Finding humor in tech

Pisstakers go mobile with Opera Mini

04 Apr 07 Filed in: Internet

If you are on the road and/or away from your computer and you need a dose of The Pisstakers, what do you do?

Don't panic! Just download Opera mini onto your cell phone and enjoy a mobile mini version!! A mini pisstake, as it were.

This article was included in a high brow Carnival. I hope this isn't too light weight. Our intentions are good. in terms of getting the site viewable on mobile devices.

First impressions

The Pisstakers theme has a shed load of graphics in the full version that you see from your desktop. , so if all the face icons and link code were left in its entirety on a mobile theme, it would take 3 weeks just to get a page up on a cell phone.

Also, some super duper usability experts have criticised the 3 ways to navigate the Pisstakers (left bar, right bar and icons along the top.) For mobile users with a teeny screen, that translates into difficult navigation. Something has to give. But OMG, how do you get rid of all the awkwardness, the slow loading times, and still have a recognizable theme left over? And the expense - is it even worth bothering putting The Pisstakers on a cell phone?

The answer is - No - unless the designer is bright enough to work out speedy navigation and optimize for fast loading times.

Going Pisstaker mobile has focussed the mind. And what a mind Bonsai Giuseppe has!

Navigation

The face icons, therefore, have been replaced by a list of text links, so it is simple to pick a topic and read.

pisstakers-mobile-2

And navigation has been really simplified, with both the side bars easily accessible from the second link down. Wham, 2 clicks and you can find search, contact... cool.

A whole page fits on a cell phone screen

The iPhone surfing abilities were demonstrated by browsing a full page of a newspaper in Safari.

Woo, look how you can move around the page, left, right, up, down, sideways, said Steve.

Der, how dizzy, how dumb! says I.

The whole point of blogs and news sites, including The Pisstakers, is to offer written content that is legible, easily digestible and punctuated by nifty graphics and images. Our readers don't have time to go scrolling around with a joystick like demented helicopter pilots. Another 3 cheers to the designer.

When you open a topic, you get pure humorous and sarcastic content right there, in one easy-to-read column. I was also really impressed to see all the images from the original articles in glorious technicolor, smack bang in the middle of the screen - not even side scrolling required. Put that in your pipe, websites in Safari on a phone!

Any issues?

All in all, it seems to work pretty well (as far as the internet on a phone can work.) But there are a couple of remarks to make.

Maybe the large screen size is to blame, but in my on-line test, the Quick link to content brings the first line of content into view at the bottom of the screen. I expected it to appear at the top. But hey, I am fussy.

And that is it really, with bad stuff.

Thumbs up

Very happy. So if you have a mindset to use the cell phone to access the internet, download Opera mini for free read the instructions and give the mini Pisstakers version a go. Try other sites too, and if they don't look too good, tell 'em to talk to Giuseppe!