Mobile Easy-Ups

[M0RPH3US]

To easy up all our lives (specially for the ones on mobiles)
i´d like some things introduced (easy codes i bet)

1) Show alliance Scans on overview next to the fleet (attack and defence) - colours like on ally def page to see age
Also show Alliance/Galaxy Bcalcs

2) Add a button to request scan -> brings you to request scan page with coords entered!

3) Hyperlink on fleetname (overview) to go to Fleetpage

4) Button <RECALL ALL FLEETS> on overview (with a checkbox)

5) Show status of Base Fleet on Overview (with a button to change)

[Patrikc]

Ideally we'd just have a mobile version of PA (or an app, but personally an m.planetarion.com version would be preferred) where all of these things would be incorporated. I'm not entirely convinced we should have fleet functions on the Overview, though. Requesting scans is fine but I'd prefer the extra 'security' of having to be on the fleets page to actually issue commands to them.

As for point 5, you can already see the status by the colour of the Base fleet.

[Adapt]

App version off the game sounds great!

[Mzyxptlk]

Points 1, 4 and 5 advocate contaminating pages by adding unrelated features to them. This is bad UI design.

Point 2 is unclear. Add a button where?

Point 3 is reasonable. Damn near everything should be clickable.


The PA interface shows its age, really. It has been tweaked over the years, but at some point you reach the limit of what you can achieve and need to overhaul. It seems to me we have just about reached that point. This is far from first thread like this, so apparently the interface no longer matches the common usage scenarios.

As usual, though, overhauls are expensive, and PA Team have no money.

[M0RPH3US]

Originally Posted by Mzyxptlk

Points 1, 4 and 5 advocate contaminating pages by adding unrelated features to them. This is bad UI design.

not sure what that means tbh

Originally Posted by Mzyxptlk

Point 2 is unclear. Add a button where?

Right next to the targets coords
It shouldnt be implemented if existing scans arent shown though, else the same Scans will get requested over and over again

[Veedeejem!]

It's 2015, just make a responsive theme that looks good on any device / resolution...
Nobody uses IE8 anymore which means media queries are safe to use

[ChronoX]

Originally Posted by Veedeejem!

It's 2015, just make a responsive theme that looks good on any device / resolution...
Nobody uses IE8 anymore which means media queries are safe to use

I'd like to see a responsive layout too, rather than an app. Because you will reach all mobile users then.

If you go for an app then you need to decide for which platform and some of the users will be left out (I'm a Windows Phone user o/).

[M0RPH3US]

Originally Posted by Patrikc

As for point 5, you can already see the status by the colour of the Base fleet.

cool, never really noticed or realised
still i´d find it ace to change on overview aswell

[Androme]

The changes needed for mobile view can easily be done via CSS imo. I use Mercury Browser on my iPhone to customise the Bob v2 skin to my liking (within certain limits)

If m.planetarion.com was created using CSS or one of the mobile optimisers (free options exist like Wix and Duda iirc.), then an app can easily be made to point straight to it with fancy icon etc.

[Mzyxptlk]

Originally Posted by M0RPH3US

not sure what that means tbh

I mean that as long as PA consists of a page per usage scenario grouping (scans, fleets, production, alliance, etc), you shouldn't put stuff from one group on a page dedicated to another group.

Once you switch to a different way of interacting with PA (VdM says 'just', Androme says 'easily', funny guys), that objection may no longer hold water. Until then...

Originally Posted by M0RPH3US

Right next to the targets coords

I still don't understand. Where? On what page? Is this all about the overview? You specifically said 'overview' for the 4 other suggestions, so I assumed this was an exception.

[Veedeejem!]

Are the source files for theme development hosted somewhere online? (github?)
Not saying i'll make one, but if the source files would be available I might be tempted

[M0RPH3US]

Originally Posted by Mzyxptlk

I still don't understand. Where? On what page? Is this all about the overview? You specifically said 'overview' for the 4 other suggestions, so I assumed this was an exception.

yes all on overview = less loading of pages and clicking (too narrow) buttons on mobiles!

[Influence]

Originally Posted by Veedeejem!

It's 2015, just make a responsive theme that looks good on any device / resolution...
Nobody uses IE8 anymore which means media queries are safe to use

Even for those who do still use IE8 there are fairly proper frameworks out there that are able to provide easy ways of optimizing any interface for any viewport. The biggest issue isn't with having a design that will work with such frameworks, but is with the time that is needed to untangle code and mark up languages i think. At least afaik the 'templates' we have now are all fully based on css and imaging. From what i can see most CSS is based on id's rather than classes which doesn't help 'ease' development of skins either (ID's should be used for coding/scripting, classes for styling).

as far as pageloads go, on mobile page loads aren't necessarily a bad thing. One-Page interfacing often means a lot of background loads anyhow, and if your design is half decent you can ensure large numbers of resources are cached properly so in the long run specialised pages are often less demanding of your devices resources.