Cool!
Quick impressions so far:
1) When I first logged in, I checked my settings, and it said my problem set was "standard". However, I apparently got served a blitz problem the first time, which I wasn't aware of. There doesn't seem to be any indication of which problem set is active on the UI. I realize space is at a premium, so not sure if there's anything to be done. Maybe some sort of color cue? I don't know...
If the settings said the set was standard and you received a blitz problem, then there is definitely a bug somewhere. The start dialog that should be showing up when the tactics page loads will show the problem set, but if you want to check after the start dialog has been dismissed, you can tap/click on the 'info' button which shows a few more details that there is not enough space to fit on the 'main' tactics page.
2) When I click a piece and then move it, it remains 'live' after the opponent moves. In other words, I click the queen, her square turns green, I move her, her square switches off, the opponent moves, and then her square lights up again. This makes me nervous that I might accidentally move her again when I try to select another piece or something. In any case, the behavior doesn't seem consistent with the other interfaces.
I think this is a bug related to the reasons behind why the 'click-click' movement is as slow as it is, and I'm still trying to track down the cause. Selecting another piece of your own colour will just change the selection, but you will risk moving the still selected piece if you try to select an opponent piece or empty square while your turn.
3) This might just be something to do with my phone, but when I try to click and drag, the piece transiently jumps about an inch north of my fingertip before settling down in its proper place underneath my finger.
I've noticed this one too, this may be a bug with mobile Safari, or the drag and drop framework I'm using, I haven't tracked down the cause yet, but it is useful to see some data point on who else sees the problem, so thanks for mentioning your device and iOS verison.
4) A suggestion, not sure how advanced this would be: when clicking and dragging, it might be cool if there was some sort of 'pop-up' bubble that says which square you're currently over (e.g., in algebraic notation) so you know where the piece will land. Those of us with fat fingers would like that. Just an idea.
I'm playing with the idea of a few ways of deal with 'fat finger' syndrome on small screen touch devices. Some algebraic feedback is a good idea, and one I hadn't considered yet. It might be easier to go with an option to turn on 'confirm' moves where you have to essentially hit a submit button after your move is made to commit the move. This might be a bit easier, and has also been a requested feature for non-touch devices in order to help avoid mouse slips on the desktop version, so might be the preferred implementation in the short term.
5) After I failed a problem, I continued to try to solve it. Once I made the correct move, the opponent did not automatically reply. Instead, I was able to move the opponent's piece (assuming I made the correct opponent reply), and then I was able to continue with the "hero's" next move, and so on. This doesn't seem like the desired behavior.
I think you'll probably find the non-mobile version does the same thing, although the behaviour is not consistent and depends on where you are the move list/variation tree. This was originally intended behaviour on the desktop version, as I'd wanted the new UI to be able to operate as an analysis board for quick investigation of side-lines on the same page without having to launch the full analysis window. I'm not sure what I want to do with this functionality for now.
6) Also, on the desktop version, I have a setting to not automatically show the answer on failing. I didn't check if the setting is different when I log into the mobile version, but I'm working on the assumption that my settings migrate across the UIs (right?). In any case, the answer was shown immediately.
Yes, the 'show solution' option is only supported on the desktop for now.
6) another suggestion (not a bug): folding the lines in the solution would be nice. It's a lot to scroll through to see the next move, and sometimes I flip past it and don't realize, then after a while I catch on and try to scroll back and miss it again, etc.
The action menu (the top right menu) should provide toggle options for variation folding, and these should be persistent across usage of the mobile version. Please let me know if they are not behaving as expected.
7) A quick link to the forum would be handy... unless it's there and I missed it. That way I could report bugs here quicker when they're on my mind!
I'm in two minds on the usage of links to non-mobile features other than the desktop link, as it can be hard on some mobile implementation to get back to the app if you've been directed away from it, although I do already provide a couple of links, they are for things I plan a mobile specific version of in the medium term. Mobile friendly forum is probably more a long term option at this stage.
I think that's all for now. I'm looking forward to trying this out more. In general, I like the interface so far. Thanks!
Hopefully it is quite a bit more useable than the desktop site on mobile devices even if the current early form. Still a few optimisations and bug fixes to go by the sounds of the feedback so far though :-)
Thanks for the feedback, please keep it coming as you notice more items worth mentioning.
Regards,
Richard.
