7 ms·

Also not on the topic of the article, but... I wish people would stop blogging on Google plus. Period. It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone -

by dpcan 15y ago

Also not on the topic of the article, but... I wish people would stop blogging on Google plus. Period. It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone - nearly impossible as the text blurs, and you have to drag the article around to see it all and then wait for the blur to go away.

baddox 15y ago
What causes that text blurring on iOS devices? I've encountered it on TechCrunch as well. By the way, Hacker News is fairly unreadable on an iPhone because the text is so small text width so great. I haven't found a mobile interface that allows me to log in and comment.
- hendzen 15y ago
  There's a paid app called news.yc that is the best HN app out there for iOS. Well worth the 2 bucks.
- vetler 15y ago
  Try Opera Mini. Not everyone likes it on iOS, though, but when you zoom in it will nicely reformat the text so you don't neet to scroll.
cryptoz 15y ago
Does the iPhone not open Google Plus posts in the Google Plus app? Or do you not have it installed? The reason your experience is awful is because Google doesn't care to make the G+ mobile web experience perfect since their app is the way to go. On Android, when I click one of these links it opens the app and the reading experience is very pleasant. Maybe I've just been spoiled, but I find the experience to be pretty good. Edit: Also, I think it's kind of silly that you wish people would stop publicly posting on Google Plus due to your phone experience being subpar. I think the problem lies much more with you and your phone than it does with Google Plus as a writing platform.
- Xuzz 15y ago
  Should you need a third party app installed for a good reading experience? I don't use Google+ and don't want the app on iOS, even if it was launched when I click a Google+ link (which, fwiw, you are correct: it currently does not). (On the other hand, Tumblr looks great on mobile, and it doesn't need an app. Facebook, too, is at least readable on their mobile site.)
  - FireBeyond 15y ago
    Does anyone actually use Tumblr for original content, or for that matter, text? 99% or more of the Tumblrs I've seen are just people recirculating other Tumblr photos.
    - cemregr 15y ago
      The vast majority of all tumblr traffic is porn.
  - rhizome 15y ago
    Tumblr always looks terrible with 68pt headings on my Android browser.
  - nextparadigms 15y ago
    Can you imagine using Facebook without an app now?
    - iamandrus 15y ago
      I don't even have it installed on my iPhone. I use the mobile site.
    - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
      The current Facebook mobile site is almost 1:1 with their app (on Android, anyway). I wouldn't surprised to know the app is one giant WebView with a few system hooks sprinkled in.
runn1ng 15y ago
Not only on the iPhone, but on the Android (sic!) as well. Actually, it's more convenient to use Facebook website than to use Google+ website. At least on the Honeycomb tablet, can't talk about the mobile phones.
lukeschlather 15y ago
Spacebar to pagedown also breaks randomly, which is the primary way I scroll on a computer.
PhrosTT 15y ago
I've repeatedly considered building a HN Google+ scraper that grabs the text from Google Plus stuff and throws it onto a more readable cache that won't be blocked by work filters as social networking. However I'm a little worried about stealing what may be Google's content.
- Drbble 15y ago
  Are you aware that Google's entire business model is based on scraping content from websites?
pilif 15y ago
The blurring is a bug in Safari that is sometimes (I haven't investigated the exact cause) triggered when you scroll content below an element with position: fixed In the case of Google+ that's the navigation bar. Strangely, I could not trigger the issue when I was reading this post on my iPad. Now either Google has figured out the cause and found a workaround or the stars have somehow aligned correctly for it not to happen this time.
- tomflack 15y ago
  If you double tap on the column of text to zoom in and then scroll past the fixed element it will trigger it in this case. It happens to me on G+ and Techcrunch a lot. (iPad)
alanfalcon 15y ago
I read the article just fine on my iPhone. But when I view a G+ entry on my computer I get a huge "Suspended" notification because I used a slash in my name when I registered.
nopal 15y ago
I used Safari's Reader functionality. Reader parsed it fine and displayed it beautifully.
redthrowaway 15y ago
Why not just tap "reader"? This post is perfectly pleasant to read on my 3gs in reader mode.
shazow 15y ago
Could you post or email me a screenshot of this? I don't have my iPhone handy to reproduce it but I'll point the right people to this if I can explain it well enough. My handle at google.com.
- dpcan 15y ago
  I tried to take the screenshot, but when it's doing the blurry-loading thing it doesn't let me take the screen shot, and when it does take it, it's right after the page loads. So I guess it's "freezing" while it's trying to adjust the page. While trying to do this, however, it just crashed Safari twice. I tried the same on my wife's 3GS, crashed Safari as well trying to read the Google Plus post.
  - shazow 15y ago
    Thanks for making the effort! Unfortunately I don't think there's anything we can do about Safari crashing while taking a screenshot at an inopportune time. Perhaps we can try to find someone on HN who works on at Apple?
rottencupcakes 15y ago
I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Google+ is one of the easiest correctly sized columns of text to read on my iPhone. The following is a screen shot. Do you care to elaborate on what is wrong? http://imgur.com/xDksb http://imgur.com/xDksb
- Andrenid 15y ago
  Agreed. I actually find it one of the nicer reading experiences on the iPhone considering so many other sites don't wrap properly and make me scroll sideways to read each sentence. I also don't get any of the blur mentioned when scrolling.
  - brisance 15y ago
    Try pinch zooming. Made it all blurry for me.
- Drbble 15y ago
  What's especially interesting is that your iphone layout is actually better than G+ on a desktop webbrowser, where the lines are insanely long and do not wrap when the window width is reduced.
onedognight 15y ago
> It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone Try the new-in-iOS5 "Reader" button in the URL bar.
zak_mc_kracken 15y ago
> It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone Yup, but it's probably the best writing experience for most bloggers, and also people who don't have blogs. Even if you have one with a decent readership, the engagement you get from Google+ is far higher than anything you can get when people need to use RSS and a reader to follow you.
- Drbble 15y ago
  Yeah, but patio11 would have a field day on streeteasy writing a popular blog post and giving Google all the the link juice. Unless Search Your World means G+ optimization is more important than SEO now? OMG. Google is pulling a reverse-walled-garden.
Garbage 15y ago
I wish people would stop blogging on Google plus. Period. I wish the same, but for different reason. I can't open Google+ links in office. :(
sunsu 15y ago
He should just use my tool so he can host all those posts from his own domain while still posting to Google+: https://github.com/lylepratt/Plusify https://github.com/lylepratt/Plusify
sabret00the 15y ago
And there you've highlighted the issue with Google+. For some reason, people are so determined to see it work that they attempt to shoehorn it to be something that it isn't. Google+ isn't a blogging platform and shouldn't be treated as such. Google themselves own a blogging platform.

by dpcan 15y ago

baddox 15y ago

What causes that text blurring on iOS devices? I've encountered it on TechCrunch as well. By the way, Hacker News is fairly unreadable on an iPhone because the text is so small text width so great. I haven't found a mobile interface that allows me to log in and comment.

hendzen 15y ago
There's a paid app called news.yc that is the best HN app out there for iOS. Well worth the 2 bucks.
vetler 15y ago
Try Opera Mini. Not everyone likes it on iOS, though, but when you zoom in it will nicely reformat the text so you don't neet to scroll.

cryptoz 15y ago

Does the iPhone not open Google Plus posts in the Google Plus app? Or do you not have it installed? The reason your experience is awful is because Google doesn't care to make the G+ mobile web experience perfect since their app is the way to go. On Android, when I click one of these links it opens the app and the reading experience is very pleasant. Maybe I've just been spoiled, but I find the experience to be pretty good. Edit: Also, I think it's kind of silly that you wish people would stop publicly posting on Google Plus due to your phone experience being subpar. I think the problem lies much more with you and your phone than it does with Google Plus as a writing platform.

Xuzz 15y ago
Should you need a third party app installed for a good reading experience? I don't use Google+ and don't want the app on iOS, even if it was launched when I click a Google+ link (which, fwiw, you are correct: it currently does not). (On the other hand, Tumblr looks great on mobile, and it doesn't need an app. Facebook, too, is at least readable on their mobile site.)
- FireBeyond 15y ago
  Does anyone actually use Tumblr for original content, or for that matter, text? 99% or more of the Tumblrs I've seen are just people recirculating other Tumblr photos.
  - cemregr 15y ago
    The vast majority of all tumblr traffic is porn.
- rhizome 15y ago
  Tumblr always looks terrible with 68pt headings on my Android browser.
- nextparadigms 15y ago
  Can you imagine using Facebook without an app now?
  - iamandrus 15y ago
    I don't even have it installed on my iPhone. I use the mobile site.
  - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
    The current Facebook mobile site is almost 1:1 with their app (on Android, anyway). I wouldn't surprised to know the app is one giant WebView with a few system hooks sprinkled in.

runn1ng 15y ago

Not only on the iPhone, but on the Android (sic!) as well. Actually, it's more convenient to use Facebook website than to use Google+ website. At least on the Honeycomb tablet, can't talk about the mobile phones.

lukeschlather 15y ago

Spacebar to pagedown also breaks randomly, which is the primary way I scroll on a computer.

PhrosTT 15y ago

I've repeatedly considered building a HN Google+ scraper that grabs the text from Google Plus stuff and throws it onto a more readable cache that won't be blocked by work filters as social networking. However I'm a little worried about stealing what may be Google's content.

Drbble 15y ago
Are you aware that Google's entire business model is based on scraping content from websites?

pilif 15y ago

The blurring is a bug in Safari that is sometimes (I haven't investigated the exact cause) triggered when you scroll content below an element with position: fixed In the case of Google+ that's the navigation bar. Strangely, I could not trigger the issue when I was reading this post on my iPad. Now either Google has figured out the cause and found a workaround or the stars have somehow aligned correctly for it not to happen this time.

tomflack 15y ago
If you double tap on the column of text to zoom in and then scroll past the fixed element it will trigger it in this case. It happens to me on G+ and Techcrunch a lot. (iPad)

alanfalcon 15y ago

I read the article just fine on my iPhone. But when I view a G+ entry on my computer I get a huge "Suspended" notification because I used a slash in my name when I registered.

nopal 15y ago

I used Safari's Reader functionality. Reader parsed it fine and displayed it beautifully.

redthrowaway 15y ago

Why not just tap "reader"? This post is perfectly pleasant to read on my 3gs in reader mode.

shazow 15y ago

Could you post or email me a screenshot of this? I don't have my iPhone handy to reproduce it but I'll point the right people to this if I can explain it well enough. My handle at google.com.

dpcan 15y ago
I tried to take the screenshot, but when it's doing the blurry-loading thing it doesn't let me take the screen shot, and when it does take it, it's right after the page loads. So I guess it's "freezing" while it's trying to adjust the page. While trying to do this, however, it just crashed Safari twice. I tried the same on my wife's 3GS, crashed Safari as well trying to read the Google Plus post.
- shazow 15y ago
  Thanks for making the effort! Unfortunately I don't think there's anything we can do about Safari crashing while taking a screenshot at an inopportune time. Perhaps we can try to find someone on HN who works on at Apple?

rottencupcakes 15y ago

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Google+ is one of the easiest correctly sized columns of text to read on my iPhone. The following is a screen shot. Do you care to elaborate on what is wrong? http://imgur.com/xDksb http://imgur.com/xDksb

Andrenid 15y ago
Agreed. I actually find it one of the nicer reading experiences on the iPhone considering so many other sites don't wrap properly and make me scroll sideways to read each sentence. I also don't get any of the blur mentioned when scrolling.
- brisance 15y ago
  Try pinch zooming. Made it all blurry for me.
Drbble 15y ago
What's especially interesting is that your iphone layout is actually better than G+ on a desktop webbrowser, where the lines are insanely long and do not wrap when the window width is reduced.

onedognight 15y ago

> It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone Try the new-in-iOS5 "Reader" button in the URL bar.

zak_mc_kracken 15y ago

> It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone Yup, but it's probably the best writing experience for most bloggers, and also people who don't have blogs. Even if you have one with a decent readership, the engagement you get from Google+ is far higher than anything you can get when people need to use RSS and a reader to follow you.

Drbble 15y ago
Yeah, but patio11 would have a field day on streeteasy writing a popular blog post and giving Google all the the link juice. Unless Search Your World means G+ optimization is more important than SEO now? OMG. Google is pulling a reverse-walled-garden.

Garbage 15y ago

I wish people would stop blogging on Google plus. Period. I wish the same, but for different reason. I can't open Google+ links in office. :(

sunsu 15y ago

He should just use my tool so he can host all those posts from his own domain while still posting to Google+: https://github.com/lylepratt/Plusify https://github.com/lylepratt/Plusify

sabret00the 15y ago

And there you've highlighted the issue with Google+. For some reason, people are so determined to see it work that they attempt to shoehorn it to be something that it isn't. Google+ isn't a blogging platform and shouldn't be treated as such. Google themselves own a blogging platform.