Techmeme

Unhappy mobile reader? Try Mini...

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 4:09AM ET
by Gabe Rivera     Permalink

Different people report different experiences reading my sites on their mobile phones. The happy bunch tend to have larger screens or prefer to scan every last link on the page. The unhappy bunch tend to have small screens and can't stand all the scrolling.

For the second, frustrated group, I'm now introducing Mini-Techmeme, Mini-memeorandum, Mini-WeSmirch, and Mini-Ballbug. Adding /mini to the end of the regular URL gives you to the "Mini" version. Note that because the regular versions suit many mobile readers, I'm not attaching the word "Mobile" to their names.

Mini versions are faster to scroll through since they dispense with Discussion links and pare back some of the larger story clusters. Another key difference: Recent Items appear first. Now if you prefer Top Items first, just click Jump to Top Items at the top of the page.

Mini versions with extra long Recent Items sections are available too. Add /miniriver instead of /mini for those. The Extend links in /mini versions happen to be anchored to /miniriver versions. Have a look to see what I mean.

I hope this eases checking for updates for alot of you. I definitely prefer Mini myself. Don't hesitate to email me if you have suggestions or find that something's not working right. Given the variety of hardware and software out there, I certainly expect some surprises ahead.

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