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I hope you are correct. For my startup, I've assumed you are correct. Since my startup is my first Web site, I'm no expert in the issues in the OP here. So,
by graycat 10y ago
I hope you are correct. For my startup, I've assumed you are correct.
Since my startup is my first Web site, I'm no expert in the issues in the OP here. So, HELP!
Guys here who know more than I do about Web apps on different Web browsers on different client devices, which is nearly everyone on HN, help me out here -- am I on or off track? Where am I going wrong?
So, what I've built is just a Web site (Web app). For the code to run in production, it's about 20,000 programming language statements in about 80,000 lines of typing. It's nearly all in Visual Basic .NET 4.0 with ASP.NET and ADO.NET.
For the user's browser, the user interface (UI), and user experience (UX) the site is all old and simple, dirt simple.
My guess is that the Web pages should look fine on any device with a Web browser up to date as of 10+ years ago.
So, the site is just simple, standard, old HTML and a little really simple CSS. The CSS is all in the same file as the HTML.
Microsoft wrote a little JavaScript for me, but I never wrote a single line of it. There is no use of Ajax. So far there is no use of cookies.
So, for one Web page, what goes to a user is just one HTML file with CSS, a small JavaScript file, likely standard from Microsoft, and a file for each of the images.
The fonts are large and standard. The colors are simple with high contrast.
For images, there are ads in the two standard sizes, banner ads 720 pixels wide and 90 pixels high and other ads 300 pixels wide and 250 pixels high. Otherwise the images are just a few, simple, small PNG files for logos.
The only HTML controls are single line text boxes, buttons, and text with links.
There are no roll overs, pull downs, pop ups, or icons. There is no auto-complete.
The natural language on the site is all English, but it is all very simple, and the user interface is so simple that a person with no knowledge of English should be able to learn to use the site in less than 15 minutes.
The page layout is all done with just tables with all widths fixed. E.g., each Web page is exactly 800 pixels wide. Since there are both horizontal and vertical scroll bars, the Web pages should be usable in a window as narrow as 300 pixels wide and 200 pixels high.
Each Web page sends for about 400,000 bits (except for the ads from ad servers).
The reason for people to use the site is for the information it provides. The site is quite interactive, and there is an iterative, game aspect as in games where wander through tunnels with clues and looking for coveted prizes. Maybe for some users the site will have an addictive quality.
From what details I've given, is it likely that the Web pages are simple enough to work on nearly all current Web browsers on whatever client side devices?
Where am I going wrong?
Thanks.
- elliotec 10y agoYou have to tell us what is wrong first, in other words why do you think you're going wrong? There is nothing wrong with what you've described as far as I can tell. But what issues are you having? Users not going to your site? Likely not a tech problem.
- graycat 10y agoThanks. My site is not live on the Internet yet. On my development computer, it appears that the site works as intended, but I'm still testing, say, alpha testing. Then when I invite in people, call that beta testing. For what is "wrong", I am just guessing that I might have encountered some of the problems mentioned in the OP. Or, maybe even the simple, old HTML, CSS, and JavaScript I'm sending to the users might have problems on some Web browsers on some mobile devices? I don't have a mobile device, certainly not a big collection of them, for testing. So, likely the beta test will be the first real test if my simple, old HTML, etc. will work on various Web browsers on iPhone, Android, tablets, old/new laptops, etc. But no doubt other Web site developers here on HN have already been there, done that. Or, for the question, what precautions, considerations, limitations, etc. have to honor to have a relatively simple Web page display and act as intended on a wide range of client devices? Thanks!
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- elliotec 10y agoAs long as the people developing your site have been keeping up with things since the mobile web became a thing (several years), it should be expected that they can develop an app that functions well on just about any device that will run it. This is common, required knowledge of developers. They should be testing the site on as many devices as possible, and developing it with cross-browser capabilities in mind and tooling that does it for them. You can check yourself to see if it works There is no excuse for not being able to develop a consistent experience across as many devices as possible. And it sounds like the poor OP just got a lazy developer.