My new cell phone inspired me to make an enhancement…
May 17, 2006, 4:07 AM
I got a new cell phone last week while I was up in Harrisonburg, and it’s definitely an improvement over the old one. Along with a 1.3 megapixel camera (wheee!), this one has a better mobile Web feature. It actually displays graphics, and all in all makes things very easy to get around in, provided that the site is optimized for such a use.
And The Schumin Web is a pain in the butt to get around in on the mobile browser. It’s because my design is optimized for display on a computer monitor with a conventional browser. I use a big table to lay everything out, for proper viewing on a computer. With that, the phone then tries to make do with what it’s given.
As a result, the first thing you get is my logo and the “Celebrating ten years online” message beneath it. Then you get the list of sections. Then it displays the header image, and from there it rattles off the menu. Then it displays a large black box, which is how it renders that black vertical line that I use as a divider. Then, after navigating through all of that, you finally get to the actual content. By then your thumb is tired from all the scrolling, and you’ve probably decided it’s not worth the trouble to browse my site on your phone.
I have determined to change that. This is not going to be a site redesign. I’m actually going to create a second version of the site optimized for display on a cell phone. Pretty cool, no?
As is usually the case, my Journal will be the test bed. Why the Journal? Because it’s easy to program. The entire thing is driven by a database, and so I can set the whole thing up in minutes. Just remember how quickly I was able to set the Journal up as its own section (it was originally part of Life and Times) in October 2004. Nothing to it.
So we’ll see how that works out. We’ll just add that onto my other open projects, which include three new Photography sets, one new Life and Times set, photo captions (partly complete), and nine months of photos on Transit Center. So yeah, I have a backlog.
Web site: The LG VX8100, which is the new phone that I got
Song: Whatever the heck you call the standard-issue ringtone that I've got on there now. I'm working on getting Sakura Saku back on there.
Quote: I also miss one of the games I had on the old phone that I can't find to re-download... Jamdat's version of Scrabble. That's an addictive game.
Categories: Cell phone, Schumin Web meta