New: CoasterBuzz Mobile

Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to keep the one above unedited. I actually had typed that, on my phone, as two paragraphs, the break being after Android 2.3.4. The space between was seemingly lost when I hit the submit button. No biggie, just an FYI.

obxKevin said:

I pretty much refuse to use the internet on my phone for anything that doesn't have a mobile site.

I'm pretty much the opposite. I hate when sites force you to the mobile version when you're on your phone. Most of the time I'll just click the 'full site' link (or equivalent) - not sure why I'd want a stripped down, less pretty, usually harder to use version of the site just because I'm on my phone.

Probably a 'me' thing though. :)

Gonch, it's not just you. Unless a site makes their mobile site absolutely spectacular, I still go to the full site. I've been using the full site here while on my phone. I'm sure the mobile version is fine, but I took one look at it and said, nope, let's change back to regular view.

Yeah, I prefer the full sites also.

Is this coming to PointBuzz too?

PB is built on an entirely different platform. Not saying it won't get there, but it's probably not something we'll look at until next off-season.

Lord Gonchar said: I'm pretty much the opposite. I hate when sites force you to the mobile version when you're on your phone. Most of the time I'll just click the 'full site' link (or equivalent) - not sure why I'd want a stripped down, less pretty, usually harder to use version of the site just because I'm on my phone.

Probably a 'me' thing though. :)

Count me in this same camp. If I'm viewing a web site, whether on my phone or not, I more than likely want to see the actual site. It frustrates me when I get forced to a mobile version that's been filtered according to what someone else thinks I would want to see.

Yeah, that's why I wasn't going to force it on anyone. For me, it depends on the device. Honestly, mobile sites on the phone tend to work better because they load so much faster. Doesn't matter on CB as much if you're a club member, because there are no ads. On the iPad, I'm actually kind of split, and it depends on the site. If I'm on cellular in particular, I dig the mobile version.

I'm half and half.

We were shopping for a car earlier in the year, and all the car manufacturer's mobile sites across the board suck. You can't get in depth, not as many features, not enough information. I always switched to the full version when possible, although on some sites it is difficult to do so.

I like the CB Mobile site on my phone, though. You really don't lose anything except for avatars and other filler stuff that doesn't get in the way when you're on a desktop but is not needed on a phone. Everything I need is on the mobile version of the site.

I would never use it on my home computer, though, because I like the calming reassurance of Jeff giving me the ol' thumbs up.

If a site is like CBuzz where I just spend the majority of time reading, I like using a clean mobile version, but otherwise I want the full site on my iPhone, and I HATE sites that force you into a mobile version. Especially ones that won't let you go to the full site.

If your able to, download the Dolphin Browser, it lets you emulate a desktop computer to prevent your phone from being forced into a mobile site. Dolphin isn't my favorite browser. But, I use it on those occasions.

Being forced to a mobile site only bugs me when I have trouble accessing inside links. For example, Cedar Point posted a link on twitter recently that I couldn't view on my phone because it kept forwarding to the mobile site.

On Friday, I tried to check the CoasterMania schedule at coastermania.cedarpoint.com and had the same problem. I could click a link to get to the full site, but I didn't feel like hunting around for the CM page. I noticed the URL had something like "&mobile=no", so I changed the "www" to "coastermania" and I was able to view that page without being redirected.

But some sites, like Facebook, are atrociously slow over 3G, and I only go to the full site when I absolutely have to (e.g. to edit a comment). But even then, sometimes I'll click a link to another Facebook page and it will send me to mobile again. Annoying. (Admittedly the app does most of what I need, so using Facebook with Safari is rare anyway, but it's just an example of a slow site.)

As far as CBuzz, not only does the mobile site load faster, but it saves me the step of having to double-tap to zoom in and read the text. And double-tapping was always a little wonky on the recent topics list anyway -- now, it's already the right size and easily readable, no zooming required.

The new version of CoasterBuzz Mobile came up automatically on my iphone and took me by surprise. I'll look for the full site version option next time I'm on. The full site version was ok, but it required a lot of zoom in and out so I could read it then move on. The mobile version is a lot of scrolling, but no zooming, and I like. Thanks.

The way this site is built, there are no different URL's for anything, just different "views." The thing that's super convenient about that is that I don't have to rewrite any logic to give you the mobile, view, just new markup. It goes really fast. Some pages you'll go to and see that you don't have functionality (like the meeting calendar), but most of those instances are rare.

And for Tyler, see that the track record icons on rides are now a check for "I have this in my TR," and a plus for "add this to my TR." Hope that makes more sense.

The mobile site looks good on Blackberry OS 5, and comes up by default. Just throwing that out there. I tend to avoid full websites due to BB's limited zoom capabilities, so the mobile version is much appreciated.

Looks good so far, and the "Switch to Mobile" was available right from the start on my Android 4.0 phone.

My phone just upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich last night - Android 4.0.4, I believe.

Still looks good.

What device do you have Gonch? I have the Bionic, which seems to be on the tail end of the release. (Still running 2.3.4)

Razr Maxx.

Yeah, my wife's Razr Maxx picked up ICS sometime last week, so they're definitely rolling out 4.0x on that line.

My Galaxy Nexus has had it for a while, but that's the launch device for the system so no shock there.