Mobile Site Readability?

[VideoGameCritic]

The mobile version of this site is as popular as the full version, but obviously mobile is growing in popularity so I have to stay on top of that.  I am considering adding the reader voting feature to it.

With regards to the changes I've made to the review format on the full site (better line spacing, read more links for long reviews) I was wondering if I should apply those on the mobile site as well.

For those who use it (I don't) is readability a problem?  Could line spacing and read more links help?  Or hinder?  

I don't get much feedback about the mobile site, so please feel free to chime in.

[scotland171]

The mobile is abridged, such as no news, reader vote statistics, coming attractions, etc compared to the 'full site'.   That's not a bad thing.  There is a lot of scrolling and walls of text if you are browsing the reviews.

One difference is that there are no decade groupings for consoles, but instead just more scrolling.  So, finding Atari 2600 reviews (on top) is easier than WiiU reviews (on bottom).  Its not bad, just different, but is it possible newcomers who don't know the Channel F or Astrocade get confused?  Should the banner say more than 'mobile' but something to indicate reviews from the 70s to today?

If mobile is that popular, incorporating the reader reviews seems like a nice thing to do.  However, by choosing 'full site' before going to the reviews, the reader reviews and option to vote are there if you know to look for them. 

Which brings up a question about if a mobile voter can go all 1960 Chicago (vote early, vote often).  My understanding was that when a 'full site' user votes, it recognizes the address so that a revote just overwrites a previous vote.  Could a a mobile user votes on 3G/4G or from a public WiFi vote multiple times as a separate vote?  Since a mobile user can go to the full site and vote, is that already a feature?

[VideoGameCritic]

Nice feedback!  The console groupings is an interesting idea.  That would not be hard to do.

Also, you are correct people might go "all Chicago" on the reader voting, so I would make it so they can view the Reader grades on mobile, but not vote.

Finally, it sounds like "wall of text" is a problem on the mobile side.  Would a "read more" button make sense?  Since the text is already bigger the line spacing is probably not necessary.

[Voor1]

I use my iphone 4, and something happened within the last few days (the "read more" links?) that makes the text, pics, and general format about 300% larger than it was before. Kind of unusable now for me because I can only read 10-15 words at a time without scrolling like a madman. Lol.

But, I can still read them... just have to go to The full site version and turn my phone sideways (landscape format).

[VideoGameCritic]

Yikes - that's no good.  I will need to fix that.  
Thanks for the heads up!

[VideoGameCritic]

Okay, I think I fixed the issue with the "read more" links blowing up everything on the iphone .  Somebody please give it another try.

Thanks!

[Voor1]

It's still bigger, but better. But don't stress...it may just be me (and my phone). Before, one review filled up my whole screen. Now, I can only fit about 1/4 of the review and have to scroll.

In some ways it may be better--my eyes are probably thankful. Lol

[VideoGameCritic]

I know what's going on.  It's not the read-more change.  

Recently I've been trying to update all my pages to HTML5 specs, and this involved setting a "viewport" for mobile devices.  The problem is, the settings I used establish a 1:1 resolution between my pages and screen.  And my site is definitely not 320 pixels wide.

I'm working on a fix and will test it on my wife's iphone.  Stay tuned and sorry for the inconvenience.

[VideoGameCritic]

Okay now we're getting somewhere.  I fixed the viewport problem so the reviews should display as well as they used to on your mobile device.

While toying around with the mobile site I made a few observations.

First, the "read more" link would probably be a major pain, because in general it's harder to click links via a touch interface.  It's probably easier just to scroll through the wall of text.  I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

Also, the screenshots are way too small, especially in the reviews themselves.  I think they need to be at least twice as wide.  Maybe I should just stretch them across the full screen?

Keep the feedback coming.  I'm kind of a perfectionist so no detail is too small.

[Voor1]

Yes. It's back to the way it was. Thanks!

I think the pic is fine. I wouldn't change it. It's easy to zoom in.

I don't really have a need for the "read more" option. The text as it was before was just fine.