If a statement of mine is desired, here is what I think today:
When I was developing SEN v6, I did ask myself the question about "mobile version, yes, no & how?".
I had the deadline of SEN's anniversary and thus lacked the time to actually create a whole new system for mobile phones; so instead I tried to make SEN as mobile friendly as possible (I do see the problem of the "Membes Online"-bar. Sorry for that.) and I am confident that this site works pretty reliably on that matter.
As time passed, I have come to think about
how I
would implement a mobile version and I have an idea about how to integrate that sub-system into the current one. It actually is quite interesting, but I will need to read into several stuff, for example "how to identify smartphone connection reliably via PHP" (if that even is possible, but I think it is.). Up next are screen sizes, how to maintain the AJAX system when you lose connection in between (you might have noticed that sometimes, when you just open the mobile-browser and try to shout, it will not work. I guess that is what happens when the JS polls the server but cannot contact it properly. But more research has to be done) for example.
The current Skin-System would allow to easily implement mobile-versions of the skin (as in every skin could easily have its mobile verison), dividing every skin-class into two major functions: get_html() and get_html_mobile(). The former function holds the entire HTML-Document with some placed coding-words which are replaced with content by the kernel, for those who are interested. The latter function would be like the former, however with eased HTML-Structure and less links, graphics and the like. Mobile-friendly, basically.
What's left are the HTML-Parts of the specific scripts, but that would work similar.
So it -
would- be doable without "screwing" the system as in it would look like it all has been wanted to be like that anyways. Cool code.
Heh.Limited functionality is a general problem with shrunken websites for mobile-phones, but it does not have to be.
After all, you can have like a main navigation with few important links but have one link called "All Links" or "Site" or similar which just opend a whole page of a collection of all links. Easily clickable links, of course. Still, every page on its own might be limited. For these cases, we could offer "Change to Desktop-Mode"-services, treating the phone as a desktop-computer until no longer desired.
So, what would else do we need?After expanding the skin and script classes, we pretty much only need a better javascript. And I want to create a whole new javascript system. A well organized one. Last, but not least, core-classes might have to be adjusted. At least our core-class that creates the console for writing posts and stuff.
Summary time:
We need a subdomain (maybe), the ability to identify mobilephone-connections, expanded skin-class (low work), expanded script-classes (high, but interesting work (What limited "data" shall we show? Questions like that
)), new javascript (high, but also interesting) and small kernel adjustments.
Look, you now know a bit of SEN's internal organization!
I am interested into other organizations for websites. There are reasons to like and reasons to dislike that organization.
Who knows what the hell I will be doing in v7, if I ever do one.
Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 12 2015, 2:38 am by Devourer.
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