6 ms·

Washington State Ferries – Small Schedule

117 points by twobitshifter 5y ago

tyingq 5y ago
I wonder if any notable sites forgot to turn off their WAP/WML interfaces.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  I don't think they "forgot" but Nextbus is contractually required to maintain a WAP site by the SF MTA (and possibly other customers). https://retro.umoiq.com/s/w2 https://retro.umoiq.com/s/w2
  - tyingq 5y ago
    Interesting. It's hard to even find a functioning wap browser...lots of dead links.
    - malinens 5y ago
      there are browser extensions for that
na85 5y ago
BC Ferries used to do this also, but have in the last few years moved to a more modern-looking, responsive layout. TBH I miss the old-school unstyled text.
sharken 5y ago
So much advertising opportunity lost :) But a very no-nonsense site that doesn't get in your way, I'm a fan.
aaronbrethorst 5y ago
You can also find Washington State Ferries data in OneBusAway, which is free, open source, and has just been rewritten in Swift: https://github.com/OneBusAway/onebusaway-ios https://github.com/OneBusAway/onebusaway-ios (and is also looking for volunteer developers and localizers.)
jffry 5y ago
I wish more sites offered simple, fast, "lite" versions. For example, https://lite.cnn.com https://lite.cnn.com
- 11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
  Interesting. 3 stories about Biden. 4 stories about Trump.
  - ChrisClark 5y ago
    It's almost as if the news reports current events. 7 stories about the current and past president out of ~60? Must be some conspiracy! :D
    - rdiddly 5y ago
      The past president is usually just that, not news. But Trump was good for ratings and they don't want to let it go.
      - jazzyjackson 5y ago
        To be fair the current president is usually not news because they’re not doing anything out of the ordinary (ordinarily) Trump makes himself newsworthy by being a bottomless pit of disorder. No disagreement that the news is in it for the ratings/eyeballs etc, but how is it the news’s fault that trump is good for ratings?
        WesleyHale 5y ago
        I would think the Afghanistan situation would give them enough fuel for at least a week or two.
        wtallis 5y ago
        Three of the four Trump-related headlines in question are about Afghanistan.
networked 5y ago
http://slashdot.org/palm http://slashdot.org/palm was available at least from 2000 [1] to 2016 [2]. (Perhaps a year or two longer, but the Internet Archive's crawler got banned in February 2016. The current error page was first archived in October 2018.) [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20001012050323/http://slashdot.org/palm/ https://web.archive.org/web/20001012050323/http://slashdot.o... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20160128183858/http://slashdot.org/palm/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160128183858/http://slashdot.o...
elchief 5y ago
seeing __doPostBack() in the source brings back some memories
hamandcheese 5y ago
It’s great that it’s lightweight, but the information on my already-small iPhone 12 mini takes up a small fraction of my screen and is illegible without zooming in. Fixing this would take just a few more lines of CSS. Edit: or maybe just a single line of HTML to set the viewport meta tag.
lowboy 5y ago
This is not a good experience on a mobile device. It could likely be fixed with a few dozen bytes of inline css. https://i.imgur.com/T5ntV2A.png https://i.imgur.com/T5ntV2A.png
- themodelplumber 5y ago
  Or. <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
- wtallis 5y ago
  This looks to me like the browser failing to include a reasonable default stylesheet.
  - Gaelan 5y ago
    Mobile browsers have, since at least the first iPhone, defaulted to showing websites zoomed way out, on the theory that the site might not have been designed for a screen that narrow. Sites that are designed to support a phone screen are supposed to say so, using the meta tag given elsewhere in the thread.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
latchkey 5y ago
I recently spent 6 months in west seattle and got a chance to take the ferries. Great fun. Protip: book your tickets in advance. One time on the way back, we got prioritized behind all the people with tickets and boat after boat... 4-5 hours later. Luckily I have a campervan, so it wasn't a huge deal to wait in line, but I definitely learned a big lesson!
- mypalmike 5y ago
  Just to add: reservations are only available on a couple routes (Coupeville and the San Juan Islands), and only during summer tourist season. Most routes are fcfs.
arlattimore 5y ago
You could deliver that in a more traditional UX, but that typically means you need to deal with calendar controls etc. For mobile users, maybe they should add those same quick links to the standard site and see how users react - I bet they'd be well received.
mcswell 5y ago
Why, when there is only one possible answer to the next question, does it still insist on asking that question? Pick your departing port as Bainbridge Island and see what I mean.
- maverwa 5y ago
  Consistency, makes it easier to understand. When it would automatically pick the only possible answer, you might think that you accidentally clicked on the next link already or that something else happened incorrectly. You would have to add a message stating that the system auto-selected the only possible destination. It’s also (slightly) easier to implement. Both not hugely problematic, but in my opinion its the correct decision for this case.
twobitshifter 5y ago
See also ferry.FYI https://www.ferry.fyi/mukilteo https://www.ferry.fyi/mukilteo Quote from the author here: https://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/life/coders-create-alternative-apps-for-ferry-service/ https://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/life/coders-create-altern... > “I hate advertising so much, more than anything,” he said. “I want it to be free, I want it to be accessible to everyone.”

117 points by twobitshifter 5y ago

tyingq 5y ago

I wonder if any notable sites forgot to turn off their WAP/WML interfaces.

jeffbee 5y ago
I don't think they "forgot" but Nextbus is contractually required to maintain a WAP site by the SF MTA (and possibly other customers). https://retro.umoiq.com/s/w2 https://retro.umoiq.com/s/w2
- tyingq 5y ago
  Interesting. It's hard to even find a functioning wap browser...lots of dead links.
  - malinens 5y ago
    there are browser extensions for that

na85 5y ago

BC Ferries used to do this also, but have in the last few years moved to a more modern-looking, responsive layout. TBH I miss the old-school unstyled text.

sharken 5y ago

So much advertising opportunity lost :) But a very no-nonsense site that doesn't get in your way, I'm a fan.

aaronbrethorst 5y ago

You can also find Washington State Ferries data in OneBusAway, which is free, open source, and has just been rewritten in Swift: https://github.com/OneBusAway/onebusaway-ios https://github.com/OneBusAway/onebusaway-ios (and is also looking for volunteer developers and localizers.)

jffry 5y ago

I wish more sites offered simple, fast, "lite" versions. For example, https://lite.cnn.com https://lite.cnn.com

11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
Interesting. 3 stories about Biden. 4 stories about Trump.
- ChrisClark 5y ago
  It's almost as if the news reports current events. 7 stories about the current and past president out of ~60? Must be some conspiracy! :D
  - rdiddly 5y ago
    The past president is usually just that, not news. But Trump was good for ratings and they don't want to let it go.
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      To be fair the current president is usually not news because they’re not doing anything out of the ordinary (ordinarily) Trump makes himself newsworthy by being a bottomless pit of disorder. No disagreement that the news is in it for the ratings/eyeballs etc, but how is it the news’s fault that trump is good for ratings?
      - WesleyHale 5y ago
        I would think the Afghanistan situation would give them enough fuel for at least a week or two.
        wtallis 5y ago
        Three of the four Trump-related headlines in question are about Afghanistan.

networked 5y ago

http://slashdot.org/palm http://slashdot.org/palm was available at least from 2000 [1] to 2016 [2]. (Perhaps a year or two longer, but the Internet Archive's crawler got banned in February 2016. The current error page was first archived in October 2018.) [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20001012050323/http://slashdot.org/palm/ https://web.archive.org/web/20001012050323/http://slashdot.o... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20160128183858/http://slashdot.org/palm/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160128183858/http://slashdot.o...

elchief 5y ago

seeing __doPostBack() in the source brings back some memories

hamandcheese 5y ago

It’s great that it’s lightweight, but the information on my already-small iPhone 12 mini takes up a small fraction of my screen and is illegible without zooming in. Fixing this would take just a few more lines of CSS. Edit: or maybe just a single line of HTML to set the viewport meta tag.

lowboy 5y ago

This is not a good experience on a mobile device. It could likely be fixed with a few dozen bytes of inline css. https://i.imgur.com/T5ntV2A.png https://i.imgur.com/T5ntV2A.png

themodelplumber 5y ago
Or. <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
wtallis 5y ago
This looks to me like the browser failing to include a reasonable default stylesheet.
- Gaelan 5y ago
  Mobile browsers have, since at least the first iPhone, defaulted to showing websites zoomed way out, on the theory that the site might not have been designed for a screen that narrow. Sites that are designed to support a phone screen are supposed to say so, using the meta tag given elsewhere in the thread.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

latchkey 5y ago

I recently spent 6 months in west seattle and got a chance to take the ferries. Great fun. Protip: book your tickets in advance. One time on the way back, we got prioritized behind all the people with tickets and boat after boat... 4-5 hours later. Luckily I have a campervan, so it wasn't a huge deal to wait in line, but I definitely learned a big lesson!

mypalmike 5y ago
Just to add: reservations are only available on a couple routes (Coupeville and the San Juan Islands), and only during summer tourist season. Most routes are fcfs.

arlattimore 5y ago

You could deliver that in a more traditional UX, but that typically means you need to deal with calendar controls etc. For mobile users, maybe they should add those same quick links to the standard site and see how users react - I bet they'd be well received.

mcswell 5y ago

Why, when there is only one possible answer to the next question, does it still insist on asking that question? Pick your departing port as Bainbridge Island and see what I mean.

maverwa 5y ago
Consistency, makes it easier to understand. When it would automatically pick the only possible answer, you might think that you accidentally clicked on the next link already or that something else happened incorrectly. You would have to add a message stating that the system auto-selected the only possible destination. It’s also (slightly) easier to implement. Both not hugely problematic, but in my opinion its the correct decision for this case.

twobitshifter 5y ago

See also ferry.FYI https://www.ferry.fyi/mukilteo https://www.ferry.fyi/mukilteo Quote from the author here: https://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/life/coders-create-alternative-apps-for-ferry-service/ https://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/life/coders-create-altern... > “I hate advertising so much, more than anything,” he said. “I want it to be free, I want it to be accessible to everyone.”