Odd layout issue? February 17, 2014 10:55 AM Subscribe
When browsing on my mobile device, I noticed a rendering issue and wondered if others have seen the same?
We're testing out some more space between the favorite and flag links in the mobile site on MetaTalk only. The announcement is here.
We're gathering feedback in that thread and (now) here. If all goes well we'll make this change across all sites. This change is designed to make it a bit easier to target the favorite or flag link on small screens.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:02 AM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
We're gathering feedback in that thread and (now) here. If all goes well we'll make this change across all sites. This change is designed to make it a bit easier to target the favorite or flag link on small screens.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:02 AM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the whole goal here is to reduce mis-clicks and make adding a favorite or flag easier. I find myself having to zoom in on my iPhone to hit either reliably, and notice in other apps like the Twitter native one, they do a good job with spacing out features like this so they can be clicked even though they're pretty small.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:07 AM on February 17, 2014
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:07 AM on February 17, 2014
Totally agree - there should be a gold star at the end of "the quidnunc kid". Render me THAT, you immortal mods.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:59 AM on February 17 [+] [!] [Vote #1]
posted by The Riker Who Mounts the World at 11:08 AM on February 17, 2014 [23 favorites]
Please yes keep the spacing. Flagging my very favoritest comments is.... Undesirable.
posted by chasles at 11:45 AM on February 17, 2014
posted by chasles at 11:45 AM on February 17, 2014
2%? Living dangerously, there, BP.
I love this idea.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:52 AM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
I love this idea.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:52 AM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Please yes keep the spacing. Flagging my very favoritest comments is.... Undesirable.
Flagged as Fantastic Comment.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:26 PM on February 17, 2014
Flagged as Fantastic Comment.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:26 PM on February 17, 2014
We're testing out some more space between the favorite and flag links in the mobile site on MetaTalk only.
Ah, I missed that before, and was confused as to why the spacing was only showing up on MeTa.
+1 for this mobile-only spacing feature - I like it.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:44 PM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Ah, I missed that before, and was confused as to why the spacing was only showing up on MeTa.
+1 for this mobile-only spacing feature - I like it.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:44 PM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
It looks fine on android. Are you using an iPhone? ;)
posted by double block and bleed at 12:55 PM on February 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by double block and bleed at 12:55 PM on February 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Only all day everyday. Maybe not that bad, but yeah, frequently chopped off.
This may be a good thing because I frequently close a page rather than post a comment because I can't preview.
I'm Android.
This predates the space between favorite and flag MeTa.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 2:09 PM on February 17, 2014
This may be a good thing because I frequently close a page rather than post a comment because I can't preview.
I'm Android.
This predates the space between favorite and flag MeTa.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 2:09 PM on February 17, 2014
Sorry, Lesser Shrew, I'm not sure what you're reporting here. Do you have a problem with previewing comments on Android? If so, could you describe it a bit and let me know which version of Android you have and which browser you're using?
posted by pb (staff) at 2:17 PM on February 17, 2014
posted by pb (staff) at 2:17 PM on February 17, 2014
I thought it was a glitch at first, but then i remembered it had been mentioned this may be tested and was asked for several times.
I like it, it's IMPOSSIBLE to hit the favorite button or report button reliably on my phone without zooming in a comical amount. This seems to mostly fix that, although i still randomly end up at the list of people who liked a comment if it's already been liked...
so yea, i vote keep.
posted by emptythought at 3:40 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I like it, it's IMPOSSIBLE to hit the favorite button or report button reliably on my phone without zooming in a comical amount. This seems to mostly fix that, although i still randomly end up at the list of people who liked a comment if it's already been liked...
so yea, i vote keep.
posted by emptythought at 3:40 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I like the reduction in clicking errors on mobile, however it's change so it will take getting used to.
posted by arcticseal at 4:35 PM on February 17, 2014
posted by arcticseal at 4:35 PM on February 17, 2014
I keep repeating this whenever it comes up:
If you don't know about it, swipe to favorite is pretty much the greatest thing ever.
posted by double block and bleed at 5:46 PM on February 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
If you don't know about it, swipe to favorite is pretty much the greatest thing ever.
posted by double block and bleed at 5:46 PM on February 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
On my android phone comments are cut off on the right hand side of the screen and I can't scroll over to see them.
posted by latkes at 8:00 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by latkes at 8:00 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
This only happens sometimes - I can't produce it at the moment - and I think maybe it's only in "recent activity"?
posted by latkes at 8:02 PM on February 17, 2014
posted by latkes at 8:02 PM on February 17, 2014
Are you seeing that right now in Recent Activity on an Android? It's checking out fine for me across browsers on a Nexus 4 running 4.4.2. If you let me know which Android version you're running and which browser has the problem I can try to duplicate it. A screenshot might help me narrow it down too.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:11 PM on February 17, 2014
posted by pb (staff) at 9:11 PM on February 17, 2014
I like the usability. Can you also consider more space between the favorites count link and the add favorite link -- although less than you've put between that link and the flagging link -- to avoid similar behavior (where an attempt to favorite becomes an unintentional look at those who have favorited?)
posted by davejay at 10:21 PM on February 17, 2014
posted by davejay at 10:21 PM on February 17, 2014
Okay swipe to favorite is really excellent.
posted by davejay at 10:22 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by davejay at 10:22 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
where an attempt to favorite becomes an unintentional look at those who have favorited?
A day is coming my friends, when an intentional look at favorites will be made. The top 1% "Favorited by others" will soon have those favorites redistributed across the user base.
posted by Madame Defarge at 11:12 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
A day is coming my friends, when an intentional look at favorites will be made. The top 1% "Favorited by others" will soon have those favorites redistributed across the user base.
posted by Madame Defarge at 11:12 PM on February 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
On my android phone comments are cut off on the right hand side of the screen and I can't scroll over to see them.
I am also having this problem on my Samsung Galaxy II in Chrome for the past few days. (GT-I9100 Android version 4.1.2). Screenshot here.
I don't seem to be having this problem on Ask Metafilter or Metatalk. I have briefly checked recent activity but it seems ok.
posted by poxandplague at 2:11 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
I am also having this problem on my Samsung Galaxy II in Chrome for the past few days. (GT-I9100 Android version 4.1.2). Screenshot here.
I don't seem to be having this problem on Ask Metafilter or Metatalk. I have briefly checked recent activity but it seems ok.
posted by poxandplague at 2:11 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Meant to add that I am not having this problem on my ASUS TF201 in Chrome (Android 4.1.1)
posted by poxandplague at 3:06 AM on February 18, 2014
posted by poxandplague at 3:06 AM on February 18, 2014
I've always been in favor of the extra space, and I think it's a really great idea. It's also nice to hear that Team Dev is planning to consider additional tweaks like this in order to reduce mis-clicks and generally make Mobile MeFi easier to use. I appreciate MeFi's conservative attitude to UI redesign, but I think this is one area that could benefit from substantial improvement. It's not that the mobile site is bad, or even that there are many issues that suggest obvious solutions, but I agree with what Matt seems to be saying about how it could be improved through some carefully-considered incremental tweaking.
The Desktop version of the site seems pretty stable to me, pretty darn near optimal all things considered. Mobile could stand to grow and change a bit though, in part because the whole touchscreen interface thing (and the small-screen interface thing) just isn't as mature a field and so there are more things to be worked out in general. I'm looking forward to whatever experiments the development team decides to try in the future, and I'm glad we got this change now. I hope it sticks.
(I agree that it looks a little bit awkward, but I think it's worth it as-is and assume that the devs are playing around with alternate formats on their end. Presumably if anything jumps out as being obviously better, we'll find out about it.)
posted by Scientist at 6:05 AM on February 18, 2014
The Desktop version of the site seems pretty stable to me, pretty darn near optimal all things considered. Mobile could stand to grow and change a bit though, in part because the whole touchscreen interface thing (and the small-screen interface thing) just isn't as mature a field and so there are more things to be worked out in general. I'm looking forward to whatever experiments the development team decides to try in the future, and I'm glad we got this change now. I hope it sticks.
(I agree that it looks a little bit awkward, but I think it's worth it as-is and assume that the devs are playing around with alternate formats on their end. Presumably if anything jumps out as being obviously better, we'll find out about it.)
posted by Scientist at 6:05 AM on February 18, 2014
The chop off is not specific to recent activity. It can happen anywhere at any time.
It will always happen if I am trying to comment and type more than eight lines.
4.3, pb, but it's not a huge issue. And a new version will come along soon enough and everything will change. We're just at the mercy of our devices, now.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 6:56 AM on February 18, 2014
It will always happen if I am trying to comment and type more than eight lines.
4.3, pb, but it's not a huge issue. And a new version will come along soon enough and everything will change. We're just at the mercy of our devices, now.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 6:56 AM on February 18, 2014
Thanks for the screenshot, poxandplague. That happens once in a while when a post has a long string of unbroken text. Typically someone will dump a bare URL into the text or use a jokey title with no spaces. That pushes the margin out to the right on some devices.
I'm not currently seeing this problem on my test Android phone and I took a quick look through the front page posts to try to track down something that's pushing the margin out but I can't find it. I'll see if I can duplicate your environment and test—maybe something else is pushing the margin out.
And that's a tough one to debug, Lesser Shrew, especially if it's intermittent. You might try composing your post in a text editor and pasting into the comment form. That might work around text-entry issues in that browser. You could also see if another browser handles text entry better.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:20 AM on February 18, 2014
I'm not currently seeing this problem on my test Android phone and I took a quick look through the front page posts to try to track down something that's pushing the margin out but I can't find it. I'll see if I can duplicate your environment and test—maybe something else is pushing the margin out.
And that's a tough one to debug, Lesser Shrew, especially if it's intermittent. You might try composing your post in a text editor and pasting into the comment form. That might work around text-entry issues in that browser. You could also see if another browser handles text entry better.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:20 AM on February 18, 2014
I think I found the post that was pushing the margin out. You might try reloading and see if it looks better.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:53 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by pb (staff) at 9:53 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
2%? Living dangerously, there, BP.
Yeah, poked my head in to say that the biggest issue I see in that screenshot is the remaining battery life, which is giving me secondhand shivers.
I do like the spacing, awkward as it looks, to avoid some of the fat-fingering.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:20 AM on February 18, 2014
Yeah, poked my head in to say that the biggest issue I see in that screenshot is the remaining battery life, which is giving me secondhand shivers.
I do like the spacing, awkward as it looks, to avoid some of the fat-fingering.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:20 AM on February 18, 2014
We heard all of the complaints about the space between the link to the "who favorited" page and the + both here and in the previous thread. (And over the years.) We have an idea we're going to try out here in MetaTalk.
In the mobile version only—on MetaTalk only—we're going to try making the link to the "who favorited" page the number of favorites only. The word "favorite(s)" will not be a link and will act as a separating space between the two links.
So favorite counts will look the same but the links will be different to provide more space between the targets. It will take a little more precision (or zooming) to tap and see who favorited a particular comment. Since adding a comment as a favorite is a much more common activity than viewing who favorited what, this added frustration will take away some of the frustration of landing on that page by mistake. It should make adding a favorite a more well-defined target.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:04 PM on February 18, 2014 [15 favorites]
In the mobile version only—on MetaTalk only—we're going to try making the link to the "who favorited" page the number of favorites only. The word "favorite(s)" will not be a link and will act as a separating space between the two links.
So favorite counts will look the same but the links will be different to provide more space between the targets. It will take a little more precision (or zooming) to tap and see who favorited a particular comment. Since adding a comment as a favorite is a much more common activity than viewing who favorited what, this added frustration will take away some of the frustration of landing on that page by mistake. It should make adding a favorite a more well-defined target.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:04 PM on February 18, 2014 [15 favorites]
Everything looks normal for me now :)
posted by poxandplague at 5:27 PM on February 18, 2014
posted by poxandplague at 5:27 PM on February 18, 2014
this is what happens when you vote #2 quidnunc kid
posted by not_on_display at 7:36 PM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by not_on_display at 7:36 PM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hey pb!!! I love the change for taking the link away from the word "favorite" great simple solution!!!
posted by chasles at 8:37 PM on February 18, 2014
posted by chasles at 8:37 PM on February 18, 2014
On reflection, I'm not a big fan of having the favoriting/flagging interface on a separate line from the rest of the byline. Having a two-line byline takes up extra space, looks awkward (to me), and serves no obvious (to me) purpose. I like the extra space, but I don't care for the extra line. I like the un-linked ”favorites” though, I think that's a really good move.
posted by Scientist at 8:49 PM on February 18, 2014
posted by Scientist at 8:49 PM on February 18, 2014
I like the extra space, but I don't care for the extra line.
We've always had favoriting and flagging on its own line in the mobile version. That's not a change we made. Perhaps the line is sticking out to you now that there's the space? If you'd like to see how it's always been you can visit MeFi or Ask right now. We're only testing changes out in MetaTalk.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:54 PM on February 18, 2014
We've always had favoriting and flagging on its own line in the mobile version. That's not a change we made. Perhaps the line is sticking out to you now that there's the space? If you'd like to see how it's always been you can visit MeFi or Ask right now. We're only testing changes out in MetaTalk.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:54 PM on February 18, 2014
Weird, I must have just never noticed before! I could've sworn... but no, you're right of course. Carry on!
posted by Scientist at 9:06 PM on February 18, 2014
posted by Scientist at 9:06 PM on February 18, 2014
That's a great way to fix the problem. Thanks for giving that a shot.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:18 PM on February 18, 2014
posted by Ghidorah at 10:18 PM on February 18, 2014
Hey that's such a great solution! Thanks you guys.
posted by billiebee at 12:44 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by billiebee at 12:44 AM on February 19, 2014
The background in that screenshot is all white! Is your mobile browser not able to render CSS correctly? ;)
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:06 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:06 AM on February 19, 2014
Hi chaps - one in the middle, another on the right for the right thumb-centric ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:24 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:24 AM on February 19, 2014
You improved symmetry while also completely resolving this little annoying problem so many of us face -- what a great idea!
posted by oceanjesse at 4:54 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by oceanjesse at 4:54 AM on February 19, 2014
When a comment doesn't have any favorites yet, the + and ! are separated by more space in the new version than they are in, say AskMe. Is that intended?
posted by nat at 11:30 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by nat at 11:30 AM on February 19, 2014
We're only testing these two changes on MetaTalk right now. If all goes well we'll move them to the other sites.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:42 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by pb (staff) at 11:42 AM on February 19, 2014
I like the idea of the word 'favourite' not being part of the link, even on the desktop site, because the closeness of + and ! are a problem (in my experience) when using that site on a tablet. Particularly for those of us blessed with both large hands and only the barest level of dexterity. I doubt that's a big portion of users, but it would be nice anyway.
While you're fiddling in that area, perhaps you could correct the spelling of favourite ;-)
posted by dg at 1:03 PM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
While you're fiddling in that area, perhaps you could correct the spelling of favourite ;-)
posted by dg at 1:03 PM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
I am loving this.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:51 PM on February 20, 2014
posted by ocherdraco at 6:51 PM on February 20, 2014
I'm fairly ambivalent to the added space between the flag and favorite buttons (I think it looks a bit off, but would probably get used to it) since I don't make that mis-click often.
However, removing the link from the actual word "favorites" is genius, has my full support, and would be a welcome addition to all sites for the mobile addition.
Thanks for working to address these. I use the mobile version almost exclusively, and it's unbearable how many sites overlook their mobile design and I can only wish other sites responded similarly.
posted by dogwalker at 4:40 PM on February 24, 2014
However, removing the link from the actual word "favorites" is genius, has my full support, and would be a welcome addition to all sites for the mobile addition.
Thanks for working to address these. I use the mobile version almost exclusively, and it's unbearable how many sites overlook their mobile design and I can only wish other sites responded similarly.
posted by dogwalker at 4:40 PM on February 24, 2014
We were capitalizing categories in some places and not others. We decided to make them consistent across the site in bylines.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:51 AM on March 4, 2014
posted by pb (staff) at 10:51 AM on March 4, 2014
In the mobile version only—on MetaTalk only—we're going to try making the link to the "who favorited" page the number of favorites only. The word "favorite(s)" will not be a link and will act as a separating space between the two links.
I've really been loving this change, and I think it would be just as useful on a tablet. I'm not sure you need the extra line, extra space thing, but de-linking the word favorites would be a huge help for me and my fat fingers. Any chance it gets rolled out to the tablet format?
posted by Rock Steady at 5:49 AM on March 8, 2014
I've really been loving this change, and I think it would be just as useful on a tablet. I'm not sure you need the extra line, extra space thing, but de-linking the word favorites would be a huge help for me and my fat fingers. Any chance it gets rolled out to the tablet format?
posted by Rock Steady at 5:49 AM on March 8, 2014
We don't have a tablet version. We have the mobile version for small screens and the standard version. You can always enable the mobile version on your tablet if you'd like by visiting mobile.metafilter.com. (Log out and back in to reset.)
We don't have any plans right now to create a version for tablets.
posted by pb (staff) at 6:09 AM on March 8, 2014
We don't have any plans right now to create a version for tablets.
posted by pb (staff) at 6:09 AM on March 8, 2014
As far as I am concerned, these changes can't be rolled out fast enough. I spent a few hours browsing the blue on my phone last night and cursed not having the space and no link there multiple times.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:28 AM on March 8, 2014
posted by ob1quixote at 9:28 AM on March 8, 2014
I also would love to see this expanded soon.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:43 AM on March 8, 2014
posted by ocherdraco at 9:43 AM on March 8, 2014
Me too. Accidentally bringing up the previous favourites rather than adding a new one is even more annoying now compared to using MetaTalk on my phone. I know there is another way and I can't go back. Don't make me go back!
posted by billiebee at 11:13 AM on March 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 11:13 AM on March 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Thanks for the feedback. We made this live across the other sites today.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:52 PM on March 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by pb (staff) at 1:52 PM on March 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
Thanks for putting it across the other sites!! Just a note that it hasn't changed on Recent Activity, which looks like it's slightly different to begin with since there's no option to flag while there is a favorites count and ability to add to favorites.
posted by dogwalker at 4:22 PM on March 11, 2014
posted by dogwalker at 4:22 PM on March 11, 2014
Yep. RA still has the old style so far.
But thanks for making the expansion!
posted by ocherdraco at 9:05 PM on March 11, 2014
But thanks for making the expansion!
posted by ocherdraco at 9:05 PM on March 11, 2014
We're still talking about Recent Activity. I think we probably will make the de-linked 'favorite' change there. But we're going to see how it goes on thread pages for a bit before we make any more changes.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:03 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by pb (staff) at 2:03 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:59 AM on February 17, 2014 [19 favorites]