ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Good work! It looks really good on my Galaxy Nexus in Chrome.

Should kindle users use this too ?

It would be helpful to many people if you put up a QR code as an aid to getting the site onto a mobile.
Ta

On the HTC Titan, when I go to m.bbc.co.uk I am redirected back to the Desktop site automatically. The same if I go directly to /news or /weather . You need to add "IEMobile/9.0" to the user ID string of the redirector so users of I.E 9 on Windows Phone can use the mobile site.

The photo at the top is showing a Windows Phone (Lumia 920 perhaps). But as far as I know there is no ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News app made by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ for Windows Phone. (There are 3rd party apps though). So, when is it coming?

'easier and quicker to use'
How about trustworthy? I am constrained on detail by a Trust embargo until the 30th, but are you confident on 'accuracy won't fit' errors not being repeated, or defended by default up to highest authority before being conceded?

I often use my iPad to read the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News website. The desktop version of it which I get works fine most of the time, except that video and audio content sometimes doesn't work because it wants me to install Adobe Flash, which isn't possible on an iPad.

I'm rather thankful for you for doing this. I use the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Mobile News site alot, finding it extremely useful through my day. May I ask though will you be tackling the Twitter share from the Mobile Version as I have experienced a blank Tweet with the shortened link in it.

Can you now do something about your woeful News App? I was not even aware a mobile site existed since I assumed the App would automatically take me to such a site. Obviously it doesnt and the content is very poor.

Question, for powers apparently unused to being themselves held to account.
Why is this thread reactively modded yet the one preceding it is pre-modded?
Just a question that I am asking.

I'm hoping you tested this all in Opera, the worlds most common mobile browser, as ignoring it is insanity (but I wouldn't put it past ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ right now, based on their other dubious mobile strategic decisions).

As someone involved with responsive design (but with no connection to the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ) I think your team have done a very good job here. I never bothered using the News app as it felt too limited, but the mobile-optimised website is considerably better, with so much more content. To those complaining about the news app - why exactly do you still need it?

works ok on smartphone for quick viewing, but not real browsing - but ugly & not very customisable on tablet, have reverted to desktop view & uninstalled app.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Mobile works great on my Samsung Note.

I always have found the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ to have the most worldwide comprehensive views.

Looks and works perfect on my Nokia PureView on Opera. Good work.

Speaking about the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News Web Site generally. I should like to see some Sub-Editors employed. I don't think I've seen a single article that hasn't got some sort of typographical, factual or grammatical error. It's very disappointing.

Simon

I like BOTH the mobile and the desktop versions of the site and had two shortcuts set up so I could choose which site to use. Now both send me to the same site (the last I used) and I have to change it manually. Not very user friendly.

In response to user Cogito Ergo Sum who posted earlier that there was no ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News app for Windows Phones, I have a Nokia Lumia 800 Windows phone, and the new mobile version of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News has been appearing automatically on it today without me needing to search for it or download. I think it's a great format and am very happy with it!

@ G Woods: I found a few 3rd party apps for WP, but none from ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ. I've checked just now after reading your post, but couldn't find any. ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ mobile site, although very good and useful, has got a different view from the photo on the top. The 2-columns view is still not in the mobile site. I get 1-col view as shown on the WP device on the 2nd photo. ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ must have made an app for WP8.

@Kaelig: Could you please tell a bit about plans to make ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ aps for Windows Phone (7.8 and 8.0).

great - but it doesn't work. my i-phone 4 takes me to the desktop site no matter what i do, even if i follow the instructions!

sorry. no luck, my samsung windows phone 7.5 just keep getting the desktop version, so I am forced to use a 3rd party app to browse thru your content. plus, even in the DT version, many videos are just to been watched inside the UK....

Works great on my Samsung and I much prefer the mobile version to the desktop version on the smaller device.. Good job ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ!

I'm really really annoyed that you've decided to default mobile users to your mobile version of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ news. One of the reasons I bought a smartphone was so that I could get a realistic web browsing experience and not have to access limited mobile Internet style versions of websites. How can you possibly believe that this is a better user experience? 'Awkward to pinch, zoom and scan' really?!!

@Foolmeonce - Pinch and zoom (+ horizontal scroll) is not "a better user experience". You lament the lack of "a realistic web browsing experience" - but the very notion of that no longer exists. More people access the web on mobile devices now than desktop. Websites are now built to adapt layout and font size in different ways to different devices.

Also: yes in the old days mobile sites usually meant much less content + a sense of missing out on the 'full' version of a site. It's why I (probably like you) always headed straight to the Desktop link. But this is much less true today with responsive sites. If things are now dropped for mobile users, there's usually a good reason for that. But so far I can't say I'm missing anything.

Can't watch videos on my Windows Phone :( Please rectify this. Beginning to think it was a bad idea and should have paid the difference for an Android!

I'm sorry dotconnect although you make an eloquent argument for the mobile version I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. For me it's a compromise too far. Simplicity is not always better and the loss of content and functionality feels like stepping back 5 or 6 years. Replacing horizontal scrolling with vertical scrolling and the inability to view > 1 headline at a time is not an improvement.

In an era where both larger and higher resolution screens are becoming the norm on mobile devices does it really make sense to default to a lower content user interface for mobile browsing. I'm sorry this seems like a retrograde step to me.

1) Vertical scrolling is 2nd nature to mobile users & easy to perform. Horizontal scrolling to reach the end of a line is awkward, involving back + forth with each line.

2) Resolution is of little use if the screen is physically too small to read text without having to constantly pinch & zoom. Poor usability.

[Sorry, character limit!] As long as same content is available and easy to access, even if in a different manner, I think mobile-optimised sites are the best way forward. If extraneous 'bells and whistles' elements of desktop sites need to be sacrificed (feature banners, say), so be it - tho Beeb seem to have done well on this.

so how does the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ NEWS WEBSITE detect those whose SIGHT may be impaired, be it through natural degradation or injury?

think of servicemen blinded and injured in some way unable to share in this so called hi-tech investment by the Beeb.

what are you doing for them? speech recognition? LARGE text?

NO I didn't think so either!

On my Nexus 7 tablet it gave me the mobile site which wasn't very helpful. However, cookies are working and it now gives me the desktop site. Thanks.

I have to agree with costmeabob here, this format seems to do nothing to improve accessibility for visually impaired people. Also dotconnect the scrolling issues you describe are specific to certain devices. 'Mobile optimised' shouldn't mean stripping out content and functionality so that everyone gets the same limited user experience. I think we may have to agree to disagree.

Don't like the mobile version. I will continue to use the desktop version on my Xperia Arc.

#36 - depends on the content. If a super-wide version of the site was developed for massive screens which required some extra bells and whistles content to fill it out, should this extra fluff be forced into the desktop version just so it's not missing out? Core content vs. extraneous content is the key here.

If I go to either the main or the mobile address using my Sony Xperia S I see the desktop version. The browser describes itself as "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.0.4; en-gb; SonyEricssonLT26i Build/6.1.A.0.453) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30" in case that helps

Foolmeonce (sorry, not meaning to keep singling you out here) the horizontal scrolling issues I described are indeed specific to certain devices - but unfortunately these are the most popular mobiles - android phones, iPhones, etc - the very devices this upgrade is largely targeting. So horizontal scrolling (along with double-tap to enlarge... oops, just tapped a link) IS otherwise a problem.

hate it, i would much rather have the desktop version, shame you havnt taken the option of many websites that on visiting ask if you want mobile or desktop version. shame i use to alway visit bbc news on my phone as of yesterday i doubt i will anywhere as much, harder to navigate, seem less content, shame where not given an option.

No worries dotconnect, it's an interesting discussion even if we're not on the same page. To be honest the format of the mobile site is not what I'm taking issue with. Defaulting me to the mobile version without asking and telling me its a better user experience is what I take issue to. Btw I have an iPhone and horizontal scrolling is not an issue for me on the full site.

Windows phone: as a WP7 user, I know that WP7 is a terrible, terrible OS when it comes to compatibility with many basic web standards. Your response is still inadequate:

Are you actively looking to provide video to WP7 or are you just going to worry about windows8?

Have you even liaised with Microsoft to see if there's a solution that works for you?

Why did you choose not to have one website that uses responsive design to cater for both PC and device users? Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to maintain one under one URL?

I browse using a Jimmy Savile, what about that?

Looks OK in Symbian Belle. Thanks.

My Lumia 710 has VIDEO on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News mobile site - yes it's really true.

Is this accidental or does it suggest future support for Windows Phone?

Is anyone interested in ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ news? ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔs famous "independence" is based on never saying anything that might upset the oligarchy and its news reporting is increasingly only state propaganda on types "approved" by the oligarchy. Why is it that only PressTV had live video when the police units hired by Goldman Sachs were beating protesters in Zucatti Square in NY? Harder to reach than Tahir Plaza?

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ needs to open many more articles to comment. Having lived in many countries, its foreign reporting is of increasingly low quality and usually only reflects the stereotypes regurgitated by a reporter in Britain. Clearly many people know more about these countries than ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ reporters and could easily correct the errors and provincialism of their stereotypes.

Great job. Video works on my Lumia 900. I no longer feel like a second class citizen (or even third class after Android) and can dump my 3rd party news app!

Interesting comment about Opera above... I have Opera Mobile on Android, but am not redirected to the m site though. Looks good in the native browser though.

On the Nexus 7 I can view videos on the mobile version of the site with no issue but on the desktop version it expects me to have Flash installed, which isn't possible. As it stands if there's a news story with an embedded video I have to temporarily switch to the mobile version. Will it be possible to enable the same videos as displayed in the mobile version in the desktop version for Android?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Arrrggghhh!! The miobile version of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News has taken over my Galaxy S2... Sorry ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ but I really, really don't like the mobile version.. too simplified, can't see all at a glance... dumbed down.. BUT for some reason it won't let me go back to the desk top version. Why??? How can I get my preferred version back?

Is there any way for us to link directly to either site as an override ?

Often I want to view the desktop site on my mobile, and vice versa.

The previous links now don't work - and worse the redirection is different for UK and US IP addresses.