Blog layout has been updated!
Howdy, all — Mr. Bill here. I’ve been doing renovations.
This blog has been updated to a modern layout, which ought to be much more usable on smartphones (as well as on larger screens). A few things got moved around, but I think you’ll be able to find everything.
If you use this site’s built-in player to listen to the podcast, please note one small change: the player will become visible after you click Play Now (or Play in Popup). Sorry for the extra click, but this was necessary to work around a display bug.
Please let me know if you discover problems, inconveniences, or other assorted disasters. Leave a comment below, or if you’re a forum member, you can post in this topic.
Hope you like the improvements!
I’d say this update made mobile use WAY worse. It takes forever to scroll through pages looking for older episodes I want to listen to again (been going through since the first ones this past month or so and I thought the site was having problems tonight, but I just saw this). It’s tons of scrolling to go through each blog entry as it’s showing the entire entry text versus a short version that can then be clicked on. Was much easier to read the brief descriptions on the other style. The look and feel are much better in terms of overall style, as it was a bit outdated before. Also, the full page logo is a bit much, and you have two menu bars in different places.
Thanks for the feedback. I think you’re seeing an effect of the larger font size. The old version of the site didn’t use short excerpts — Jack has always used the full-length posts on the front page. I can go for a smaller font if that’s what most people want.
The logo isn’t supposed to be “full page”. I’m wondering if maybe on the old version, you zoomed in your view to deal with the small font, and the browser is still remembering that setting.
There are supposed to be two menu bars — there are two menus. 🙂
Sorry should have clarified I’m on mobile. iPhone XS with IOS12. The site is GREAT on my laptop. After having to navigate it some more today, I think a suggestion I would have would be to have the main blog pages just show a brief summary on mobile until it’s clicked on. That’s really what I see the issue being. It takes me AGES to scroll to the bottom of the page with the full articles posting. If that makes sense.
You do know the menu there will let you select just podcasts right?
What Jack said. If you select Podcasts from the lower menu, you’ll see only the first 3-4 lines from only the podcast posts.
I checked, and I can’t find an option to display short summaries for the narrow-screen mode and full posts for wider screens.
Tried to post a comment. Not sure if it didn’t post or what. Trying again.
Spam control. First-time commenters need to have their post approved by an admin.
I think it needs more “pop” 😉
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
But really, great job! It definitely looks much more modern!
I like The Oatmeal. 🙂
Jack’s preference was to make it look very similar to the old version (on large screens, at least), but just add better compatibility for small screens.
Is there an option for full site on mobile? I cannot find it.
The mobile is still the full site content, just with a narrow layout. Sorry, there’s no user option to select how it’s displayed. It’s determined based on your screen width, with breakpoints at 768 and 1024 pixels. Try turning your phone sideways and see if you like that layout better.
I listen at work on my laptop, so I can’t speak to mobile utilization, but it’s looking quite good on my screens. Also, the layout is sleeker and more streamlined. Kudos!
Oh yes and the archives section is much better. Thank you!
I don’t see the “listen to a random episode” feature.
I just added that feature and better yet, found a new plugin. The old one pulled up random posts so many times it was a TSPAZ review or a site update, now it will only pull up posts under category podcasts. I am sure I mis-categorized some stuff in 10 years but 99 times our of 100 you should get a random podcast now. The link is at the top of the banners. Anyway you can always get to a random episode now just by going to http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/oldshow
Nice plugin! Of course you broke my beautiful sidebar layout on 768-to-1024-pixel-wide screens, but I’ll forgive you. I may cry for a while though.
I’m not sure why, but I cannot download the episodes using the “download” button on the blog post for that episode. I used to be able to several hundred episodes back but now cannot. I can play the episode but then I have to maintain a wifi connection or use my data for streaming. Ironically, I can go back a few hundred and still download those but the newer ones will not.
I use a Samsung Note 3. Again, it used to work on this same phone but then it quit.
That’s an odd one. I’ll test it on my ancient Samsung tablet.
Anyone else having download problems?
Are you using Firefox on your Samsung? Firefox for Android is a real pain in the neck when it comes to downloading media files. I still haven’t managed to make it work.
In the Chrome Android browser it’s easy: just long-press on the Download link in the blog post, and select “Download link”.
I suspect you’re seeing a browser limitation rather than a website problem.
I am not using firefox. I use the Internet app (I thought it was Internet explorer but now I’m not sure). However, I just tried this on chrome and it works just as you said. I guess I will have to use Chrome from now on to download TSP. Otherwise, I don’t use Chrome at all. Thanks for the tip.