topic Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view in Discussions & Feedback

O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

EmilieT — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 08:37:24 GMT

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all having a good week so far!

We know a few of you access the Community only via their mobile phone, while some might only do so occasionally and mainly use their computer

Today we'd like to get some feedback from you on the two different views available when using the Community on your mobile: the full view and the mobile view.

What do you think are the pros and cons of each of these versions at the moment?

Which one do you usually use?

Looking forward to your thoughts on this!

Update:

So far, here is the feedback we've got:

Full view

. Crammed view and hard to read.

Mobile view

. No option to quote, add emojis, pictures, videos, links, format, or edit in a new post or reply (but options are there in PMs).

. @ function doesn’t prompt list of participants.

. Flag function is called “Report inappropriate content” instead of “Report content”.

. Only possible to Report the first post of any topic, as there’s no “options” dropdown in the top right corner of the posts.

. Topic views do not show on thread level as they do in Full view.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Cleoriff — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 12:32:27 GMT

@EmilieTWhen I use my mobile to access the forum I always switch to FULL view.

Personally I think mobile view is a bit of a waste of time. Full view is like using a mini PC...whereas there is a lot missing in mobile view.

Having said all that, unread posts in both mobile and full are pathetic, unless you turn your phone sideways to landscape mode. Same when you access PM's.

If I had anything to do with it I would request Mobile should be set to FULL view as default.

My opinion.... for what it's worth

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Glory1 — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 16:27:19 GMT

I use both mobile and full view @EmilieT.

If I'm just reading posts then I prefer mobile view as I find it easier to read the title of each thread. I find reading the titles of threads difficult in full view. I also prefer mobile view if I'm setting up a new thread.

If I then want to post in a particular thread I continue to use mobile view. It's only when I want to reply to a particular post do I switch to full view as I can then access the forum emojis, include a picture or type in bold.

Personally, as I only have my mobile to access the forum, I prefer having the choice of both mobile and full view.

I don't have a problem reading unread posts or PMs in mobile view, which is the way I always read them. And I would like this to continue.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Cleoriff — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 16:48:43 GMT

The above answers show the complete difference between two people who use different methods of using mobile to access the forum

It's well documented that I hardly ever use my mobile (except when I'm out and about)

Whereas @Glory1 uses her mobile as the only method of access.

My preference is always my computer....

If I'm travelling on holiday or even away for a long weekend, my laptop comes with me.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

pgn — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 20:44:36 GMT

Mobile view is handy for a quick reply or short post.

If I want to link in pics, videos, emojis.... it's over to Full view.

Mobile view is great to see what's going on when browsing various sections; Full view is really very very cramped when scrolling down, the titles all get cramped into a box down the left side of the display, absolutely useless.

Screenshots to follow as I switch to Full view to add the pics (cannot copy-paste on the mobie phone, that I have found!).

Top is Full view on my landing page, lower is the mobile view.

See why it is necessary to flip between the two, given editing is so constrained in mobile view?

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 20:45:08 GMT

If I’m using my iPhone (as I am now), then I find that the layout of the mobile site just scales better on a small screen, so I would rarely switch from the default setting. If I do need any additional functionality (such as editing or quoting), I’d switch between the two sites as and when it’s required.

On my iPad the layout defaults to the full site anyway, as it’s able to take advantage of the larger screen. To be honest though, I rarely take it out of the house, and that’s where the majority of my posts are made, as I do find it easier to work that way.

If I’m using my iPhone when I’m out and about, I’m more likely to be reading stuff, and posts like this one are quite rare. If I’m feeling more productive, it can usually wait until I get home.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Glory1 — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 21:52:23 GMT

Thanks @pgn you make the point I was trying to make better than me and the screenshots help. And I totally agree with you.

Also agree with @Anonymous about entering the forum using a tablet. On the rare occasion I enter the forum on my Kindle the only option is full view which is fine on a larger screen.

Speaking personally, it's really a question of what I'm going to do as to which view I use and I do often switch between the two. And the same seems to apply to @pgn and @Anonymous. The 3 of us like the option of switching between the two. Unless, of course, a better full view design can be made for mobile. Which I doubt will ever happen.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

pgn — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 22:47:14 GMT

Glad somebody scrolled down through those 2 mega Screenshots, @Glory1.

Oh and the @ function only works in full view, where it prompts you for the names of those interacting on a discussion - try that in Mobile view, @EmilieT, and you've got a bit of typing to do, as well as hoping you've spelled the name correctly...

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 04:54:10 GMT

@pgn wrote:
Glad somebody scrolled down through those 2 mega Screenshots, @Glory1.

Oh and the @ function only works in full view, where it prompts you for the names of those interacting on a discussion - try that in Mobile view, @EmilieT, and you've got a bit of typing to do, as well as hoping you've spelled the name correctly...

make that a plus 1@pgn who 'screened down those 2 mega Screenshots'

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 07:54:03 GMT

@Glory1 wrote:

Speaking personally, it's really a question of what I'm going to do as to which view I use and I do often switch between the two. And the same seems to apply to @pgn and @Anonymous. The 3 of us like the option of switching between the two. Unless, of course, a better full view design can be made for mobile. Which I doubt will ever happen.

It’s a difficult one to address without accepting some compromises, but the BBC seem to have made a decent fist of it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31966686

In our forums it would remove the need to keep switching between the two sites, and coincidentally, giffgaff have been playing around with that kind of technology for a couple of years already. Unfortunately, it’s proven to be a backward step in that community, as Lithium are still struggling to make the technology work with all makes of handset, and even some of the latest flagship models are experiencing issues with it.

It’s one of the reasons why I’m spending more time in this community instead

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Cleoriff — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 09:09:01 GMT

I have the BBC site on my Laptop and Mobile @Anonymous

I have just accessed the site from your link (on my laptop) and find no difference.

It does pick up on your favourite section(s) but there is no change to the layout at all.

The phone layout (which has just been updated) appears no different either?

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

liggerz87 — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 09:10:44 GMT

I only use mobile view and upload of photos need to be upped as then when I do then is look at it on google photos screen shot that and then crop and then I can upload them for instance the phone mast post I did

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 09:41:38 GMT

@Cleoriff wrote:
I have the BBC site on my Laptop and Mobile @Anonymous
I have just accessed the site from your link (on my laptop) and find no difference.
It does pick up on your favourite section(s) but there is no change to the layout at all.
The phone layout (which has just been updated) appears no different either?

Yes, the user experience is seamless across all devices.

But I guess that community forums are more challenging for developers, because of the additional functionality that we’ve perhaps taken for granted. The sort of issues that some giffgaff users are experiencing range from loss of editing tools, kudos and @mentions not being available, inability to upload images, issues with logging in, and generally slow performance when browsing the community. And that’s just the kind of issues that I can readily recall.

Trying to achieve a “mobile responsive” platform is something you’d expect a mobile network to be working on, but perhaps the one-size-fits-all solution isn’t the way forward after all.

If O2 do end up going down that road, one would hope that they’ve learnt lessons from giffgaff’s experience.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

EmilieT — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 12:35:00 GMT

Thanks @Cleoriff, @Glory1, @pgn, @Anonymous, @Anonymous and @liggerz87 for your detailed feedback so far, I really appreciate it

If you guys notice anything else on the mobile VS full view please feel free to keep on sharing your thoughts, all feedback is welcome

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Marjo — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 13:15:48 GMT

Just back from my holiday so catching up on all the comments above, echoing @EmilieT, thanks a lot for your comments so far @Cleoriff, @Glory1, @pgn, @Anonymous, @Anonymous, @liggerz87! Screenshots are helpful too so cheers for that too.

So I take it the main issues with Full View are some pages are crammed and not displaying well (like the unread posts or threads list), and with mobile view there are some vital elements missing such as ability to add images/video to posts, quoting (is there more missing?). I hadn't realised the issue of @ mentions on mobile view so thanks for that!

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 18:06:00 GMT

Just a couple more observations I need to add:

In mobile view, we're still using the term "Report Inappropriate Content", as opposed to the amended term "Report Content" that we now see on the full site. Only a minor discrepancy perhaps, but on a smaller screen, the change in wording would allow a smaller button to be assigned to that function.

Secondly, and this only seems to apply to Off-Topic, there is no option to report content in mobile view, or edit posts. Every other section appears to have those options in mobile view, but maybe when kudos was removed from Off-Topic, it meant losing some other functionality as well.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 06:59:20 GMT

Now I've noticed that reporting content is only available on the first post (i.e. in mobile view).

Edit: perhaps there's some work going on in the background.

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Cleoriff — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 07:10:23 GMT

@AnonymousIs the option to report any post available in Full view?

Edited to add, I have answered my own question as I've just tried it. Yes all posts are availabe to report in full view...

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 07:24:32 GMT

@Cleoriff

It's getting bizarre, and it appears that it's the first post on each page that can be reported (rather than the OP). And the edit button has also disappeared. But I suspect that they've started investigating possible improvements based on the feedback that's already been provided.

Off-Topic does need looking at though, as in mobile view, all you can do is reply to a post:

Re: O2 Community on mobile - full view VS mobile view

Marjo — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 09:53:39 GMT

Thanks for the additional points @Anonymous and the detailed descriptions of the issues, much appreciated. What device are you using and browser?

We're still collecting all of this together so if you guys spot anything else, bugs or issues, and especially things that are currently working better on full view for you than on mobile view, please do let us know. And thank you for your help as always.