How to Improve Mobile

[Moonlight_Eevee]

So this thread was created originally in kind of a rush due to someone actually targeting mobile devices. However, since the original purpose of this thread was underwhelming and not actually out there, I decided to take up TJ's suggestion and find out new ways how to improve the mobile device.

 

Suggestions for improvement:

 

Make Breeding Easier for mobile so we don't have to scroll all the way down just to find a new mates

~Tiki G

 

Increase the limit of dragons on a page if you have 5,000+ dragons so your not going through 900+ dragons just to find a certain dragon.

~Tiki G

 

Have the adopt an egg/failed to grab an egg tab out.

~Omen

 

Adjust the text in the AP to have a read/show more for the “Once an egg…” and/or reduce the letters of the eggs from 3 days and 17 hours to 3D 17H. Example: https://i.imgur.com/M35K9qS.png

~Omen

 

Fix the fertility and make new group so it doesn't lag as much (I keep experience this on my phone and it's frustrating as I keep having to close out Chrome and reopen it at least 10 times before it actually works)

~Dalek Raptor

 

Make an easy personal sorting method for Mobile

~Dalek Raptor

 

Make BSAs easier to use

~Nectaris

Edited January 22, 2018 by Dalek Raptor

[StarSea]

"Mobile" isn't really even a thing that you can say "do we keep it or not". You can access the site just fine without the mobile layout, mobile layout just makes the site look nicer so?

If it was browser vs app then you'd have a thing to ask about getting rid of but honestly there's no point even posting this because undoing the mobile CSS won't even make the site no longer mobile accessible. It'd honestly just waste TJ's time making him go through and erase a bunch of CSS he spent time working on already.

[deja]

should we ask mark zucgebargeg to have facebook only on pc as well, because its easier and faster to send messages and view posts? no

 

I use both, and probably most people do too. no need to delete it or whatever.

[olympe]

Seriously? For every DC player without a PC, mobile must be a blessing. Why is there even an argument of whether that should be kept around or not? The only possible answer to taht question is that, of course, we need to keep mobile.

 

(Mind you, I haven't tried DC on a mobile device yet. I just might, though.)

[StarSea]

I'd also like to add that I used to play DC on my slide phone back in what... 2011, 2012? I don't even remember but DC didn't have a mobile layout back then and I played just fine on my little old slide phone (which I still have if I'm honest). So yes, you'd still have mobile just fine without the nice mobile layout.

[Jazeki]

I think this belongs in site discussion, but I really like using mobile. It has saved me when I was traveling or at work or doing something else when being on the compy was not an option. As others have said in the actual Halloween thread, the mobile game even helped them to be able to play DC when they otherwise couldn't in the past. So, yay mobile.

[The Dragoness]

Speaking as someone who plays mainly on mobile, I don't really see why the layout would need to be removed. A lot of people really enjoy having it around.

[Guillotine]

What the mobile layout needs is to be altered further, actually; right now it's just really janky and unpleasant to use compared to the desktop. Removing it would only aggravate the issue.

 

Yes, I'm saying the problem with the mobile layout is that it doesn't deviate enough from the default.
 

[TJ09]

 

10 hours ago, Dalek Raptor said:

Okay, so this arguement has come up in a different thread and it's getting off topic so I'm creating this thread.

 

I want to know people's thoughts on what they think of mobile. Should we keep it around? It is certainly easier to catch eggs on mobile due to faster reflexes

I'm not really sure what the suggestion is here. Is it to get rid of the mobile layout? If so: why?

 

Overall, mobile is growing faster than desktop worldwide. It doesn't quite make sense to ignore such a large platform, but I'm interested in hearing why it is the target of such ill will.

 

6 hours ago, Guillotine said:

What the mobile layout needs is to be altered further, actually; right now it's just really janky and unpleasant to use compared to the desktop. Removing it would only aggravate the issue.

 

Yes, I'm saying the problem with the mobile layout is that it doesn't deviate enough from the default.

This lacks concreteness about as much as the OP, but is at least heading in a useful direction. While I don't personally agree—I frequently use the site from my phone (including most of my usage of this year's Halloween event) and don't find it to be particularly janky or unpleasant—here we're getting closer to suggesting some form of change. Where do you find it to be lacking? What rough edges can be polished?

 

Not sure the answer belongs in this particular thread, given that it seems to possibly be a request to move in the opposite direction, but it's still valuable to answer somewhere (keeping in mind the "XY problem" and that feedback works best when it has a singular, well-focused thesis).

[Tiki G]

My biggest issue with mobile is that everything is much too enlarged. I cant hunt in the biomes or the AP because i have to scroll down every refresh to see either the descriptions or all of the eggs.

Breeding is much more difficult because of the amount of scrolling I have to do to find a new mate (if i am searching for a mate that hasnt been bred with the selected dragon). On the desktop version, I can see double the dragons on breeding page.

And just finding dragons in general is much more difficult in mobile. On the desktop version, I can see 500 dragons at a time. With mobile... 50. I just reached 5,000 dragons. That is a difference between having to search through 10 pages or 100. That is just... Unreasonable.

Why is it only 50 anyway? I havent really noticed much of a difference between loading 50 vs 500 dragons. Even with my old phone and crappy internet.

Im sure grouping would help with this issue, and if I had computer access, I would definitely use and appreciate it more, but any kind of sorting or grouping is out of the question on my phone. Whether on desktop or mobile version.

 

Long story short, as a primarily mobile user, I prefer the desktop version to the mobile version. Part of it may be because I spent my first 8 years on DC playing on PC, and have only been restricted to mobile for the past year, and I am sure that some of my mobile issues stem from using an old outdated phone. But those are my reasons why I do not like mobile.

[Fuzzbucket]

1 hour ago, Tiki G said:

My biggest issue with mobile is that everything is much too enlarged. I cant hunt in the biomes or the AP because i have to scroll down every refresh to see either the descriptions or all of the eggs.

Breeding is much more difficult because of the amount of scrolling I have to do to find a new mate (if i am searching for a mate that hasnt been bred with the selected dragon). On the desktop version, I can see double the dragons on breeding page.

And just finding dragons in general is much more difficult in mobile. On the desktop version, I can see 500 dragons at a time. With mobile... 50. I just reached 5,000 dragons. That is a difference between having to search through 10 pages or 100. That is just... Unreasonable.

Why is it only 50 anyway? I havent really noticed much of a difference between loading 50 vs 500 dragons. Even with my old phone and crappy internet.

Im sure grouping would help with this issue, and if I had computer access, I would definitely use and appreciate it more, but any kind of sorting or grouping is out of the question on my phone. Whether on desktop or mobile version.

 

Long story short, as a primarily mobile user, I prefer the desktop version to the mobile version. Part of it may be because I spent my first 8 years on DC playing on PC, and have only been restricted to mobile for the past year, and I am sure that some of my mobile issues stem from using an old outdated phone. But those are my reasons why I do not like mobile.

All this - not that I use it much; as my mobile use is on a tablet I usually select desktop layout because of the effort finding things, but the huge size is the biggest issue.

 

I can't see the point of this thread as it stands though - sure, mobile could use changes - but for those as don't like it - don't use it ! For those who only have mobile access - it is a godsend, I gather. Let them have their game !

[Guillotine]

The embiggened nature of the mobile skin is the most glaring issue, yes; it makes navigation rather unpleasant for very basic tasks. It's fine for something with a larger screen, though not ideal, but on a phone it's infuriating. I also find that the drop-down menu is simultaneously unresponsive and too sensitive; last time I tried to use it (I rarely do with the login changes; it's too much of a pain to type in my password manually every time I want to use it on my phone) I frequently had issues getting the menu to recognize a tap and then when it finally opened, applying those ignored taps to the opened menu.
 

[Omen]

While I strongly prefer using my PC, I find myself using my mobile fairly frequently to access DC, whether I'm out and about or when using a mobile is more convenient.

 

Using the main site can be a bit of a mixed bag for me, more details below. To preface, I don't know how feasible any of my suggestions would be as I have very little experience with coding, let alone user friendly design.

 

For biome hunting, I'm able to see all of the eggs in the biomes without scrolling (I use a device with 720x1280 resolution), but tapping on an egg loads that page in the same tab/window. For newly released eggs, this usually involves lots of pressing back, reloading and tapping again hoping to catch one. On my PC, I can hold CTRL and left click to force the page to open in a new tab (and CTRL + R to refresh). If I tried to tap and hold the egg, by the time I hit "open in new tab" the egg is usually gone.

• A suggestion for this would be an option for the "adopt an egg/failed to catch an egg" page to open in a new tab.
  • I'm unsure if opening in a new tab would force switch to that new tab. In that instance, it might be just as easy to keep it the way it is.

 

The next issue would be refreshing; on the browser I use (Google Chrome) this involves swiping from the top of the browser and downwards.

• A refresh button on the header bar (where the DC logo and menu is) would be incredibly useful.
  • I can't foresee any issues with this, but if clutter is an issue, placing the reload button on the top right side (opposite from the menu) might work.
    • Here's a mocked up example using paint.net: https://i.imgur.com/6uTdr08.png

 

AP hunting can be fairly frustrating for me as I have to scroll to see the bottom row as it's usually where the newest eggs are.

• An option to adjust how much text is shown on screen might make hunting in the AP a little easier. In terms of the AP description, a "read/show more..." button or link after a few of the words may work. For example: Once an egg... [read more].
• In regards to the times on eggs, perhaps reducing the letters from 3 days and 17 hours down to 3D 17H could create a shorter page and reduce/eliminate the need to scroll down while providing the same amount of information.
  • The second could possibly be done without the first? Issues might be that the text before [read more] doesn't provide enough information for new players.
    • Here's a mocked up example of both suggestions and with the reload button: https://i.imgur.com/M35K9qS.png (please excuse my subpar editing skills). 

 

Along the lines of @Tiki G's post, it would be fantastic if we could adjust the number of dragons on a page like we can with PC. I personally use 250 to a page on PC, making for a current total of 12 pages; trying to find the same dragons on mobile usually involves a lot of "next>" or "jump to page" tapping to find them among 58 pages. I imagine this to be more of a trial for users with double, or even triple the dragons I have.

• A suggestion here would be to adjust the total number of dragons per page via the account settings (like PC). This would create a situation where it may take a while to scroll down to the bottom, but can be mitigated by allowing a user to have the default (50) dragons per page.
  • I understand there is a reason given in the account settings (to save cellular bandwidth), but DC barely uses any for me and if given the option, I'd be fine with it using more if it means an easier experience.
    • Unless that means bandwidth for DC's server itself? In which case I can understand that too and keeping it as is would be fine too.

 

Overall, I think it's fantastic that DC has a mobile specific site and in my opinion, removing it wouldn't be a step in the right direction. Adding features that make it easier to use would be fantastic, but in the grand scheme of things it's been a generally friendly experience for me. Would I be able to use the mobile version for everything? Not at this stage; but for things like trading, breeding or occasionally grabbing an egg it's done fine in my experience.

[Amaterasu-sama]

I almost exclusively use DC on mobile, have been doing so for years. Anything be it site, social media, game etc that would be PC only simply would not have any priority in my life. Why, you ask? Because I like to spend free time on these things, and last thing I want to do is go sit with a laptop to pass time. If I am not checking something out on sites/game etc (on mobile), I am checking out youtube. Even though I have a brilliant and fast laptop (the small one too, so it's not bulky or anything), had a tablet as well.. I eventually got rid of my tablet because I just didn't touch it for months and years on end, and I only ever login to laptop if it's something like drafting a long document etc that would be uncomfortable to do on mobile. The only reason I can catch eggs is because of mobile skin, I love its clean and clutter free functionality. Mobile skin is actually one of the good things about DC that has existed for years without much "bugs" or complaining or whatever you may call it. I don't think its because people aren't using it, I personally have been using it for years and I don't have a single thing to complain about. My only issue USED to be that the eggs displayed in vertical line in caveand 3rd egg didnt display without scrolling in many devices, but TJ took care of that too so as far I'm concerned the DC game on mobile is perfect. My phone is not older than 1.5years though, and that might be a factor.  All events during holiday work fine on it so you really aren't missing out anything, on the contrary it is easier to nab eggs on mobile during mad rush in cave. 

Edited October 31, 2017 by Amaterasu-sama

[Tiki G]

8 minutes ago, Omen said:

For biome hunting, I'm able to see all of the eggs in the biomes without scrolling (I use a device with 720x1280 resolution), but tapping on an egg loads that page in the same tab/window. For newly released eggs, this usually involves lots of pressing back, reloading and tapping again hoping to catch one. On my PC, I can hold CTRL and left click to force the page to open in a new tab (and CTRL + R to refresh). If I tried to tap and hold the egg, by the time I hit "open in new tab" the egg is usually gone.

• A suggestion for this would be an option for the "adopt an egg/failed to catch an egg" page to open in a new tab.
  • I'm unsure if opening in a new tab would force switch to that new tab. In that instance, it might be just as easy to keep it the way it is.

 

 

This is definitely the number one thing I miss about hunting on a PC. While it isn't a terrible nuisance, it can become quite frustrating (especially during laggy holiday events) to have to click, press back, pull down to refresh, click, etc. Ctrl click was a much easier way to hunt.

But as I said, is isn't incredibly hindering. If I am hunting during off peak times (1-5am, usually on my days off or during my breaks) I have a pretty easy time. I've even caught a CB Gold on this phone! But hunting during the day normally isnt very possible.

[Omen]

15 minutes ago, Tiki G said:

 

This is definitely the number one thing I miss about hunting on a PC. While it isn't a terrible nuisance, it can become quite frustrating (especially during laggy holiday events) to have to click, press back, pull down to refresh, click, etc. Ctrl click was a much easier way to hunt.

But as I said, is isn't incredibly hindering. If I am hunting during off peak times (1-5am, usually on my days off or during my breaks) I have a pretty easy time. I've even caught a CB Gold on this phone! But hunting during the day normally isnt very possible.

 

Number one thing I miss about hunting on PC as well. I may have set up a laptop and used mobile data last time I moved house just to have that creature comfort. 

 

In the grand scheme of things, it might just be that I'm used to the features of PC hunting. Mobile is definitely usable and I have caught holiday eggs, new releases and rares (unfortunately not metallics), it just took me a little longer than it would have if I had been on PC. I have an advantage with mostly playing during off peak hours due to time zone - I'm quite glad that I don't have to wake up at strange hours to get ahead of the rush. 

 

In this instance, my concerns with page loading could probably be reduced down to my less than stellar aptitude with touchscreens. A refresh button would still be fantastic if it were possible, I wish Google Chrome didn't remove it in an update a while ago.

[EscapistLore]

I use mobile a lot, and my biggest complaint is that I can't see the bottom rows of the AP without scrolling down. I can biome hunt just fine niw that they are horizontally listed, but the AP? Its hard to refresh, scroll down, etc, and i miss a lot of eggs that way.

[Jazeki]

I'm not sure if this is an error or a glitch, but I cannot toggle the page numbers for BSA dragons unless I click "last" and go to the last page beforehand. 

[LibbyLishly]

One of the main reasons I'm back in the game after two years of only playing during holidays or not playing at all is because the mobile site has been improved (it's also possible it's been improved for some time and I only just got a phone this year that can handle it. No idea what the timeline was there. Point is, I don't have time to sit at a desktop most of the day, but I can pull out my phone whenever I feel like it without being bound to stay in one spot).

 

There are still some things that the desktop site is better for. If I'm hunting mode during a rush, desktop is better because you can middle-click an egg to open in a new tab and keep going at a much faster speed. The search function for adding dragons to groups crashes my mobile browser, so that's desktop-only. Like Jazeki, sometimes I can't toggle page numbers and can only click the hyperlinked "Next", "Previous", etc.  

 

I have a sizable screen (this phone has been jokingly referred to as a phablet), so I find the size of the site and the eggs to be perfect - all rows of the AP show up and it's not so small that I need a stylus to click things.

 

Lag was exactly the same on phone vs desktop for me this holiday season.

 

I also would really, really like to change the number of dragons that show on my mobile scroll.

 

Overall I'm pretty doggone happy with the current mobile experience.

[TJ09]

On 10/31/2017 at 1:25 AM, Tiki G said:

My biggest issue with mobile is that everything is much too enlarged. I cant hunt in the biomes or the AP because i have to scroll down every refresh to see either the descriptions or all of the eggs.

What type of device are you using? Even on a Galaxy S III (2012) or my old HTC One (2013), I can see all of the eggs, and I just checked that on a screen as tiny as the first iPhone's (320x480) all of the egg descriptions seem to fit.

 

On 10/31/2017 at 5:44 AM, Omen said:

The next issue would be refreshing; on the browser I use (Google Chrome) this involves swiping from the top of the browser and downwards.

• A refresh button on the header bar (where the DC logo and menu is) would be incredibly useful.
  • I can't foresee any issues with this, but if clutter is an issue, placing the reload button on the top right side (opposite from the menu) might work.
    • Here's a mocked up example using paint.net: https://i.imgur.com/6uTdr08.png

From your screenshot, the main use case seems to be the biomes (i.e. places where rapid refreshing happens; I imagine pull-to-refresh is fine on "normal" pages). Are you aware that you can tap on the name of the same biome you're in to reload that biome? If you already knew about that, can you explain what an explicit refresh link provides that the biome links + PTR don't?

 

On 10/31/2017 at 4:34 AM, Guillotine said:

The embiggened nature of the mobile skin is the most glaring issue, yes; it makes navigation rather unpleasant for very basic tasks. It's fine for something with a larger screen, though not ideal, but on a phone it's infuriating.

Can you give an example of what's too big? If anything, most parts of the site get scaled down to fit on smaller phone screens.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

My biggest problems I have on mobile is that using Fertility and making new Groups where I can use the search feature lags Chrome a lot. 

 

I would also love to see a way to actually custom sort my dragons on mobile cause it's kind of horrid right now if I try to do so

[Tiki G]

5 hours ago, TJ09 said:

What type of device are you using? Even on a Galaxy S III (2012) or my old HTC One (2013), I can see all of the eggs, and I just checked that on a screen as tiny as the first iPhone's (320x480) all of the egg descriptions seem to fit.

 

I am using an LG Tribute.

When I am in the biomes, this is what I see: http://bit.ly/2lHIYec

In other biomes, I can see the top line of descriptions, but with the extra line of description in the forest, I cant see anything. The biggest issue it seems is the section with the biome links. Its just unnecessarily bulky. And the egg images. In fact its all of the images, on any page, that adds a lot of bulk and takes up a lot of space.

And this is what I see in the AP: http://bit.ly/2h9qTnL

Only about half of what is actually there.

I have tried scaling text under accessibility, which is really the only option i have been able to find, but it doesnt really do much help. 

 

Like I said, it is possible it is just my phone or something I am doing wrong, Im really not sure...

So hey, if its just me, then i will leave it at that and just stick with my own workarounds until I am able to get a PC again, or a better more usable phone.

 

Edit:: I was checking things out on my other mostly unused LG Optimus L9 (because it is ungodly slow), and the scaling issue isnt nearly as bad, but the timers in the AP still cuts off the last line of eggs.

So for some reason, my tribute makes everything much bigger than it should be...

 

 

And I know this wasnt a response to me, but as far as clicking on the actual biome link to refresh, this becomes a bit tricky since it is such a small area to click on. For me, using the desktop version, things are scaled down to a much smaller size, which for the most part I prefer, but when it is a link that small, 9 times out of 10 I end up clicking something else, or nothing at all (I have logged myself out countless times trying to click the Volcano).

I dont think a refresh button for the Cave would exactly be the best answer. Really I would rather Chrome bring that back, so it isnt anything I would expect DC to fix.

 

Edited November 2, 2017 by Tiki G

[Nectaris]

Personally I find using BSAs on eggs tedious on mobile.  I find I either have to constantly use the back button to go back to the list of BSA ready dragons, or have to go back to my main page and select the appropriate group then scroll down to the ones I want.  When I am on my PC, I just open eight different tabs and close them as I am through with them. I think what would help is if it automatically opened a new tab, so that when I am done with that action I can just close it and go back to my list of BSA dragons.

[LibbyLishly]

51 minutes ago, Nectaris said:

Personally I find using BSAs on eggs tedious on mobile.  I find I either have to constantly use the back button to go back to the list of BSA ready dragons, or have to go back to my main page and select the appropriate group then scroll down to the ones I want.  When I am on my PC, I just open eight different tabs and close them as I am through with them. I think what would help is if it automatically opened a new tab, so that when I am done with that action I can just close it and go back to my list of BSA dragons.

I just got done influencing and incubating eight eggs and I AGREE. I could, admittedly, open the BSA page in a new tab manually, but I inevitably forget.

[Omen]

6 hours ago, TJ09 said:

From your screenshot, the main use case seems to be the biomes (i.e. places where rapid refreshing happens; I imagine pull-to-refresh is fine on "normal" pages). Are you aware that you can tap on the name of the same biome you're in to reload that biome? If you already knew about that, can you explain what an explicit refresh link provides that the biome links + PTR don't?

 

Thank you for reminding me about that feature! I had been aware of it in the past and I was using it before I took that screenshot. I think I had a bit of a mental blank when writing that paragraph, I apologise for any confusion that may have caused.

 

In regards to hunting in the biomes, the hyperlinked names or PTR are absolutely working fine for me and I have no problems with seeing egg descriptions or accessing other parts of those pages. An explicit refresh link there wouldn't offer anything except perhaps something to accidentally press.

 

With rapid refreshing, my primary concern is using the AP page, and only some of the rows being shown with default scaling/text size settings. However, I managed to find a setting on my phone which adjusted the display size, effectively solving my concerns.