LDS.org now *mostly* responsive (mobile friendly)

We just quietly released an update to LDS.org that makes much of the site responsive, or mobile friendly.

Unfortunately the homepage and section landing pages aren't there yet, but the table of content pages and article pages are (magazines, manuals, scriptures, conference).

Give it a try. We'd love to get any feedback. Will this update be useful to you?

I did a writeup of the process if you are interested.

When you say "mobile", what is the target? Smart phones or web enabled "dumb" phones?

RussellHltn wrote:When you say "mobile", what is the target? Smart phones or web enabled "dumb" phones?

It doesn't seem like it should matter, as long as the browser is reasonably capable. The question is how big the screen is.

Each page I visited was displayed first formatted for a full-size browser window, then it was redrawn in the correct proportions for a mobile browser window. Once I was in that new viewing mode, it worked great, but that redraw was distracting (and must slow down the display time, too).

RussellHltn wrote:When you say "mobile", what is the target? Smart phones or web enabled "dumb" phones?

Smart phones mostly. Basically if your phone used to see the desktop version, it should display better now.

aebrown wrote:Each page I visited was displayed first formatted for a full-size browser window, then it was redrawn in the correct proportions for a mobile browser window. Once I was in that new viewing mode, it worked great, but that redraw was distracting (and must slow down the display time, too).

Yeah that a result of being "quick and dirty". We determined it was better to have the occasional redraw of the page to a optimized view, rather than the desktop view only where you have to zoom in on every page.

This is definitely a first step. In coming weeks and months we will optimize things so that the redraw doesn't occur. This was what we could get out quickly before conference.

It technically shouldn't slow down the display time. It is drawing the desktop version just as fast as it did previously. Just after its done loading we determine our the current page is capable of the mobile view then switch to it. But I can see how it might feel that way due to seeing things change.

Is it really any different to detect the display size first, and then display the correct version?

dannykos wrote:Is it really any different to detect the display size first, and then display the correct version?

In this case, yes it is. Detecting earlier is what will come within a few weeks as we can make more fundamental changes.

I'm curious that thus far the response has been poor. Is the redraw issue big enough that you (all responders, not just dannykos) would rather it go back to the desktop only version where you need to zoom in?

BarkerAJ wrote:I'm curious that thus far the response has been poor. Is the redraw issue big enough that you (all responders, not just dannykos) would rather it go back to the desktop only version where you need to zoom in?

No, I'd say it's an improvement. But so far it doesn't affect pages I usually visit on my phone.

BarkerAJ wrote:In this case, yes it is. Detecting earlier is what will come within a few weeks as we can make more fundamental changes.

I'm curious that thus far the response has been poor. Is the redraw issue big enough that you (all responders, not just dannykos) would rather it go back to the desktop only version where you need to zoom in?

Sorry - didn't mean to come across as sounding like it wasn't great! You guys all do an amazing job, which makes serving so much easier.

BarkerAJ wrote:I'm curious that thus far the response has been poor. Is the redraw issue big enough that you (all responders, not just dannykos) would rather it go back to the desktop only version where you need to zoom in?

I too apologize for emphasizing the negative. Reading a conference talk, for example, is a much more pleasant experience with the new styling for small screens. I wanted to make sure you were aware of the minor annoyance of the extra redraw, but I am very grateful for the improvement!

No offense taken, I'm thick skinned. Just wanting to make sure we are putting efforts in places that will be of benefit to the user. If the redraw detracted from the experience then it might discuss backing the changes out, thus by asking more pointedly.

We of course appreciate feedback to let us know what needs to be improved. We will be working on is as soon as we can.

Thanks for the feedback