Insert image button

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I don’t know if others find this but when scrolling down from reading a post on a mobile screen it is perilously easy to accidentally hit this button.  Then the site opens the insert image window and it takes ages to close it.  Not great ergonomics.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

INSERT image not inset!

 

Mod Edit:  fixed the title typo!

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I don’t know the specific problem, which may depend on the type of screen and the specific software, but I imagine such “ergonomic” problems are common.

These instruments are made for portability, not easy, comfortable or convenient use!

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It was one reason I sold my first – and I hope last – so-called “smart”-‘phone within six months of buying it.

I do not use a lap-top or similar either, for the same reasons. When once having to use a lap-top at work for a mass of intensive spreadsheet entering, I propped it on a ring-binder for a better slope. That did help.

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I replaced that clumsy, over-complicated portable telephone (not “mobile” – that comes from advertising copy-writers’ ignorance!) with a basic model whose primary function is voice conversation. I wonder if that will catch on? It is though awkward to use for text as it’s the form with multiple-character buttons. It is not connected to the Internet.

[Nigel Graham 2]

On Nigel Graham 2 Said:

…

I replaced that clumsy, over-complicated portable telephone (not “mobile” – that comes from advertising copy-writers’ ignorance!) with a basic model whose primary function is voice conversation. I wonder if that will catch on? It is though awkward to use for text as it’s the form with multiple-character buttons. It is not connected to the Internet.

Where do these notions come from Nigel?

My 1968 amateur radio licence, which permits transmitting, defines portable operation as a station set up temporarily at a remote location, perhaps carried up a mountain before being set to work in a tent at the top.   Mobile operation covers a station that operates on the move, typically from a car.   The definition comes from the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1948 not copy-writers.

As about 18 billion mobile devices have been bought so far, more than two per person on the planet, I think it can be assumed most other people like them, and that there will be little interest in a basic voice only model that can’t connect to the internet!

Having said that, I don’t own a mobile or smart phone either!  Nigel and I are very alike in some ways!

Dave

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Surely the forum is not really aimed at mobiles, who really wants to peer at a tiny screen  when ipads/laptops are really the equipment of choice as when typing on a mobile its a complete mare especially when the eyesight is fragile!

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

Surely the forum is not really aimed at mobiles, who really wants to peer at a tiny screen  when ipads/laptops are really the equipment of choice as when typing on a mobile its a complete mare especially when the eyesight is fragile!

Ah ha, it is, at least in the sense the software adapts to support small screen devices, and may be optimised for them.   When looking after mum I browse the forum with her Samsung Tablet and the layout adapts to it rather successfully.   I find the tablet experience to be a notch friendlier than what I get at home on the two gigantic high-resolution screens I have for CAD.

I suspect part of the problem Jason and I had testing the new forum before launch is that we both have big workstation screens running in landscape, and were complaining about presentational issues that are barely apparent when the site is viewed on a small portrait screen.  Maybe the developers couldn’t replicate what we were getting.

But at root there’s something of a collision between existing users like us with laptops and workstations and with future model engineers who are more likely to access the forum with a small touch screen in portrait, and no mouse.

We live in an imperfect world…

Dave

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Dave said,

I suspect part of the problem Jason and I had testing the new forum before launch is that we both have big workstation screens running in landscape, and were complaining about presentational issues that are barely apparent when the site is viewed on a small portrait screen.  Maybe the developers couldn’t replicate what we were getting.

I think it more likely that the developers didn’t bother to try and replicate what yourself and Jason reported!

As I understand it because upgrading the forum software became a fiasco, the final product (the one we are all using now) was never finished to its ‘original’ specification. It was supposed to be device friendly but that seems to have gone by the wayside and the so called forum software improvements have not really amounted to much. My opinion of the forum software would be unprintable and its user interface gives the impression that the designer went a bit wild and used as many different fonts, buttons, sizes, colours, banners and whatever tools as they could without an real overall design concept.

I realise people have different ways of working and what is a boon to one person is a right pain to another. Not working well on a small screen matters not a jot to a user that uses a PC all the time.

Fortunately most of us have short memories and the saga of the forum upgrade seems a long time ago, however what we are left with now is an (overall) sub-standard product.

Rant over

Ian P (I use mainly a PC but do use an Android phone occasionally)

 

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

My intention was simply to highlight a UI issue that could probably be fixed by moving the insert image button towards the centre of the mobile screen where it is less likely to be touched by a scrolling finger. All the comment is superfluous.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I wonder if the designers tested this site on a range of instruments, or just on PCs?

So many people do now view web-sites on gadgets with tiny portrait-mode screens and “buttons” needing fingers like spiders’ legs, that this needs be taken into account as much as how the site works on a small lap-top or on a PC with a decently-sized, landscape-mode screen.

My PC’s 21-inch screen is ideal for CAD, photos and large spread-sheets; but I generally shrink the programme’s own window to a more comfortable 17-inch diagonal. As now. Within that the present typing box for this message is about 8.5″ wide.

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On the other hand the display on my portable ‘phone (an adjective also used by my employer, in a security notice!) measures just under 3 inches diagonally. It also uses a rather large text font even on the smaller of two size settings. So it is not suitable for any serious Internet use as it theoretically can be.

…

I do think this site is cluttered and messy, and one improvement may be to reverse the order of threads so the latest contributions appear at the top.

[Nigel Graham 2]

On Nigel Graham 2 Said:

I wonder if the designers tested this site on a range of instruments, or just on PCs?

 

So many people do now view web-sites on gadgets with tiny portrait-mode screens and “buttons” needing fingers like spiders’ legs, that this needs be taken into account as much as how the site works on a small lap-top or on a PC

That seems to assume a one-size-fits-all approach. Nice if it can be done but I doubt that. It’s why so many sites seem detect what a caller is using to access the site and takes them to an appropriate site area.

I certainly can’t imagine that happening here any time soon.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Nigel your last comment on last contribution first seems sensible but as I have been trying to get this since the new forum was born dont hold out for much to change!

[John Haine]

On 20 May 2024 at 08:22 John Haine Said:

I don’t know if others find this but when scrolling down from reading a post on a mobile screen it is perilously easy to accidentally hit this button.  Then the site opens the insert image window and it takes ages to close it.  Not great ergonomics.

I have the exact same problem John but I can’t seem to get rid of the box and usually just press back and re-enter the thread again. It is irritating

[John Haine]

On John Haine Said:

My intention was simply to highlight a UI issue that could probably be fixed by moving the insert image button towards the centre of the mobile screen where it is less likely to be touched by a scrolling finger. All the comment is superfluous.

It is near the middle of the screen on my phone. (When in portrait)

Moving won’t make a lot of difference as it is just as easy to touch any of the other buttons and depends on how the individual scrolls and with which finger. though as you say the image one can be harder to get rid of the box that comes up

Peter, it does happen here as I am taken to a different layout if I visit with PC, Phone or Tablet

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Quite honestly, John … I have never experienced the problem that you describe.

The Warco pop-up remains a great source of irritation, but I have learned to live with that.

I have severely arthritic hands, and an iPhone 12 [which is not a great combination] but find no great difficulty navigating the site when needs be.

It’s an admittedly clumsy and error-prone affair trying to type anything, but I am resigned to that.

MichaelG.

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P.S. __ I doubt if my 1971 degree in Ergonomics has any relevance !

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Where the button appears depends on the device – here on a laptop it’s more or less in the centre of the screen.  Mobiles are often used holding them vertically in one hand and scrolling with one’s thumb. On the mobile screen the button is therefore more to the right of the screen and likely to be hit accidentally by a right-handed user when scrolling.  If it was moved to the left in the row of icons by 6 places to be more in the centre the problem would be much less.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Having now been made aware of the problem I raised the Bug report which anyone with a problem can do, this is how the site admin get to know about problems not by what is posted on the site.

I have said the problem is not so much fat fingers but the fact that the “X” in the top right of the insert box does not close it on a mobile like it does on my PC. It is now being looked into.

For what it’s worth, almosyt in the middle of my mobile screen

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Thanks Jason.  In the middle when held horizontal?

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

In Jason’s last post, how do I see the image he showed of the screen on his device?

All I see is a small icon and DSC04770

Most images show up for me but occasionally I just get this icon

Ian P

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

John more to the right when in landscape but beyond where my thumb tends to fall though I do have small hands

I think we all get that little image icon some times, picture should show up by tomorrow. Needless to say it usually shows up OK for the person posting.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Jason is that the same image as the one that has not (yet?) appeared in post 731894

If it is, maybe you did something different each time

Ian P

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

No it is a photo of my PC screen showing that I can see the image that you can’t. The image shows the icon is almost central to my phone screen when in portrate mode.

It does not always happen as I mostly post the same way. Although the one not showing up was taken with my camera as the phone was what was being photo graphed most are from the phone..

[Author]

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