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Gear Talk / Re: ACA & Smartphones
« on: April 25, 2013, 04:31:38 pm »I may get mod'ed out, but:You don't have to worry about being mod'ed out. My hunch is that your comment has not yet been approved, not deleted. Due to the amounts of spam we receive we choose to not post comments live as soon as they are submitted. I apologize if you feel that your comment was not displayed intentionally. The change in width of the overall site was due to large amounts of negative feedback over the years about that original design being so narrow and the wasted screen real estate.
I find it interesting that I submitted a comment on the blog entry announcing the new Adventure Cycling web site, questioning the web developer's choice to require a wider display than the previous version. Again, that decision makes it much more difficult to use on a small screen. Somehow that comment evaporated. I can only assume someone decided that was objectionable -- that fits the pattern of the editor's response to a letter I wrote to AC magazine a while back.
I really prefer to be able to see honest, polite disagreement than sycophantic yodeling over poor decisions. It's a shame my preference isn't shared by the management.
We will look at some more mobile friendly features down the road for specific resources that would be useful for a traveler on the road. Our current website traffic is still dominated by desktop and laptop users followed by tablet users and then finally mobile phone traffic. We are definitely listening to suggestions and will look into making improvements over time to meet the needs of everyone.
To the OP point of mobile. My problem is the things I want to do from the road, using my smartphone, is check the road closures etc on the forums here and the map addendum. I suppose it can be done but it is tedious.
Another side issue I have is the map's addendum is done monthly which seems less than dynamic to me. Not to mention that fist full of cards to report changes that comes with the maps.
I have exchanged emails with ACA on this issue but it seems that I cannot convey my point that the membership is largely travelers who have or will have smartphones. As I related to ACA I cannot believe any organization, today, would build a website without some consideration of mobile. Especially an organization for travel.
We do appreciate your feedback and will look into making improvements in the future. The forums do have a specific mobile phone layout and it can be accessed by clicking the wap2 link at the bottom. The addenda page can be bookmarked and the print friendly option delivers a pdf file that can be saved on your phone so that it is available with or without an internet connection. The most up to date on route information is often available through each routes twitter feed and is worth checking and also adding to when on the road.
We do appreciate your feedback and the critical eye on the new site.