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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'

by 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.
    - sutterbomb 15y ago
      Yea pretty sure it is. David Fetterman gave a talk at F8 about how they approach it. I think the vid is online somewhere, but here's the transcript. http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/09/how-facebook-mobile-was-design.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/09/how-facebook-mobi...
  - grannyg00se 15y ago
    I never understood why websites created apps of their websites. The browser is ubiquitous. Use it. I don't want to install seven different apps for my seven favourite sites. I don't see why this is acceptable on a mobile platform any more than it would be on a desktop platform.
- matt2000 15y ago
  It seems like a fair complaint that G+ should have a better mobile experience, not so fair to demand to not post on G+ anymore. I was actually going to comment that I find G+ a great experience for these kinds of posts... oh well.
eridius 15y ago
> I think the problem lies much more with you and your phone than it does with Google Plus as a writing platform. The problem definitely lies with Google Plus as a web app. Whatever they're doing, it's just not a very good experience on a mobile device. Maybe on Android they redirect Google+ pages to their native app, but they don't even offer a way to do that for other platforms even if you have the native app installed (even a simple link on the page that opens it in the native app would be fine). It seems obvious that they're actively trying to promote their own platform over all other reading experiences, which is a radical departure from the ideals of the web that Google has historically cared about.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  I don't think a conspiracy is obvious at all. I think this is just a common Google problem; when you hire A+ level talent they don't want to spend their time adjusting css for every platform. That's not an interesting problem to them; self-driving cars is interesting. This is why I think every company should hire B and even a few C+ level talent. Someone has to do the boring details.
  - nerdo 15y ago
    Isn't this the plot of Brave New World?
  - rhizome 15y ago
    I think this is just a common Google problem; when you hire A+ level talent they don't want to spend their time adjusting css for every platform. Maybe they should start using CSS brain teasers in their interviews, then.
  - matwood 15y ago
    You're being down voted, but I wondered something similar in the thread about broke FB and Twitter APIs from the other day. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3444429 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3444429
  - eridius 15y ago
chc 15y ago
Let me get this straight: You think it's more reasonable for Apple to have to build in special support so requests for webpages on plus.google.com go to the G+ app instead of Safari than for Google to just make their site work on mobile platforms like everybody else on the planet? You are, as the kids say, straight trippin'.
- cryptoz 15y ago
  Well, not exactly. But that is the way that Android works, and it's pretty fantastic. When an app takes an action, it launches an Intent that notifies the OS of the details of that action. The appropriate application is launched (or the user is presented with options, in the case where there are two or more applications that know how to handle that Intent. In this case, it's both the Browser and Google+). I was mostly asking if iOS had similar functionality, but it appears not.
  - chc 15y ago
    Yes, but to then go on and say Google shouldn't worry about whether their site is even legible because, hey, it's the user's fault for choosing a phone that isn't based on intents? That's just silly. But no, iPhone doesn't have that functionality.
    - cryptoz 15y ago
      I didn't mean to say that they shouldn't worry about it. I more meant that it's probably lower priority, and for an understandable reason. I'm sure they want to fix the web page and I'm sure they will - but the iPhone Safari market share is probably very, very small when looking at the Google+ user stats. Also, I thought it relevant to mention here that you can indeed read the post very clearly on the iPhone - but a seeming lack of this feature (Intents) in iOS makes this awkward.
- brudgers 15y ago
  Reasonable or not, that is the expectation Apple has encouraged iPhone users to hold - every website should have its own app in a way reminiscent of AOL keywords.
jlarocco 15y ago
Oh come on. It's a textual web page. There's no good excuse why it shouldn't be reasonably usable in any web browser made in the last 10 years. "It's your fault for not using the Google Plus App to view the page" is tantamount to saying, "It's your fault for not using IE6 to view the page."
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- vetler 15y ago
  I agree. It actually looks quite nice in Opera Mobile on Android: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133910/SC20120112-084903.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133910/SC20120112-084903.png
CountSessine 15y ago
Does the iPhone not open Google Plus posts in the Google Plus app? Nope 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. This doesn't happen for me. I have a Galaxy Nexus with ICS, and I have Google+ installed and linked to my account, and this doesn't work - it opens the post in the browser. Is there some magic fairy dust that needs to be sprinkled into my microusb port for posts to be redirected to the Google+ app? What's much worse, though, is that Google+ posts actually reliably crash the ICS chrome browser - as in 100% of the time. Whenever anyone posts anything on Google+, I have to open it in Firefox to read it. Clearly Google needs to work on this. 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. This isn't really that different than putting the post behind a paywall or some other inconvenient barrier to your audience. It might be a nice writing platform, but I think it's a pretty lousy reading platform.
Stormbringer 15y ago
It shouldn't be that hard. Serve up basic HTML. If Google can't do simple HTML after all these years, there's something wrong.
philwelch 15y ago
The Google Plus app suspiciously feels like a Webkit wrapper.
fpgeek 15y ago
I'd be surprised if you could easily go from an Mobile Safari (or another iPhone browser) to the Google+ app when you click on a Google+ post. The way that works on Android is via Intents and, AFAIK, iOS doesn't have anything like that.
4abhishekpathak 15y ago
Even on the browser, it renders correctly with proper wrap on my Android phone.I'm running the default ICS browser.

by cryptoz 15y ago

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.
  - sutterbomb 15y ago
    Yea pretty sure it is. David Fetterman gave a talk at F8 about how they approach it. I think the vid is online somewhere, but here's the transcript. http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/09/how-facebook-mobile-was-design.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/09/how-facebook-mobi...
- grannyg00se 15y ago
  I never understood why websites created apps of their websites. The browser is ubiquitous. Use it. I don't want to install seven different apps for my seven favourite sites. I don't see why this is acceptable on a mobile platform any more than it would be on a desktop platform.
matt2000 15y ago
It seems like a fair complaint that G+ should have a better mobile experience, not so fair to demand to not post on G+ anymore. I was actually going to comment that I find G+ a great experience for these kinds of posts... oh well.

eridius 15y ago

> I think the problem lies much more with you and your phone than it does with Google Plus as a writing platform. The problem definitely lies with Google Plus as a web app. Whatever they're doing, it's just not a very good experience on a mobile device. Maybe on Android they redirect Google+ pages to their native app, but they don't even offer a way to do that for other platforms even if you have the native app installed (even a simple link on the page that opens it in the native app would be fine). It seems obvious that they're actively trying to promote their own platform over all other reading experiences, which is a radical departure from the ideals of the web that Google has historically cared about.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
I don't think a conspiracy is obvious at all. I think this is just a common Google problem; when you hire A+ level talent they don't want to spend their time adjusting css for every platform. That's not an interesting problem to them; self-driving cars is interesting. This is why I think every company should hire B and even a few C+ level talent. Someone has to do the boring details.
- nerdo 15y ago
  Isn't this the plot of Brave New World?
- rhizome 15y ago
  I think this is just a common Google problem; when you hire A+ level talent they don't want to spend their time adjusting css for every platform. Maybe they should start using CSS brain teasers in their interviews, then.
- matwood 15y ago
  You're being down voted, but I wondered something similar in the thread about broke FB and Twitter APIs from the other day. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3444429 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3444429
- eridius 15y ago

chc 15y ago

Let me get this straight: You think it's more reasonable for Apple to have to build in special support so requests for webpages on plus.google.com go to the G+ app instead of Safari than for Google to just make their site work on mobile platforms like everybody else on the planet? You are, as the kids say, straight trippin'.

cryptoz 15y ago
Well, not exactly. But that is the way that Android works, and it's pretty fantastic. When an app takes an action, it launches an Intent that notifies the OS of the details of that action. The appropriate application is launched (or the user is presented with options, in the case where there are two or more applications that know how to handle that Intent. In this case, it's both the Browser and Google+). I was mostly asking if iOS had similar functionality, but it appears not.
- chc 15y ago
  Yes, but to then go on and say Google shouldn't worry about whether their site is even legible because, hey, it's the user's fault for choosing a phone that isn't based on intents? That's just silly. But no, iPhone doesn't have that functionality.
  - cryptoz 15y ago
    I didn't mean to say that they shouldn't worry about it. I more meant that it's probably lower priority, and for an understandable reason. I'm sure they want to fix the web page and I'm sure they will - but the iPhone Safari market share is probably very, very small when looking at the Google+ user stats. Also, I thought it relevant to mention here that you can indeed read the post very clearly on the iPhone - but a seeming lack of this feature (Intents) in iOS makes this awkward.
brudgers 15y ago
Reasonable or not, that is the expectation Apple has encouraged iPhone users to hold - every website should have its own app in a way reminiscent of AOL keywords.

jlarocco 15y ago

Oh come on. It's a textual web page. There's no good excuse why it shouldn't be reasonably usable in any web browser made in the last 10 years. "It's your fault for not using the Google Plus App to view the page" is tantamount to saying, "It's your fault for not using IE6 to view the page."

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
vetler 15y ago
I agree. It actually looks quite nice in Opera Mobile on Android: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133910/SC20120112-084903.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133910/SC20120112-084903.png

CountSessine 15y ago

Does the iPhone not open Google Plus posts in the Google Plus app? Nope 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. This doesn't happen for me. I have a Galaxy Nexus with ICS, and I have Google+ installed and linked to my account, and this doesn't work - it opens the post in the browser. Is there some magic fairy dust that needs to be sprinkled into my microusb port for posts to be redirected to the Google+ app? What's much worse, though, is that Google+ posts actually reliably crash the ICS chrome browser - as in 100% of the time. Whenever anyone posts anything on Google+, I have to open it in Firefox to read it. Clearly Google needs to work on this. 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. This isn't really that different than putting the post behind a paywall or some other inconvenient barrier to your audience. It might be a nice writing platform, but I think it's a pretty lousy reading platform.

Stormbringer 15y ago

It shouldn't be that hard. Serve up basic HTML. If Google can't do simple HTML after all these years, there's something wrong.

philwelch 15y ago

The Google Plus app suspiciously feels like a Webkit wrapper.

fpgeek 15y ago

I'd be surprised if you could easily go from an Mobile Safari (or another iPhone browser) to the Google+ app when you click on a Google+ post. The way that works on Android is via Intents and, AFAIK, iOS doesn't have anything like that.

4abhishekpathak 15y ago

Even on the browser, it renders correctly with proper wrap on my Android phone.I'm running the default ICS browser.