Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

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ChrisGreaves
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Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by ChrisGreaves »

I shared Ventusky (Thanks Ken) with my phone-addicted pal Tom. I sent him the url by email. From my laptop. To his smartphone as it turns out.
Then I discovered that the Mobile ap for Ventusky does not (appear to) carry the same features/functionality as does the computer-based version.

I have just shared Heaven's Above (Thanks Graeme) with Tom, same way: I emailed the link from my laptop and Tom will be loading the page on his smartphone right now.
I fear that he will load a stripped-down view of the satellites/stars. (On top of which, it makes little sense to me to see a thousand red dots on a 3-inch wide screen).

This seems to me to be a general problem in that many of us (humans) share links by email, between phone and laptop, and yet at the smart phone end, it may not be apparent that one is losing detail, either because of the rendering of a web page on a small screen, or by the link magically opening in a special ap-based viewer.

Is this indeed a problem, of our modern communications, or have I misunderstood the laptop/phone difference?
Thanks
Chris
Last edited by ChrisGreaves on 16 Dec 2020, 15:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Argus
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by Argus »

A bit of confusion here, mainly caused by how people tend to use the word "app".

Pro primo: since the advent of "smart" mobile phones & tablets, i.e. mobile devices with some computing power, some people incl. companies such as MSFT, call just about everything an app. Including services provided by someone on a web page, i.e. no matter the tool, computer or phone, using a web browser to access it, i.e. it's a web page; or a large software, such as Office, or a CAD programme etc. (In the last case, from my point of view, in the old world, an application would be something, small, found in for example the Control Panel in Windows.)

From this it's not entirely clear if you sent a link to a web page, and your phone-addicted pal accessed the web page via a browser, or if you sent a link to a web page and told him that there is an app as well and he used the app (or if you just sent the link to the web page and your phone-addicted pal instantly noticed that there are apps to be downloaded and did that :smile:).

Because if one is to trust what they say on their web page about their app (of course just about everyone wants you to download the app instead):
Download our Ventusky application to your mobile phone or tablet. Compared to the website, the application offers faster data loading, widgets, better-arranged control, 3D Globe and more detailed forecasts for given locations.
you are not missing anything but screen real estate, in fact they tell you there's more features, in this case ...
ChrisGreaves wrote:
07 Nov 2020, 12:13
and yet at the smart phone end, it may not be apparent that one is losing detail, either because of the rendering of a web page on a small screen, or by the link magically opening in a special ap-based viewer.
That goes with the territory. Most people know that, but if you've never used a computer, owned a computer, in recent years, and your sole experience of a certain "service", web page, or the Internet in general is via a 3" screen you're often bound to get a limited view of the world.

My "problem" during the last years has been the opposite; "responsive web design" (to suit everything from phones and tablets to computer screens) has often made the user experience for those sitting with a computer much worse (just because just about everyone, a majority, use phones to access the web).

I don't see this part as a major problem of our modern communications; we are talking about sharing links to "toys".

That said, hospitals, real estate management, industry in general etc. now use a lot of tools/software on phones and tablets.
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John Gray
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by John Gray »

Surely nobody much over the age of 30 can read text or see star maps on mobile phones?
That's what we have 27" PC monitors for!
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by Argus »

Thank you, John, for confirming that I'm still less than 30 years.
I needed that.

Remember some 15 years ago, when it was so popular to use minuscule font sizes on web pages, preferably on dark or grey background. Two sentences and you'd got a headache and saw small lines floating in the air.
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Argus
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by Argus »

By the way, Chris, you can, to some extent, simulate the appearance on mobile devices in Fx with abovementioned "responsive web design"; via Tools menu, or Ctrl-Shift-M.
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by John Gray »

Argus wrote:
07 Nov 2020, 14:46
Remember some 15 years ago, when it was so popular to use minuscule font sizes on web pages, preferably on dark or grey background.
I've just complained to a web designer who was using (pale) pink text on a white background for an entire web page.
All style over readability...
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by BobH »

In that case, John, complaints are not called for. Corporal punishment should be the order. :grin:
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by ChrisGreaves »

CG> Is this indeed a problem, of our modern communications, or have I misunderstood the laptop/phone difference?

Well, I got it right in the sense that it IS a problem of our modern communication, both at the technological level (Phones, laptops) and at the human level ("What do you mean by phone? Laptop? Web-based ap vs. smartphone ap? Mobile? And so on)
I got it right, too, in that I have not understood the variety of detail at the level of devices, platforms, and programs/applications.
I am now better informed!


Argus >> … some people … call just about everything an app.

Agreed. I would extend this thought to the point of "the generation(s) who have grown up on smart phones" think of an app as "something that you install and run on a smart phone". I suspect that the concept of batch-processing of payroll every two weeks is unknown to most of this generation.


Argus >> … (In the last case, from my point of view, in the old world, an application would be something, small, found in for example the Control Panel in Windows.)

I am struggling to remember when I first thought of a program-code rendition of an algorithm as "an application". I spoke of a "payroll program" or a "serials listing program" in the late 70s. I think that I am so old-school that I still think of my own creations as "programs" rather than "applications". But then I still think that I do Data Processing (as in "processing raw data to obtain Information on which we can base decisions") rather than being immersed in "Information Technology"


Argus >> From this it's not entirely clear if you sent a link to a web page, and your phone-addicted pal accessed the web page via a browser, or if you sent a link to a web page and told him that there is an app as well and he used the app (or if you just sent the link to the web page and your phone-addicted pal instantly noticed that there are apps to be downloaded and did that ).

A horrible mixture of all this.

In the Ventusky case I emailed a URL from my FF browser on my laptop (hence, I emailed a link to a page that behaves superbly on my laptop using Firefox browser – what we might think of as "pure historic web".
Tom initially loads that page on the browser on his smart-phone. Straight away we note a difference – mainly in the human eye's ability to receive fine detail.

No wait! There's more! Some of the web-based aps can detect that you are running a browser on a portrait mode smart phone rather than on a landscape mode laptop., so Maybe Tom sees mostly what I see, but he sees a great deal more in the north-south sense (think "Labrador" and "Maine") and a lot less in the E-W sense ("The North Atlantic Ocean and Ontario").

Next I discovered the Ventusky Ap, and tried it out. On my smartphone the Ventusky ap seemed to have fewer controls or view or options ("features") than I saw on my laptop web page or, for that matter, on my smartphone browser web page. I pretty quickly uninstalled the Ventusky ap from my smartphone.

But I don't love Tom all that much :evilgrin:), so I emailed him the link to the Ventusky smart phone ap, and Tom Took The bait. Heh heh.
Weeks later Tom and I are chatting and Tom agrees that he much prefers Ventusky on his Apple laptop than on his smartphone; but if he has to view Ventusky on his smartphone, he will do so on his smartphone browser. (Tom and I are about the same age in terms of age and hence eye-power)

Now all of that is dependent on Ventusky, of course, and how well the device (laptop, smartphone) and the platform (LGKT30 Phone or Apple-phone) with it's browser (Firefox versus Apple-Browser) and the two Ventusky "Programs" – the Ventusky web page and the Ventusky Ap) can communicate, as well as what the Ventusky people thing is Best For Me.

No wait! There's more!! I now suspect that when I say "mobile" I think of smart phones, but there is a spectrum of what I think are called "hand-held devices", phones, notepads (or something), iPads etc. I suspect that some mobile notebooks are smaller than some mobile smartphones.

And all this before I have ventured out of Ventusky-territory.

Online banking is divided (in my mind) between Scotiabank and the Bank of Montreal, the two bricks-and-mortar banks where I shuffle my pension money around. The two online banks (EQ & TG) have no bricks and mortar. Are their online facilities better than SB and BMO? It depends a great deal on the quality of there designers and budget.

This is getting into a horribly complex mish-mash of talent, hardware, design, competence which means that whatever I use on The Web will vary according to an almost chaotic state.



Argus >> … Compared to the website, the application offers faster data loading, widgets, better-arranged control, 3D Globe and more detailed forecasts for given locations. you are not missing anything but screen real estate, in fact they tell you there's more features, in this case ...

Argus, I think that I understand this in a tongue-in-cheek sense, similar to a car-dealer who extols the virtues of bigger tail fins, larger trunk capacity, power steering etc but fails to mention that the 8-cylinder engine required to drive this thing gets almost 20 miles to the gallon, whereas the little Hyundai can transport my 3.5 brain around at about 40 mpg.


Argus >> By the way, Chris, you can, to some extent, simulate the appearance on mobile devices in Fx with above mentioned "responsive web design"; via Tools menu, or Ctrl-Shift-M.

"responsive web design"? Never heard of it, but I am here to learn, so I searched and went to this web page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design

I used Ctrl-Shift-M in my Firefox browser on my Acer Travelmate Win10 laptop and the result looked awful. Of course my first thought was "If an article on RWD looks this bad in that mode, what hope is there for the future of mankind?", so I emailed the link to myself, whipped out my smartphone and – well you can see for yourself (attached).

I rather suspect that if I were re-crafting my web pages for mobile phones and used RWD on my laptop as a guide, I'd spend a lot of time trying to resolve issues that weren't really issues. There again, I am nowhere near the level of design talent as, say the Wikipedia web site gurus.
Or perhaps they are understaffed (as am I), or in the middle of a web-page transformation exercise (as I am).



John Gray >> Remember some 15 years ago, when it was so popular to use minuscule font sizes on web pages, preferably on dark or grey background.

Yes John. And wasn't it a relief when web designers discovered dark red on a dark blue background! :evilgrin:

Cheers
Chris
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Last edited by ChrisGreaves on 16 Dec 2020, 15:25, edited 2 times in total.
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Leif
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by Leif »

I can't see that it has been mentioned already, but many sites detect the device you are browsing with and provide alternative and more suitable layouts automatically.

Eileen's Lounge is one.

If you want to have the same view on a mobile device, check the available options on your mobile when viewing a page.
x.jpg

I would expect you to find the 'Desktop version' pretty unusable, mind...
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Re: Web Page views: Laptop vs. Mobile

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Leif wrote:
09 Nov 2020, 15:42
I can't see that it has been mentioned already, but many sites detect the device you are browsing with and provide alternative and more suitable layouts automatically. Eileen's Lounge is one.
Leif, I apologize for my delay in responding to this suggestion.

I suspect that you and I have different models of smart phones, different browsers, and almost certainly different operating systems (on the phones).
SS20201215.png
These are what I see on my "LG K30" Android DuckDSuckGi v 5.71.0.

I see a different settings menu from yours, and the most obvious toggle ("Desktop Site") appears to me to make no difference to the layout.

This is not a critical issue, (Tom is not really my pal :grin: , it's just that he has a glorious Sheltie "Fergus" that I get to spend the night with from time to time)

I am, however, starting to play with the Ctrl-Shift-M toggle.

Cheers
Chris
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