CmdrTaco's Journal: Attention iPhone Users!

If any of you are using an iPhone and are willing to help test out some Slashdot handheld crap, shoot me off a note... my email is the same address as always, and if you can't guess it, you probably can't help anyway ;) I've built a stylesheet and Tim put together a few little options that we think will make a few bits of Slashdot look nice on an iPhone (or really most lower resolution displays) but unfortunately none of us actually HAVE one yet... so anyway, let us know. Or if you work at Apple, send us freebies dammit!

Safari

[Doctor O]

AIUI, Safari is meant as the testing/debugging "platform" of choice for the iPhone, and it's available for OSX and Windows, and should also be running via WINE. So you can use that until the unavoidable freebies arrive.

Re:Safari

[CmdrTaco]

We do plenty of testing under Safari... the issue isn't so much Safari itself as it is font size & speed and detection of the device itself. Like... what will the user agent string be and how big do we have to make fonts to make stuff comfortably readable on the thing. iPhone's have a higher DPI than my screen. iPhoney is a nifty device for getting you a bit of the way there, but it's not the real thing.

and I assure you, freebies in my line of work are not 'unavoidable'. If Apple gave me one, I'd be shocked... I don't really expect freebies, but I sure ain't opposed to asking! Many vendors have sent us stuff for review, but I think that since they've discovered that free crap doesn't actually buy a good review, they tend not to want to risk it. Besides- Apple doesn't need little old Slashdot to promote their phone... every publication on the net, every TV station, every radio station is doing a fine job hyping it for them already ;)

Re:

[Doctor O]

I didn't think of the resolution issue, I was assuming 96 dpi for both the phone and your screen.

You actually depress me a bit. You say that even a site as frequented as the dot doesn't give you freebies? Darn. I guess I'll strike that off my list and get back to planning world domination.

Re:Safari

[CmdrTaco]

We get really strange stuff occasionally, but rarely anything really cool or expensive. Once we got a scooter (not a moterized one, just a plain old push scooter). Occasionally a game or a few CDs or Mousepads. 'Back in the Day' we used to swap banner ads for laptops and monitors and stuff, but in this modern era of corporate overlordship, not so much. Heck, we can't even get REVIEW hardware most of the time. We tried to get 3 laptops from major vendors to compare them as portable gaming platforms- only one would do it. I'm not sure if we have a reputation or what.

The obvious good thing about this is that it keeps chance for undue bias minimized. I have my biases of course (Open Source=Good for example) and I don't make any bones about it... but when a company gives you a very free and very expensive gadget, they might expect a good review... or alternatively some people will assume that a good review is because you got a freebie. It's a problem everywhere in the industry.

So I guess if your idea of world domination is 'Free Gizmos' then 'Start Tech News Website' should NOT be your first step. I would suggest instead 'Master Thief' or maybe just get a job and buy your gizmos. I'll probably end up buying an iPhone myself eventually assuming the reviews on them are solid, but I'm to old to stand in line, and my current cel phone is on a corporate plan and I don't want to change numbers.

Lotsa screenshots please

[Captain Splendid]

Very interested to see how /. looks on the iPhone (as well as other websites).

Re:

[duffbeer703]

I visited slashdot from the Apple store, and the site looked great. I didn't notice anything mobile-specific, but than again I wasn't looking.

I Get My Mobile /. Fix On My Treo From

[Real World Stuff]

Here [slashdot.org].

Re:

[CmdrTaco]

yeah the /palm UI is perfect for extremely minimal devices like the treo... I'm just hoping that given that the iPhone runs safari and will theoretically have access to WiFi, I can use some of the more ajaxy functions that we've been developing to make the portable experience much more interactive.

Re:

[skoaldipper]

Sweet. I didn't know the 'ole slashter had this. It looks great on my blackberry 8830 too - no text spill. Now, if they would just port Enemy Territory to mobile, the constant layovers in O'Hare and DFW would tolerable. Hey, Activision, I wouldn't mind playing with ASCII textures either. Get 'er done!

Re:

[Real World Stuff]

http://mobile.palm.com/us/ [palm.com]

This is the native start page for my Treo, but should work on any mobile device. Slashdot is located at news>other>slashdot.

I browse "non-mobile" pages via broadband, and it is my observation that most of the cruff is ads. I can appreciate people need to generate revenue, but the implementation needs work.

Avantslash

[exultavit]

Props to slashdot for having the slashdot.org/palm interface for small screen browsers. But those who find it useful may also want to try out AvantSlash. [fourteenminutes.com]

Basically AvantSlash produces similar output, but it has a better layout (less clicking) and it's customizable.

It is a CGI script, so you do need a web server for it to run on... presumably either your own server or a friend's. But once you set it up, it's nice to use.

Q?

[Bodero]

I'd be willing to help on my Motorola Q smartphone. Sure, it's Pocket IE on Windows Mobile 5 and a 320x240 landscape screen, but that's what most of the mobile browsers in the US are anyway (for now) :)

I shot you an email in case there is any interest on your part.

Re:

[crow]

That's what I have, too. The slashdot pages show up with one word per line.

Re:Q?

[CmdrTaco]

Honestly since I know almost zip about the device, it's hard for me to speculate. The thing is that it looks like the iPhone version will really just be a slightly stripped down version of the normal Slashdot... wheras most other devices are using really stripped down browsers incapable of most modern fancy crap. I'm not opposed to developing for them, but it's more time consuming... this iPhone thing is really just toggling a few blocks of HTML off, and a custom stylesheet. For other devices, it probably would be a lot more work... for them, I tend to suggest you use /palm... especially given the insignificant bandwidth requirements of that interface.

Re:

[Bodero]

You may be surprised. Pocket IE supports most CSS and HTML. Really, the only downside is that everything that would normally be in columns is laid out column after column as you scroll down. /palm is nice but I like to read more than the five comments, and not have to load a page per comment :)

Re:

[Com2Kid]

I'll second that offer to help. I just got a Motorola Q, so I mine as well help out /. with it. (Err, don't check my IP... :) )

I am willing to bet that enhancements (and experiance) gained for any given 320xwhatever screen will port over to other simular devices.

Honestly, the only problem right now is that the main content column seems to think something is next to it, but nothing is.

iPhoney

[ZxCv]

Have you tried iPhoney [marketcircle.com] yet?

Re:

[CmdrTaco]

Yup. It works fine for resolution, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a perfect precise simulation of the actual device. For starters, the DPI is different, so I won't really know if there is any additional eyestrain to read on the smaller device with the higher DPI. Or any surprises. Or lag for network latency and such.

Re:

[mountainash]

If you want to use this without the download, have a look at http://iphonetester.com/ [iphonetester.com]

Also please document any finding at http://iphone.wikidot.com/ [wikidot.com]

Not Sure If You Saw This...But Should Help

[Real World Stuff]

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/designingcontent .html [apple.com]