What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Post by **Joaz Banbeck** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 4:35 pm

As smartphones become the favored means of internet access, I find myself wondering if we need a more smartphone-oriented interface. But then I see posts that are clearly written on phones, with bizarrely nonsensical words that can only be the result of insufficiently supervised error-correction routines, and then my reactionary geezer tendencies reassert themselves and I tell myself that some things are best left unchanged.

I use a smartphone myself sometimes, but only for a quick check to squash spammers while waiting in line at the grocery store. For casual reading at bedtime I may use a laptop if the cats don't object too much. For any serious post like this one, I use a desk top with a big screen.

I have looked at some of the more modern forums, and the continuous-flow model does not seem to encourage the reflective and well thought-out posts that I'd like to see here.

Any thoughts?

DrStraw · Post by **DrStraw** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 4:56 pm

I don't have a smartphone. I don't even have a dumbphone. And my Cray crashed. So I am stuck with my desktop.

Boidhre · Post by **Boidhre** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:11 pm

Almost exclusively desktop, rarely tablet. I'd probably prefer a "Reddit style" (much older than Reddit) threading for conversations rather than the current linear layout in general for forums. I think it makes it much easier to follow various lines of conversation on a topic and it makes it harder for "threads to be derailed" as you can hide long pointless arguments and just read the rest of the replies. I'm not sure about upvoting and downvoting though.

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:36 pm

iMac w/ OS X 10.10.1, rarely a MacBook Pro, even rarer an iPad 2.

Regarding L19, the iMac is all that really matters for me; when I’m on the road, I have other things to do.

oren · Post by **oren** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:51 pm

Boidhre wrote:Almost exclusively desktop, rarely tablet. I'd probably prefer a "Reddit style" (much older than Reddit) threading for conversations rather than the current linear layout in general for forums. I think it makes it much easier to follow various lines of conversation on a topic and it makes it harder for "threads to be derailed" as you can hide long pointless arguments and just read the rest of the replies. I'm not sure about upvoting and downvoting though.

I like reddit style threading but wish it was easier to find the new posts. It can be challenging to see if additional posting that was interesting has been added. With other reddits there's so much content, you can't really read all. With Go, there's so little, you can read it all, but it's hard to figure out.

tentano · Post by **tentano** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:03 pm

I really use a plethora of devices, being a depraved technophile.

But if I seriously want to construct a post with diagrams, sgfs and whatnots, I always wait until I can use the full power of my desktop. This can mean half a day's wait but I don't like authoring something fiddly on the phone.

Simple short text messages are fine on the phone (with the autodiscorrector OFF!) but I can't do anything serious on that thing. My phone is really just for sharing cat pics, and for passing files between systems which don't network with eachother. I think there were some other purposes advertised, but I forget what they were. With a tablet, it feels like having a really really large phone. A laptop is kinda okay, but mine has a much smaller screen and only the one.

I strongly dislike the idea of having the interface change for the desktop side, but do you really want to maintain two separate ways of representing the same content?

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:43 pm

I once played an entire Malkovich game, 141 moves, Oct 30 - Dec 26, on an iPhone 4S on sporadic WiFi while traveling.

( The 1975 Cray-1 was 80MHz ? The iPhone 4S was ~800MHz ? )

I also use laptops and a desktop.
More than 2 options would be nice for this poll.

Right now I'm texting this, plus Wikipedia searched about Cray-1, on a 4S.

( Do I have in my palm, this ancient 4S, 10x the power of the US$8M Cray-1 ?

Maybe something is off by an order of magnitude or more...? )

jeromie · Post by **jeromie** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:27 pm

I use a tablet or smartphone a lot of the time. I don't generally have a problem with the interface (though next page links can be a bit of a pain) except when reading the embedded SGF files. Eidogo is nearly unusable on a smartphone; I almost always have to download the file into an external sgf viewer.

Something like the newer Glift program used at gogameguru would be nice as a user configurable option for phone / tablet users. I wonder if a graphical diagram creator (like Hermann's excellent external site) could be embedded into the forum, too?

Now I'm wondering: is the source code zip on the front page current, or is there a current version control repository I could take a look at? I'm not a phpbb guru, but I'd be willing to see if I could add any of these (or other) features instead of just making work for others.

quantumf · Post by **quantumf** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:28 pm

I would love to be able to use the site with a phone or tablet, but find it intolerably hostile to anything but a desktop, for both reading and posting. Specifically, my workflow, which is to go to "View New Posts" and right click on the "read latest posts" link for all the topics I'm interested in (i.e. open them in a new tabs), is way too hard with a tablet.

tj86430 · Post by **tj86430** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:18 am

Mostly iMac (currently OS/X 10.9.2). Also Lenovo laptop with Win 7, iPad Air, Macbook Air and rarely Lumia 800 with WP. Once or twice I may have tried with iPod Touch.

mimano · Post by **mimano** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:30 am

I use Tapatalk on an android phone. Works great for reading and posting simple text like this, but sgf files and diagrams show up as text, which is a bit of a problem. On the upside, the timeline reading mode is very convenient.

oca · Post by **oca** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 5:51 am

iphone 4, ipad and windows 8 (using chrome) on a desktop for me.

snorri · Post by **snorri** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 11:36 am

Windows laptop or Windows Phone with Tapatalk. I have an iPad but I mostly use that for SmartGo / SmartGo books.

hyperpape · Post by **hyperpape** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:39 am

iPhone 5s and desktop. It's about 50-50 (currently posting from my phone). The biggest things that would help for a smartphone for me are a narrower/responsive layout and better button spacing in the Eidogo viewer.

I'd probably never do diagrams on a phone unless there were massive interface changes, however.

RBerenguel · Post by **RBerenguel** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:52 am

For reading, essentially iPad (i.e. I try to avoid getting into L19 while on my main computer.) When I need to type something vaguely long I usually do it on it, though (Macbook Air.)

I have also checked it with an iPod Touch and an Android phone, but these have been either on-off checks or reading some quick post. Not for commenting.

Life In 19x19

What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

What kind of hardware do you use?

What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?

Re: What type of hardware do you use to read/post on L19?