app.
I'll admit that I haven't tried using this functionality in anger, only in noddy test environments. Apps can do smarter things though, such as fetching content in the background even when the browser is not running, but that tends to upset user's data plans.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 12:15 GMT BenM 29
Not good is an understatement
Galaxy SIII - stock OS 4.0.0, kernel 3.0.15-1029495-user
Installed ok,
Needed an immediate restart on application startup.
Settings gear does nothing
Go to comment on this story "Check your network connection" dialog box displayed (if the network connection is dead why did it manage to load the story? and BTW its the same network connection over which I am posting this)
Hit phone back button
Returned to El Reg. app but page blank and no buttons work - other than the phone back button.
Exit application
Restart
Rinse and repeat.
Uninstalling.
El Reg, you fail in product testing. Galaxy SIII isn't exactly uncommon and nor is 4.0.4 android.... though the latter may be amongst other commentards :)
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Thursday 7th February 2013 13:35 GMT Kubla Cant
Where?
Immediately I read about this I went to Play Store and searched for "the register".
There were two results shown in Apps: The Register (Unofficial Feed) , which described itself as "not maintained or updated", and (tee hee) The Moron Test . If it's the latter, I think El Reg should keep its opinion of its readers to itself.
Can anyone explain how "the moron test" is a valid search hit for "the register"? I know they both contain "the", but I would have though that was a noise word.
There were a further 12239 results in Apps, but I don't expect to live long enough to check them all. I guess I'll just stick to reading El Reg on a computer as nature intended.
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Thursday 7th February 2013 14:06 GMT Anonymous Custard
Re: Where?
There's a link to it at the end of the first line in the article.
Or click here to go get it.
That said given how many issues have been found in it, you may be better to hang on a bit?
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Thursday 7th February 2013 14:00 GMT peter 45
Yuck
Just tried in on my Transformer. Each time it opens, it requires a restart, It crashes on opening 'bout 30% of the time, and the opening splash is the wrong aspect ratio. Settings icon doesn't seem to work (but the refresh button next to it does). There is no arrow showing that a comment is in reply and the ttile in the reply message does not do "Re: <title>.
Apart from that a nice simple app (for how many Megs?)
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Thursday 7th February 2013 14:25 GMT El Presidente
After the update ...
The %ages are gone, the settings cog button now works but I'm still unable to reply in *this* article's comments which is ironic, really, but at least the log in un/pw is now being retained.
"Unable to Connect
Please check your network connectivity and try again"
Back button then takes me to a blank white page. Back button again takes me to the article.
I am able to comment in other articles.
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Friday 8th February 2013 21:59 GMT Ocasta Studios
Re: After the update ...
Not all the bugs were caused through Google Play, the %20 comment issue was our fault, and we've released a fix for that. Ironically that created a rather unfortunate second issue; any comments that had been made with the broken encoding the app produced, then couldn't be read by the app. This was due to the double encoding that occurred. Great fun, we've fixed that too and there'll be a second update soon.
"The application requires a restart" message. This only became apparent once the app was installed via Google Play, When the app is installed through Play it can be opened from the notification bar's message 'The Register Successfully Installed' or the Google Play listing changes to [Open] instead of [Install]. When launched this way, Google has, Rather kindly, introduced a bug that then launches the main activity on top of the current app, causing it to be launched twice. Once from the notification and once from the app. To get around this, the app asks to restart, so it can relaunch and open the single activity. However, this was firing more often than it should on some devices, and not at all on others. We'd then end up with two activities running at once, which would cause some major irregularities, the main one being the setting button not responding to touch, as it didn't know what to do. We've put in some workarounds now, you shouldn't see the message again, and best of all, settings will work consistently!
We've taken the forthcoming update as a chance to address some other feedback. The font size will change the article lists as well as the articles, syncing will be quicker and you'll be able to read comments on all articles (no more blank screen). Once you can get in to your settings I recommend turning on article syncing, it's pretty fast now!
- Ben
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Thursday 7th February 2013 14:58 GMT GregC
Seems very l-a-g-g-y too...
It should scroll nice and smoothly, especially on a N4 (everything else does...) but it's really very jerky. Not as bad as the old app, granted, but even so it feels like I'm back on Gingerbread....
Also, as per El Presidente's post - following the update I also get the "Unable to Connect" error when I hit the comments button for this article specifically - others are fine.
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