Muddymoles go mobile
Regular visitors may or may not have noticed it, but today marks the release of a slightly re-jigged website. The aim has been to make the site work on a wide range of screen sizes, from mobile phones upwards. Depending on the device you are using, the format will be adjusted to try and make it easier to read the kind of content we all know and love.
On the subject of which, I know you’ve all noticed it. It’s been quiet round here, right?
Yeah, about that in a mo…
Partly, I’ve been burning the midnight (and 1am, and 2am) oil trying to overhaul the site. It’s always irked me that the site was fixed at a specific width and while tablets manage just fine at squeezing the website onto their screens it was far from ideal, with the text feeling pretty cramped at times – lots of small links to hit with fat fingers. Mobile phones were another thing entirely.
Now, you’ll find text a touch bigger and main links nice and easy to hit, be it a mobile phone, a tablet or a ‘normal’ PC that you’re using. It might not be 100% on every phone just yet, but it should make logical sense wherever.
If you have any issues you can email me (ma at muddymoles dot org dot uk) but I can’t promise to solve them – there’s a lot of phones out there, all with their own funky jive! Any other thoughts on making the website experience better are also welcome but again, contact me directly; there might be a good reason why things are the way they are!
One obvious issue is the way the main categories are organised – some need attention quite badly, and there’s a need to make sure everyone can find stuff under the sub categories. It’ll be a case of small victories I think.
Now the real trick will be building new forum templates, to work across devices and match the main site’s styling. Now that will be a challenge, something most forum templates just give up on. We’ll eventually see if it’s possible but it’s on the ‘projects’ shelf for the time being as those midnight oil supplies are pretty low.
Anyway back to the subject of content. Anyone who’s run a website knows the creative juices ebb and flow over time, and I’m no exception. I see tons of stuff I want to write about on a daily basis but finding the time to marshall my thoughts is another thing entirely. It’s not easy spouting this nonsense you know!
There will be something to read soon though, because on the subject of stuff that actually relates to riding bikes, I’ve received a pair of Intrepid Apparel Mission shorts for review. They have certainly met my expectations so far and an article will be appearing very soon. I’ve also invested in an Exposure Diablo Mk 5 helmet light now that we’re heading for locked down winter mode. I’m expecting it to be my staple helmet light for road, off-road and commuting duties – tiny, USB chargeable and lightweight. Also heading my way is a set of 3Peakslite lights, so it looks like it might be time to wander round the woods at night getting beam shots again.
Elsewhere, Dave has coralled another bunch of cats admirably well into placing orders for our distinctive team shirts. No changes to the design at this stage, but the current vibrant green seems reasonably popular with people, and at least you can be seen both on and off-road! I’d like to create a more mainstream shirt for general release but the trick is to find a supplier that can produce decent quality shirts at a margin that allows a small return. It’s a bit of a square circle at this stage.
See you on the trails soon…
About the author
Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.
Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.
An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.
If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.
There are 8 comments on ‘Muddymoles go mobile’
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KevS says:
Nice job Matt and it is certainly easier to use this site on my phone now.
The Menu button is a great improvement for navigating from the Home page to the other areas of the MM site.
Building new forum templates … Good luck with that one Mate!
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Posted on November 11, 2013 at 9:12 am
Nick says:
Awesome work Matt!!
Looks brilliant and so much easier to use from my mobile
🙂
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Posted on November 11, 2013 at 9:46 am
tony says:
Hi Matt
It looks great on my mobile. I very nice surprise!
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Posted on November 11, 2013 at 12:05 pm
Big Al says:
Nice one Matt , looks good .
Cheers Al
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Posted on November 11, 2013 at 1:16 pm
Muddy John says:
Well done Matt, it even seems to work on Blackberrys – for however much longer they will cling onto life for.
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Posted on November 11, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Karl says:
Looking good on my old I phone Matt!
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Posted on November 11, 2013 at 8:38 pm
Dandy says:
+1 for an improvement for us Blackberry users, though I use an iPad as well. As my iPad has no SIM then I tend to use the BB when travelling, so this will make catching up on the ride reports when away from home much easier. To echo StevenD’s comment on another thread, the lighter font used in these comments makes it v diff for us old gits to read (without reading glasses and good light 🙁 )
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Posted on November 12, 2013 at 10:33 am
Matt says:
Glad people seem to appreciate the improvements, there are a few other minor adjusts required and the font style on the comments form is one of those that slipped under the radar – one of those unintended consequences that always seem to appear when a web site is released to the wild!
I’ve also spotted a problem with the site being used on a Nexus 7-style widescreen in landscape mode: not enough scrolling space, which I’ll be addressing. It wasn’t an issue on an iPad mini with it’s 4:3 screen ratio…
Quite an interesting exercise though designing a magazine style site to work on screen widths from 320 pixels up to 1900+ 🙂
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Posted on November 12, 2013 at 10:53 am