Why isn't HN updated for viewing on a mobile?
- I would wager a vast number of users use their mobile to view the site (or at least want to) - The change required is tiny; I'm sure even I'm this thread someone will be able to propose the optimal change to make. - Varied screen sizes are not going to go away so the change needs to be made at some point - It seems fundamentally against the ethos of a company like YC to not adapt to the changing needs of their user base
I'm sure there are more, but I think that is enough.
Can someome explain to me (and the others asking) why this hasn't already been done and, more importantly if this will ever happen?
Problem is, that you're basically "forced" to produce a mobile site by Google, otherwise you'll be way down in the SERPs :(
I never understood the point of mobile sites - i'm perfectly capable of pinching my screen, in case something is unreadable (which isn't too much, given retina screens and all that...)
The text having a fix width is a pain. On my screen and with my eyes, I have to zoom in and scroll each line back and forth. Makes it annoying to read.
The lack of text reflow when zooming in is really annoying though.
I can fit 25 posts on the screen on iPhone 6 which is nice for browsing - ihackernews makes everything bigger and drops me down to 4/5.
Keep it the way it is if we're voting on it ;-)
That doesn't make it a low priority (it's a high priority), but it means we have to do it as a background process.
Maybe the conflict is that you want to do everything in a big step; making vote buttons etc more accessible, but there are some quick changes (I mean maybe 2 lines added to the style sheet which surely is one file?) that would make a vast improvement at least to our ability to use HN on our phones.
If you guys are lacking time, I'm sure that there are some companies out there who would love the kudos of some pro bono work.
Even if you simply steal LWN.net's very basic comments CSS, it wouldn't take you more than a full working day, including testing on few iPhones and different-resolution Androids.
A passionate community whose quality of life needs aren't met is a big missed opportunity and I find it strange that I have to be telling you that.
Apples and oranges, but still -- don't forget what happened to SourceForge. Used to be the go-to place years ago. Now it employs malware technics to not go broke.
Everybody can have hubris when famous, busy and (somewhat) rich. Question is -- can you treat your community right even at the height of your pique in popularity and usage?
It's shameful and baffling that the community must take over with shady proxy sites and apps to fill a gap you've been avoiding to fill for years.
In pure speculation, it is possible that mobile/desktop browsers correlate with the pipeline into YC's primary business. Though the business is probably clearer.
News.yc is a simple, easy site. Browsers should just work on it.
Apparently, it's not tiny, which was the response that came up the last time.
...the last time was about two years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7330107
They did roll out a tiny mobile fix in March: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9206427
So it doesn't seem like the problem is completely insoluble.
It's probably not what they intend to do... But still worth thinking about ;)
In this particular case, I am bit more reserved : why not ask a (well-known) contractor ? I am pretty sure pg just have to ask to get tens of high caliber lisp hacker proposals.
Some time ago Hackernews was mobile ready for a short time, there were a lot of complaints (I can't find the thread at the moment). I guess the HN philosophy is to keep it as basic and simple as possible and leave the rest to 3rd parties.
My flow is - I go through the submissions in a page, and when I like one, most of the time I open the story and its comments page both - in separate tabs. I read the story first and the switch to the next tab to read the comments. When I have completed all the tabs, I go to the next HN page. In mobile it's pretty cumbersome to navigate among tabs.
I seldom use the mobile site, I find the HN reader app by premii[1] the best suited for me.
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.premii.hn
Many people on mobile only want a bit more separation between the vote buttons. That would make accidental downvotes harder, and would encourage upvoting.
Personally, I'd like text that was a bit larger and text that reflowed, but I know other people might hate that.
Visiting /comments when someone has left a post with a very long unbroken line will break the site.
Browsers are oddly broken for mobile. Here's what text entry looks like on Chrome for iOS - http://imgur.com/gjLdS6A
Older versions of android stock browser used to act this way, but latest chrome on android does not.
