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I wish some people at github would address the bad mobile version of their website. It's impossible to do anything done with the current mobile UI without going

by Aissen 7y ago

I wish some people at github would address the bad mobile version of their website. It's impossible to do anything done with the current mobile UI without going through the desktop version: - see the language stats for this repo - see commit history in one tap - read the full readme - see all files at top level - etc. If you're already hard at work on this, thanks in advance.

epiceric 7y ago
I think they are going to avoid any web mobile changes while they are building and promoting their mobile app, which is still in beta. And honestly, this official app personally feels that it's even worse to navigate. Hard to navigate to your most recent repos, reading/following issues/PRs is terrible (a good 1/6th of my screen is covered by a tab in the bottom corner that I accidentally open a lot of the time when scrolling), no CI information, can't differentiate what's new and old discussion when opening a notification, can't check other branches, can't generate tokens (very useful when commiting from someone else's machine if you have 2FA), and in general it prioritizes elements without a clear reason, like the "subscribe"/"unsubscribe" button for repos. I currently still prefer the Fasthub app for now. It still doesn't have all features above or from the web version, and it's not updated often since the app is being refactored entirely, but it's open source and it has a decent UI/UX. Definitely better than the beta official app.
- zeveb 7y ago
  > I think they are going to avoid any web mobile changes while they are building and promoting their mobile app, which is still in beta. In theory, I would prefer a native mobile app to a web page, for a number of reasons. First of all, a web page is ideally static, with no JavaScript and no interactivity other than POST submission — a native app provides a developer the opportunity to add behaviour and interactivity appropriately. Second, a native app can be customised to the particular needs of working on a mobile device. But in practice I avoid apps like the plague. I no longer trust that Android will properly shield one app's data from other apps: for all I know the GitHub app will upload all of my photos and text files to Microsoft for analysis. And then so many mobile apps aren't even native mobile: they are just wrapped web pages, in which case one gets the worst of both worlds: a potentially-insecure app which can break the sandbox, and a non-native web-page interface. I used to be really excited about smart phones, but now all I really want is something with a web browser, phone calls, Signal and offline maps.
  - Aissen 7y ago
    I upvoted you, but your comment is a bit misguided re: Android, especially for HN: - if an app has access to your photos and you didn't approve so, it's a bug. Even worse, it's a security issue and you could probably collect a nice $10k to $30k bounty. - apps that are just web pages are bad, yes but not for the reasons you underlined. - anything that breaks the sandbox is a security issue. Nowadays it's pretty rare, too. - if an app asks for access to your files and can't work without it, it's a badly designed app and you'd be right to complain. IMHO this is an issue that should be addressed at two levels: 1/ the OS should be able to generate fake data to let old apps work. 2/ any newly released app that tries to work around this should be banned from stores.
billygriffin22 7y ago
Hi! We're working on the mobile experience across the board. Here's a recent tweet highlighting improvements to the mobile web experience: https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1227378615387443200?s=20 https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1227378615387443200?s... And yes, we're also definitely investing in the mobile app as well and the reception from the beta has been really positive so I'm excited for when we're able to roll it out to everyone.
- Aissen 7y ago
  I've heard of the app, and it's great news. But I feel that with just a little push (well, not so little, but small at Github scale), the mobile website could be so much better, and everyone would benefit from it without installing an app (although with an Instant App one could have the best of both worlds… but just on Android). The demo of Emily and Jon's work shown by Nat is great news and I hope it continues forward.
- 9dev 7y ago
  Is there any way to get access to the beta on Android? I use GitHub quite heavily, and would be really interested in having an app and giving you feedback.

by Aissen 7y ago

epiceric 7y ago

I think they are going to avoid any web mobile changes while they are building and promoting their mobile app, which is still in beta. And honestly, this official app personally feels that it's even worse to navigate. Hard to navigate to your most recent repos, reading/following issues/PRs is terrible (a good 1/6th of my screen is covered by a tab in the bottom corner that I accidentally open a lot of the time when scrolling), no CI information, can't differentiate what's new and old discussion when opening a notification, can't check other branches, can't generate tokens (very useful when commiting from someone else's machine if you have 2FA), and in general it prioritizes elements without a clear reason, like the "subscribe"/"unsubscribe" button for repos. I currently still prefer the Fasthub app for now. It still doesn't have all features above or from the web version, and it's not updated often since the app is being refactored entirely, but it's open source and it has a decent UI/UX. Definitely better than the beta official app.

zeveb 7y ago
> I think they are going to avoid any web mobile changes while they are building and promoting their mobile app, which is still in beta. In theory, I would prefer a native mobile app to a web page, for a number of reasons. First of all, a web page is ideally static, with no JavaScript and no interactivity other than POST submission — a native app provides a developer the opportunity to add behaviour and interactivity appropriately. Second, a native app can be customised to the particular needs of working on a mobile device. But in practice I avoid apps like the plague. I no longer trust that Android will properly shield one app's data from other apps: for all I know the GitHub app will upload all of my photos and text files to Microsoft for analysis. And then so many mobile apps aren't even native mobile: they are just wrapped web pages, in which case one gets the worst of both worlds: a potentially-insecure app which can break the sandbox, and a non-native web-page interface. I used to be really excited about smart phones, but now all I really want is something with a web browser, phone calls, Signal and offline maps.
- Aissen 7y ago
  I upvoted you, but your comment is a bit misguided re: Android, especially for HN: - if an app has access to your photos and you didn't approve so, it's a bug. Even worse, it's a security issue and you could probably collect a nice $10k to $30k bounty. - apps that are just web pages are bad, yes but not for the reasons you underlined. - anything that breaks the sandbox is a security issue. Nowadays it's pretty rare, too. - if an app asks for access to your files and can't work without it, it's a badly designed app and you'd be right to complain. IMHO this is an issue that should be addressed at two levels: 1/ the OS should be able to generate fake data to let old apps work. 2/ any newly released app that tries to work around this should be banned from stores.

billygriffin22 7y ago

Hi! We're working on the mobile experience across the board. Here's a recent tweet highlighting improvements to the mobile web experience: https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1227378615387443200?s=20 https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1227378615387443200?s... And yes, we're also definitely investing in the mobile app as well and the reception from the beta has been really positive so I'm excited for when we're able to roll it out to everyone.

Aissen 7y ago
I've heard of the app, and it's great news. But I feel that with just a little push (well, not so little, but small at Github scale), the mobile website could be so much better, and everyone would benefit from it without installing an app (although with an Instant App one could have the best of both worlds… but just on Android). The demo of Emily and Jon's work shown by Nat is great news and I hope it continues forward.
9dev 7y ago
Is there any way to get access to the beta on Android? I use GitHub quite heavily, and would be really interested in having an app and giving you feedback.