Thursday, July 21, 2011

The next generation of reddit mobile

A little over a year ago, we launched a mobile version of reddit. The original version was designed for webkit only devices, mainly Android and the iPhone. Since then, the mobile space has expanded dramatically. New browsers, such as Firefox Mobile and Opera, have appeared, and phones have gotten bigger.

So, without further ado, I present to you reddit mobile: the next generation.

With this version, we aimed to improve the overall experience. There were some flaws that made the experience less than optimal. You’ve voiced your concern over several comment threads, and we listened.


New features

With the old version, the options button opened to a small dropdown, with difficult to touch buttons. With the new one, we’ve tried to make one of the most used UI elements much friendlier. Now, when you click the options button (which has transformed into a gear), a large, horizontal bar appears, presenting the options and some icons. We think you will find the new bar much easier to use.

We’ve also redesigned the top part of the mobile interface, to feature subreddit logos. Now, when you browse reddit on your mobile device, you get logos, same as on the big site.

Moderators have also gotten some love, as the modmail icon now appears on the mobile interface.

Finally, we've made an effort to improve speed. We’ve cut the number of elements using processor-intensive CSS3 features, so now pages render faster.

Check it out now by going to http://i.reddit.com, on your phone or desktop. And feel free to leave feedback, at any time, in /r/compact.

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