Author Topic: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones  (Read 453 times)

galaxian

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This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« on: March 17, 2026, 02:17:10 am »
Hi all, when I visit this forum using any smartphone, the text is very small and doesn't appear to render in a responsive layout for easier reading on smaller screens. This is the same for both Firefox and DuckDuckGo browsers on Android. The desktop and non desktop view using Firefox looks the same.

Yes, I know that I can zoom in but that isn't always ideal.

Are there any plans to update the forum software, or at least to install a responsive and mobile friendly theme which users can switch to? Or is such a theme installed and perhaps I don't know where to change it?

I included a screenshot of what the site looks like on my phone. On a 24 inch monitor it looks fine, but on my phone I need to get my magnifying glass out in addition to my reading glasses!

Thanks for any help.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2026, 02:47:00 am by galaxian »

galaxian

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2026, 03:14:21 am »
Just to compare, look at this Commodore 64 forum running on phpBB. It's a lot easier to view.

https://www.lemon64.com/forum

JTA

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2026, 05:38:07 pm »
SMF (the forum software) has the ability, apparently, to render mobile views, but I have no idea if enabled (theme'd?) at this site.

Hopefully, Martin will address this ...

IMHO, I can't do forum stuff on a phone ... screen too small, can't type well w/ two thumbs, my responses too long, etc.

Martin Iturbide

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2026, 06:35:38 pm »
Hello

I have an issue here with the SMF forum script. It is getting old, and I can not update it because Firefox / Seamonkey for OS/2 will not work on the newer version.
But I don't know if the newer version of SMF will be better for mobile. You can check it here: https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php

I still don't know if the forum script should be updated yet.

Regards
Martin Iturbide
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galaxian

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2026, 01:33:19 am »
Hi Martin, thanks for the reply and link. I can confirm that even going to this link, the newer SMF 2.1.7 looks a lot better on the mobile phone. The display is responsive and much easier to read. I don't even need a userid in the site to observe this.

Hopefully you will be able to upgrade the software from this 2.0.19 version to the current version, which I am assuming is 2.1.7.

Are you saying the concern is that the Firefox/SeaMoney browser for OS/2 doesn't render the newer SMF properly, or is the concern that you can't perform the SMF upgrade from an OS/2 system running those browsers? You would be best to perform the upgrade from a browser running on a modern Windows or Linux system with the latest browser. But I haven't tried accessing this forum using my ArcaOS system hence I don't know if there are issues. Mind you, getting to the site is easy enough from any modern OS, but if the newer SMF doesn't render well from native OS/2 you should still be able to make available an older compatible theme which users could switch to?

Having said that, this is a great forum and integral to the OS/2 community so thanks for running it. I really look forward to something being done about this web host you are on, as the ongoing DDoS interruptions are really frustrating. Took me quite a while to view this thread and finally be able to reply!
« Last Edit: March 21, 2026, 01:48:41 am by galaxian »

galaxian

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2026, 01:58:30 am »
PS: I just accessed the SMF forum via the link you provided, from my Firefox browser on ArcaOs 5.1.2 and it loads and looks great. I didn't observe any browser issues or errors.

Dave Yeo

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2026, 03:34:13 am »
PS: I just accessed the SMF forum via the link you provided, from my Firefox browser on ArcaOs 5.1.2 and it loads and looks great. I didn't observe any browser issues or errors.

Likewise, it seemed to display fine on SeaMonkey, both with and without JavaScript enabled. No account so couldn't try posting.
Hmm, tried registering and keep getting this message,
Code: [Select]
The following errors were detected in your registration. Please correct them to continue:

    The letters you typed do not match the letters that were shown in the picture.
Don't see a picture or captcha in SM.
So tried registering with Dooble-Qt6, lots of clicking images for the captcha, then the system froze.
Rebooted and tried with Dooble-Qt5, lots of clicking images and eventually was registered
Trying to post fails on SM, no visible capta and trying to post in Dooble-Qt5 does the captcha thing and afterwards won't let me post with another error about letters not matching picture.
So not much luck actually posting, or previewing which is what I tried.


Rich Walsh

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2026, 06:36:06 am »
Some sites have a separate subdomain for mobiles (e.g. 'm.os2world.com') that uses different CSS than the desktop site. Is OS2World able to do this?

Remy

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2026, 11:11:37 am »
To root mobile phone to a specific link, you can code it into your .htaccess file under your site root.
adding into it something like e.g. :

...
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "android|blackberry|googlebot-mobile|iemobile|iphone|ipod|opera mobile|palmos|webos" [NC]
RewriteRule ^$ /mforum/index.php [L,R=301]

You can update CSS to have  font size = fct(screen size) etc...
Or add  @media to overwrite some setting according screen size etc...
 
 

Martin Iturbide

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2026, 03:26:33 pm »
Hello

This is where I posted the issue with the newer version of the forum script on 2022
-- https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=581364.0

It does not shows the menu options on the reply that is on top of the box.

But maybe it is time to update the script, let me know if there still people using Firefox 45 for this forum.
 I will check the instructions again.

Regards
Martin Iturbide
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Dave Yeo

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2026, 04:09:50 pm »
I'm using SM 2.42.9, which is at the same level as FF45

Martin Iturbide

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2026, 04:16:57 pm »
I'm using SM 2.42.9, which is at the same level as FF45
In that case, I prefer to not update the script yet.
Martin Iturbide
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Kim

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Re: This forum doesn't render well on mobile phones
« Reply #12 on: Today at 12:19:52 am »
I'm using SM 2.42.9, which is at the same level as FF45
In that case, I prefer to not update the script yet.

Martin, another issue is that smf 2.0.19 also have issues with newer version of php 8.x so sooner or later we need to bite the bullet and we're currently on 8.4 so it's just matter of time before smf 2.0.19 breaks totally.