Mobile Version Upsetting More Members Each Month

[eCoronado.com]

Hi Ning,

First off, thanks for the wonderful platform that you have built and in which I have enjoyed for almost 4 years.  Ok, on to the post...

My site is closing in on 5,000 members and a good chunk of them visit the site via their mobile devices.  Right now, the default is for the mobile version is:  Activity | My Page | Members

Our site is a news site, so without an option to get the news on their device, they email, chat and call me - weekly.  We just had 4 deaths (3 homicides and suicide) in our quaint little town and we were one of the lead stories picked up by international news agencies...lots of traffic from mobile devices meant more frustrated users - they couldn't find the news.

All we need is the ability to choose the mobile navigational options.  In my case, the default would be News (blog list:  http://www.ecoronado.com/profiles/blog/list).  The work-around is to have them bookmark the 'News/blog list' page on their device or scroll down for the 'desktop version' but most never get that far and just click away to another web destination.

My ask is that you provide NC the option to either pick and choose the categories and what the default is from their control panel.  I know that this feature might be tied to all Ning sites, but I'm very hopeful (fingers-crossed) that you can give us more control over our individual sites.

Mobile is huge and getting bigger each week.  Any feedback on this request per the roadmap would be great.  

In related news, I would pay for Ning to allow me to develop an iPhone/Android app that members could download for free with a lot more control and usability.

Thanks for listing Ning.

[Phil McCluskey]

Hi Mark,

We will very likely launch the new mobile version in Ning Labs with extremely constrained capabilities and build it out week by week while gathering feedback. Events will be added, but probably after other features like Photos, Discussions and Blogs.

[mark]

Thank you very much for the update. Beyond excited about this.
Be thrilled to offer up my 25k member network to the alpha/beta testing phase.

[Chloe Prince]

CHAT needs to be a "MUST HAVE" on the list. I can chat with Facebook through their App... For NING to say relevant, we need the CHAT feature, check ins and other such services added to NING /M.

[Eric Suesz]

One good thing about the new chat, Chloe, is that it works very well on an iPad and iPhone. So, that might be one piece of the puzzle completed. 

[Sky Hy]

Ning! Do understand we'd really appreciate this mobile optimised version. 4 chrissakes itz bin long overdue.

[Eric Suesz]

Yes, we do understand, Sky Hy. 

[Josh Hall]

well said!

[Kees1980]

Great News

[Bill]

Hi Ning, and NC's...quick question... if I would like to provide to my network the best possible mobile experience, would I go with the pro plan and then use MobileRoadie, DoubleDutch or ShoutEM; or, is Ning saying that they are developing their own that is going to be better than the 3 choices offered above?

[Eric Suesz]

Hey, Bill. We are making a better mobile interface (yournetwork.com/m). But, we definitely won't be providing a downloadable app for each network (iPhone, Android, etc. -- each of those would have to be branded for a network; also, the iTunes App Store, for example, charges about $100/year for every app; just a few hurdles around that.).

I can't speak to which is better (lots of opinions about that). If you want the best possible experience (including aesthetic experience), a dedicated app is probably the way to go. That said, with HTML5, you're going to start seeing lots of really great-looking mobile web interfaces out there. A great comparison might be to compare the LinkedIn iPhone app with the LinkedIn iPhone interface (if you have an iPhone). 

[Bill]

Thanks Eric, that helps to clarify the situation. In terms of the 3 downloadable app platforms that Ning is currently working with, MobileRoadie, DoubleDutch and ShoutEM, can you say which takes best advantage of using the ning api to enable the most features, and/or which solution provides the best end-user experience?

[Eric Suesz]

I would say that Shoutem probably has the most features that take advantage of the API.