Thread:Jemann/@comment-6042046-20130721213039

It was sent on July 9th and written by Sarah Morales.

A few points of interest: "On to this month's topic: Mobile. As I'm sure you're aware, mobile access is exploding around the globe and Wikia is no exception. Right now, 25% of the pageviews across our network are coming from mobile devices (smart phones and tablets) and that number keeps on growing.

"Because our world is growing more and more connected via smart phones and tablets, we think keeping the mobile experience in mind when designing your articles and layout is very important. A common smartphone screen size is 320 x 480 pixels, so what appears at the top of a page is the first place you should focus your attention. This will be what the viewer sees first, and will set the impression of your community.

"We recommend you check your wiki from a mobile device regularly. If you don't have easy access to a smartphone with a browser, you can get a sense of what the mobile experience will look like on your wiki by adding ?useskin=wikiamobile to the end of the wiki's URL."

There are many players (or at least that's the impression I get from reading the official FBG forum) who play FL on their cellphones, tablets or laptops. I'd appreciate knowing if a substantial number of readers here also view the wiki through a mobile app, platform or whatnot. (There's a Apple app available and Wikia is working on an Android app.)

I've used the wikiamobile skin to view some pages (particularly the ones with fancier code like tables)...and they don't...look...good. For anyone viewing this wiki on a tablet or laptop, I can only hope they ignore the mobile Wikia modes. We didn't design or code for tiny screens and definitely not for Wikia's mobile apps.

If there's indeed a large number of mobile app readers, then let's take them into more consideration when we code. When I made the Unpredictable Treasures table, I checked to see if it looked decent in mobile mode before I published it. Some of our tables look shoddy in mobile mode. It saddens me, but we can't all lug around 24" screens wherever we go.

Wikia is also developing a "mobile Preview" for the editor screen, so that should simplify matters.

I'm considering a news feed post to notify editors (complete copy of the mobile email by Sarah Morales) and to gather opinions. Perhaps it's unnecessary. What do you think?

Maybe we should first erect a poll on the front page about it? "Are you reading this wiki through a Wikia mobile app or a general mobile mode?" Yes/No/I would if you made mobile mode more appealing.

I experimented with a new wiki layout earlier. I feel ambivalent: http://fallenlondon.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Chit-chatting_watercooler 