Tips to improve mobile view

[Alvin63]

I've searched for a few things on here but maybe it would be good to have a lot of tips in one thread. A greater percentage of my members use mobile view.

So far I have tweaked - size of logo - so it displays better. And, as I have a home page that opens up first, added a button for "Forums" so the forum is easy to find. The hamburger menu is not always found or used easily.

I've seen a tip on here to add the word "menu" next to the hamburger 3 bars, but couldn't get it to work.

What other changes have people made to improve mobile view? Resources is quite an important part of my forum but most mobile users don't even realise there is a resources section - it's hidden away in the hamburger menu.

 

[Vercingetorix]

I've searched for a few things on here but maybe it would be good to have a lot of tips in one thread. A greater percentage of my members use mobile view.

So far I have tweaked - size of logo - so it displays better. And, as I have a home page that opens up first, added a button for "Forums" so the forum is easy to find. The hamburger menu is not always found or used easily.

I've seen a tip on here to add the word "menu" next to the hamburger 3 bars, but couldn't get it to work.

What other changes have people made to improve mobile view? Resources is quite an important part of my forum but most mobile users don't even realise there is a resources section - it's hidden away in the hamburger menu.

Yeah the hamburger menu is pretty awesome. I threw the whole thing out.

Andy from XF2Addons has a mean little Profile Lite kit that does a solid job of tightening up all the bloody user profile page mess.
Genuinely surprised by how nice it looks now.



*EDIT: Link

Profile page lite

Description: Provides a simple profile page. This add-on will make the profile page easier to use by removing the navigation bar and associated content. The about information block is optionally added at the bottom. (Item outlined in red is...

www.xf2addons.com

 

[Suzanne O]

Get the pwa app fixed up and it will be installed on other peoples devices.
Pwa app is in admincp > setup > pwa

 

[Vercingetorix]

Get the pwa app fixed up and it will be installed on other peoples devices.
Pwa app is in admincp > setup > pwa

Well, yeah that's kinda obvious considering this is a standard thing now.

However the application of XF PWAs is done pretty poorly really. Sure, there's probably some people who don't mind installing +1 PWA/per each fora they use, although if using 5, 10, 20+ different XF sites...PWA installation might get a bit excessive wouldn't it...

Personally I only ever install the PWAs for my own sites simply for convenience and mostly rely on emails to quickly access fora sites frequented most.

 

[Wildcat Media]

I'm in the middle of reworkign a third-party style by making the icons larger. I get frustrated by small touchpoints on mobile devices, and over half our access (across all forums I manage) are from mobile devices, so I wanted to make that as easy to use as possible.

I may see if I can put small "MENU" wording beneath the hamburger menu. I agree--it's confusing. Those of us who are heavily into the web and apps and stuff know what the menu icon means, but with our forums skewing older, having some vague 3-lined icon means nothing to them, and is counter-intuitive.

 

[Digital Doctor]

I may see if I can put small "MENU" wording beneath the hamburger menu

What about some .gif that displays the hamburger 80% of the time and MENU 20% of the time. After someone has used it 3 times, it becomes just a hamburger ?

 

[Wildcat Media]

What about some .gif that displays the hamburger 80% of the time and MENU 20% of the time. After someone has used it 3 times, it becomes just a hamburger ?

That's above my pay grade.

 

[Vercingetorix]

What about some .gif that displays the hamburger 80% of the time and MENU 20% of the time. After someone has used it 3 times, it becomes just a hamburger ?

Woah! That is a brilliant idea!

I could imagine that being a standard thing too.

Like, for all newly registered members, wherever fa icons are used, we could initially have this transition between icons~&~wording until the new member has, say for example: used an element three times-(presumably by that point they would have figured out what the icon means)-and so after the third usage, maybe it could automatically revert to static fa icon.(?)

(*hopefully that makes sense. Still waking up right now)

 

[Mr Lucky]

Woah! That is a brilliant idea!

I could imagine that being a standard thing too.

Like, for all newly registered members, wherever fa icons are used, we could initially have this transition between icons~&~wording until the new member has, say for example: used an element three times-(presumably by that point they would have figured out what the icon means)-and so after the third usage, maybe it could automatically revert to static fa icon.(?)

(*hopefully that makes sense. Still waking up right now)

But if it replaces the hamburger, might they just wonder where the MENU has gone and why are there these three lines? I think it makes most sense to display the word along with the icon.

 

[Vercingetorix]

But if it replaces the hamburger, might they just wonder where the MENU has gone and why are there these three lines? I think it makes most sense to display the word along with the icon.

Oh, ahhh...tbh...I'm not quite sure if I understand what you're meaning, but chances are that you're probably correct regardless.

What I was suggesting is basically exactly what @Digital Doctor has described, except applied to all elements most likely intended to be fa icons.

Just seems like a reasonably simple and potentially efficacious way to help standardize awareness of what the icons generally mean to substitute.

 

[Wildcat Media]

But if it replaces the hamburger, might they just wonder where the MENU has gone and why are there these three lines? I think it makes most sense to display the word along with the icon.

Given that it's an icon, I would tend to leave it alone. Introducing text in that location throws the layout out of whack.

Although I might replace it with an actual hamburger one day...

 

[CTS]

Why not just a FA icon arrow pointing left, to the right of the burger?

Hint-to-click.