Well that explains a lot.: From time to... - Atrial Fibrillati...

Atrial Fibrillation Support

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Well that explains a lot.

BobD profile image
BobDVolunteer
32 Replies

From time to time I suggest to people that they use the search box top right or look under pinned posts only to be told that these do not appear on their screen. This has always puzzled me using a proper desk top PC and one or two others have stated that their ipads or whatever don't have these areas visible.

Today I was talking with a very clever chap who is both a computer programmer and system tester and asked him if this was correct and if so why. What he told me explains it all and amazed me. Apparently any website onto which you log can tell if you are using a phone, i pad or similar device rather than a proper PC and crops the screen accordingly to avoid overly tiny characters and writing. It removes lots of data from round the edges so that you can read what is most important in the middle. So the moral is that if you want full fat Healthunlocked then use a PC.

I never understood this.

Bob

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BobD profile image
BobD
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32 Replies
dmjtanner profile image
dmjtanner

Thanks, I have noticed this on other sites as well, if I want to see the whole picture I have to be on my large desktop computer.

Boombiddy profile image
Boombiddy

I am on iPad and see search option at top of screen.

You can scroll to top of screen to see it, if it is not immediately visible.

I wonder if some people who are not seeing the edges of the webpage may be using something like a zoom option (browser automatically zooming in to centre of screen to see things bigger).

For anyone who is having problems with this, it may be worth looking in your browser settings for display options.

Dangerousdriver profile image
Dangerousdriver

Hey Bob,

I’m a techie myself and use both phones, tablets and desktop computers daily.

So, yes websites can tell if I am browsing on a phone or computer, but if you use an iPhone for example if you hold to the right of the address bar at the top of the screen you will see a 3/4 circle with an arrow. If you press and hold on that it will give you the option to select desktop version of a webpage.

Personally, I mostly only use my phone on here and there is the magnifying glass option at the top of the screen on this site, so there is no excuse for anyone not to use the search function really other than laziness or not knowing how to navigate a forum.

BobD profile image
BobDVolunteer in reply toDangerousdriver

I'm sure people will be interested to read that. For me phone are phones (or cameras) and computers are computers so it won't affect me.

Dangerousdriver profile image
Dangerousdriver in reply toBobD

Ha ha, no phones are now computers, cameras and phones! In fact ironically a phone is probably used least as an actual phone these days!

in reply toBobD

Android phones are the same, if you click on the 3 dots on the right hand top corner of the web browser you can then select "Desktop site".

I tend to use an iPad and the Pinned Posts and search box are clearly visible.

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50

On an Android phone, just click on the magnifying glass at the top right of the page to do a search. On my phone now, but usually on a PC.

Have you all noticed how you have a covid 19 app on your phone now? For Android go to Settings and scroll to Google to see. Who knew we were having that put on our phones? I guess we have no say in it!

Jean

Boombiddy profile image
Boombiddy in reply tojeanjeannie50

Hi jeanjeannie50 , no I haven’t got that app. You've got me curious ...

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50 in reply toBoombiddy

Do you have a modern touch screen Android or iPhone?

Boombiddy profile image
Boombiddy in reply tojeanjeannie50

Both, I had an ancient Android smartphone (no longer supported, no longer secure), have just swapped to an iPhone.

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50 in reply toBoombiddy

On IPhone go to Settings, Privacy, Health. The app is turned off now. If you ask your mobile phone a question about the covid 19 app it will tell you all about it.

Boombiddy profile image
Boombiddy in reply tojeanjeannie50

Ah right jeanjeannie50 , thanks.

in reply toBoombiddy

looks like Google and Apple both added this to a recent OS update, big brother is watching you

Boombiddy profile image
Boombiddy in reply toBoombiddy

Replying to you jeanjeannie50 , Thankyou for the instructions. I looked, and remembered I’d deleted Health app ages ago. I figured it's just too intrusive/another data scraping effort.

baba profile image
baba

Search icon and pinned posts easily accessible on both iPhone, android phone and tablet computer.

Also desktop site available on all .

Visitingcat profile image
Visitingcat

I use an iPad and I can see related posts and pinned posts, I probably don’t have zoom applied.

About searching though, last time I checked, if you search using the magnifying glass at the top of the screen it searches the entire site, brings up a lot of things that aren’t relevant and can be frustrating.

If you click on posts, just under the af association logo the page then shows “search af association” much more relevant, it took me ages to figure this out.

I had a problem a short while ago where web pages would not load (from email links or web searches) they would start loading then freeze. I could only use the app and I really did not like it at all, did not read anything like as much.

When I finally found Customercare on there I emailed and they sorted it. I have no idea what was wrong though.

Crystalbowl profile image
Crystalbowl in reply toVisitingcat

I had that same problem, too, a while ago, Visitingcat, and Customer Care sorted it out for me although it still does go to the app sometimes and I don’t like it as much either.

Visitingcat profile image
Visitingcat in reply toCrystalbowl

It went to the app once yesterday for me too Crystalbowl, I’ve just deleted the app to see if it stops it : )

Crystalbowl profile image
Crystalbowl in reply toVisitingcat

Thank you, Visitingcat, I’ve also deleted the app now.

CDreamer profile image
CDreamer

Didn’t know PC’s still existed Bob 😂.

I hardly ever use browsers now for anything and prefer the apps - with one exception - HU! I’ve just deleted their App and returned to browser as the functionality of the App is appalling and it is very invasive - almost as much so as Microsoft.

My understanding is that is that it is the browser that can also influence what is displayed and I certainly get the search function on iPad browser. I’m with Boombiddy - very often people are unaware of setting functions.

Boombiddy profile image
Boombiddy

I would just like to add... sometimes people coming to this site are too stressed by symptoms to “see” everything.

If you are already familiar with the conventions & symbols and their meanings and where on the screen to expect to see them, it is easy to forget what it is like not to know. It's a lot to take in at once for someone who is unfamiliar with it.

For me, I am very familiar with the digital world, I used to write software for a living. Yet I cannot scan a screen the way I can scan a piece of paper (the other way round from a lot of people with dyslexia). I can miss vital info in eg. an email, or on a big (physical world) message board.

So even without ‘screen blindness’, combine panic (just diagnosed with AF), and a steep learning curve, and the brightest, least lazy person might just get overwhelmed and ‘screen blind’.

So go easy.

CDreamer profile image
CDreamer

PS - I couldn’t find a search option on the App and when I eventually did it didn’t function very well at all.

Buffafly profile image
Buffafly

I always used to use the website to use HU, still do sometimes even on iPad mini because everything is displayed on it. The Apple HU app however only shows posts and a search symbol at the top. I have assumed this is why people don’t see all the possibilities unless they know their way around the app. I suggest newbies use the website in preference to the app.

wilsond profile image
wilsond

Wow nor me! we have a PC which we use when we need to print things mostly. Hmm think I'll resurrect it for more purposes!

Cheers Bob

Thomas45 profile image
Thomas45

I look for the three dots in a vertical line at the top right of my phone screen. This gives me access to the Desktop site if I need to see pinned and other posts.

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50 in reply toThomas45

Good tip, thank you.

baba profile image
baba in reply toThomas45

You can also find pinned posts towards the end of the page - scroll down.

Or top of page click on "home" and there is a link underneath

MarkS profile image
MarkS

I would use a PC any day. Even with quite a big screen on my Samsung, it's still rubbish for things like the weather. Also my posture is poor.

On my desktop I get a nice big screen, it's so much faster to do things and is at eye level. I have to do quite a bit of research and that would be impossible on a phone.

Having said that, the phone is good for GPS. I had to record an Anglo-Saxon fish trap last week, I was up to my knees in water and that would have been tricky on a desktop 😁

FancyPants54 profile image
FancyPants54

Bob that's so sweet. That you didn't realise.

It's not a full answer though. Any web site designer or software developer worth their salt, optimises their designs to run perfectly well and fully functional on all those different platforms. Whoever has commissioned HU web site got a rum deal because they didn't specify that it should work on mobiles as well as desktop machines and the people building it didn't do it. Not good. This feels like an old-fashioned web platform to me. It's time it got updated, improved. The search isn't great even on a desktop.

doodle68 profile image
doodle68

I find it a bit of a fiddle getting the correct search box. I don't want to search the whole of Health Unlocked Site just the AFA section and to do so have to go to My Hub/AFA/Posts.... to access the AFA search box which is in the middle of not the top of the page 😊 .

baba profile image
baba in reply todoodle68

See reply from visitingcat, in this thread, re just searching AF site.

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