A rather dull post – but it might be to your advantage

Mark 21 Comments

This blog was down for a few days a little while ago while something that doesn’t mean anything to me was fixed so that everything worked properly again. It’s magic as far as I’m concerned.

However, now, for a while, I’m on a monthly payment scheme which allows me to get technical work done on my website and I got something fixed over the weekend that you won’t have noticed but made my life a little easier.

So here’s an opportunity for you. If there is something that ‘doesn’t work properly’ or ‘is very slow’ or ‘used to work better than it does now’ then let me know, please.  I might be able to get it fixed under the scheme for which I am currently paying.  I’m afraid this offer doesn’t apply to content – I’m going to keep writing the same old stuff in the same old way – only to the way the blog works.  I’m hoping to bale out of these monthly payments after a couple or three months so you’d better tell me soon please.

When I Google this blog I see I get a message ‘your page is not mobile friendly’ – although it usually looks fine on my iPhone.  How is it for you?

Just let me know.

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21 Replies to “A rather dull post – but it might be to your advantage”

  1. Hi Mark,
    On my phone (a Samsung) your blog doesn’t work well as when it first comes up it is tiny, so to be able to read it you have to increase the size but then need to keep moving the text side to side so you can read it. Sites that work well on mobiles appear immediately at a readable size on full screen viewing. I don’t read your blog on my phone for this reason. It would be good if this could be improved!

    2. The same happens on my BlackBerry KeyOne. Yes, I know I’m probably the only person who reads this blog to own one of these phones, but I never follow the herd if I can help it.

  3. This is not in any of the categories you mention, but it would please me.
    Please add a next and previous button to the blog items.

    1. Alex – thanks for the suggestion. That’s the type of thing I would be interested in hearing. No idea how feaqsibvle it is but…

  6. I have two suggestions that I think would make it easier to re-find and re-use ‘old’ posts: firstly, the ability to view the archive of blog posts by month and/or category (as is possible on RPUK); and secondly, some ability to customise search results according to particular criteria. The current default (and only) search option (which I think puts posts with all keywords in the title first, then any other posts matching all keywords within the post, and only includes posts matching *all* keywords) is sensible but not always the most useful – if looking for a particular post it can take a few attempts to find the right set of keywords that retrieves it!

  7. I like the facility RPUK has, where you can see if there have been new comments even if they are on old posts.
    Also, didn’t you used to have a list of Topics? Useful to look up issues not currently being discussed. Or is that too much work for you?
    I also seem to only be able to Like or Dislike once every viewing of your blog posts.

    1. Yes, I too can only ‘like’ once per view. I thought it was me. Very unteckie.

  8. I have a lo-tech android phone and it works fine for me. I have to zoom in to read it but that’s hardly an issue is it?

  9. It works OK on my (oldish) Android phone using the Chrome browser. I’ve found in the past that some sites work differently, depending on which browser you use. Could this be causing the problems?

  10. If I remember rightly you use Go Daddy. In case you didn’t know, their founder/CEO is known for going to Africa to trophy hunt Elephants, for which he is rightly despised by many, and his company boycotted.

    1. Matt – yep, that’s right. Please provide me with similar analysis of all other potential hosting sites so that I can compare and contrast and ensure that I don’t jump from a frying pan into a fire. And is he still shooting elephants or was that about 8 years ago?

      1. I suggest that you do your own analysis, only offering information, little chippy if you don’t mind me saying so.

  11. It works fine on my iPhone, but I usually use the iPad so I can easily look at the Tweets as well. (I don’t do Twitter otherwise- too much time spent onscreen already) Your blog is essential reading – missed it when it was down!

  12. Hi Mark,
    Regarding your “mobile friendly” comment I can confirm that I do have a problem with viewing your web site on my Samsung Galaxy. The web pages appear exactly the same on my phone as they do on my desktop computer only very much smaller. Without zooming in the text is unreadable. When you are zoomed in you have to scroll left and right to read a line of text. I believe mobile friendly web sites are aware of the screen resolution of the device and reformat the page accordingly. This is not a major issue, just an inconvenience. On a more positive note I can confirm that your web pages do appear the right way up in Australia and the content is invariably excellent. Keep up the good work of throwing a light on those who work in the shadows.
    Best wishes,
    Roman

  13. Comes up fine, small but easy enough to zoom in on to read. As Mac says (above) hardly an issue, a minuscule inconvenience compared to the value of the content:) & generally read via computer occasional phone read.

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