Fixes
As happens with any new site design, I’m improving a bunch of little things to make the site easier to use.
The latest around the menu:
Sticky Menu
This design (and the old) have a sticky menu that appears only when we scroll up. The idea is that if we realize we are in the wrong place while reading a long article or comment stream, we will scroll up to get to the menu, but particularly on phones, that can take an age, so the menu appears immediately.
However, I found that implementation was jittery, with the menu appearing and disappearing at the slightest change in scroll direction, so now we have to scroll up for more than a second for the menu to appear and back down for more than a second for it to disappear.
Questions?
While we are thinking about the sticky menu, it struck me that I use it all the time while reading on my phone, but never on a wide screen device like a computer, so I’m thinking about hiding it on wider screens.
That said, I’m primarily a computer and big tablet user, as well as an old guy used to using scroll bars to get where I want to go, so I’m not typical.
For example, when I initially put the old site up five years ago I never even thought about a sticky menu until a bunch of phone-reading members explained to me why it was vital for them (thank you).
So what do you think about removing the sticky menu on wider screens? And if so, should it show on tablets, or just phones?
Also, does the present sticky menu, after the fix detailed above, need any further improvements?
Please leave a comment.
Search Box
Member John reported that the search box was counterintuitive because, after typing in our query it was logical to then click (or tap) on the search button, but that disappeared the query box—big piss off.
This is core WordPress behaviour, but that doesn’t make it right, so I wrote script to hide the button when the search entry box is open.
Question?
My thinking here is that with the button gone we will naturally hit the return key after typing our query. Do you agree or do I need to do more?
Please leave a comment.
I think it is more intuitive now. Thanks.
Hi John,
I mostly use my iPad pro 12,9 inch, with Safari and Chrome. All works well. Same on iPhone 15 pro with Safari. I like the sticky menu behaviour on both. I also find it intuitive to hit the return key on the keyboard to start a search. It looks clean and works well.
Hi Stein,
Thanks for the input.
Hmmm, I’m now not seeing the sticky menu on the phone either. Which is okay, since it had been a bit janky. I know some websites have a “back to top” square arrow-icon at lower right of pages to zoom one back to the top; that could be helpful at all screen sizes?
Hi Carolyn,
That’s strange, I just checked on my phone and it’s working for me. Note that it intentionally does not work when the viewport is within 150 pixels of the top of page. And also it now takes a full second of scrolling up to make it appear. Could you please check again by scrolling at least three screens down and then scrolling up for 1 second or more.
As to a top off screen arrow, we tried it some years ago, but most people missed it, and its also very irritating on a small screen device because it interferes with reading by covering part of a few lines.