[OSM-dev] Improvement to openstreetmap.org for mobile devices

[Saman Bemel-Benrud]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for taking interest in the OpenStreetMap mobile experience. I've
recently been working with John Firebaugh <https://github.com/jfirebaugh> and
others on improving the design of osm.org. Making the mobile experiecne
better is one of the tasks we plan to take on soon.

The best way forward is to adapt a responsive web design approach.
Implementation-wise, that means using as much of the same code and markup
that the desktop site uses as possible, and then adjusting styles based on
break points with CSS media queries. Now that table-based layouts have been
removed completely from osm.org, we'll be able to establish a responsive
grid across osm.org that transitions nicely from desktop to tablet to
mobile.

Beyond just "using media queries and a responsive grid", we need to address
two problems:

1. The mobile use case differs from the desktop use case. Mobile users tend
to be more focused on quickly consuming content rather than creating.
2. There are certain technical limitations that come with mobile/touch
devices (for example, no web-based editors currently work on mobile, so the
'edit' tab should either be remove or adjusted to link to apps that *do* work
on mobile devices).

I believe we'll be able to solve both these problems with a straightforward
responsive web design approach.

Delivering a different site with a different codebase to mobile users would
make maintenance and progress difficult. The most helpful thing you can do
right now is make specific issues about how the current mobile experience
falls short on the github issue tracker, and if you've got the technical
know-how, to start fixing things and submitting pull requests:
https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/issues?direction=desc&sort=updated&state=open



On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 5:00 PM, Mark Newnham <mark at newnhams.com> wrote:

> Apologies if a duplicate post, I submitted the same message onto the list
> before I was approved and it seems to be in moderator limbo
> Stemming from a discussion on a diary entry I created
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Mark%20Newnham/diary/19723 , I'm trying
> to start a project about getting an improved home screen for
> openstreetmap.org when someone lands there while using a mobile
> device,especially a small device like a smartphone. I feel that it is
> extremely unfriendly (i know, i've used it) and that many potential
> contributors could be frightened away simply by the fact that there is no
> explanation to what is going on. A redirect to an extremely simple mobile
> framework screen would be better than what is going on now.
> I've recently placed a request in to the wiki team to get the mobile
> frontend installed on the wiki as part of the same request.
> I'm assuming that the mobile interface would have to be built in ruby, and
> I've no experience at all in that, and no real time to learn it. I've loads
> of experience in  php/javascript development and have used jquery wrappers
> to build mobile web apps, but I'm happy to be involved in building
> prototypes and  to donate bandwidth and disk space to such a project.
> I originally placed this message on the development forum, and it was
> suggested it should be placed here for a better response, so here it is...
>
> _______________________________________________
> dev mailing list
> dev at openstreetmap.org
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/dev
>
>
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