Suggestion how about a google android section?

Dp should add a Android section to the google category for app developers and those of us with android based phones.

 

This is a Webmaster forum ..not a tech/gadget/phone forum ..If you really wanna ask some question/suggestion on such topic you could ask in General chat section (Hardware).

 

Android is not just a gadget or phone, and if u believe Android is hardware then I recomend u learn what Android actually is. It's a whole new operating system. And as most of us webmasters and developers know we have to start making our sites Mobile friendly as the number of people surfing the web from mobile devices is exploding. your comment is like saying this is a webmaster forum so why would we care about the MAC os or browsers. It simply doesn't make any sense to forget about a large segment of people using our sites.

Looking at the stats.for one of my sites about 1 in 50 are coming from a mobile browser. This is only going to increase. For developers we can easily build widgets for the open source Android os with rss feeds or any other number of things To attract users on these devices.

I guess I feel its really short sighted to feel That Android has nothing to do with web masters and web devs. These are now mini computers with their own os and browsers and more and more people are using them every day. Those of us in the webmaster and Dev community that dismiss this will b left behind.

I'm posting this from a droid eris using the Android os and browser by the way. Here is just an. Example of what we as webmasters should b concerned with, if dp made a simple app for Android that would let me put a widget on my droid desktop of recent replies to threads I've commented on I would use the heck out of it. I would return to dp more often, and would be more active in the commumity. I would also see dp as a site that understands that some of us use this new tech and embraces it. Now I'm not saying dp actually has to build apps for this, I'm just saying if I were a webmaster for dp and wanted to increase traffic and return visits it should b something I would at least consider and not just dismiss right off as only a gadget. As all phones become smart and use Android, iPhone, palm, Windows mobile, or blackberry os's and browsers over the next couple of years those of us that don't consider at least optimizing for these are going to b left behind.

One other thing I might add on this. I live in a very rural area and many people here have no access to affordable broadband at home way out in the country. So many of my friends don't even have computers, they do all of their web surfing and. Email from their smart phones. This reminds me of the mass switch from land line phones to only having cell phones. I would say the majority of my friends don't have land lines ne more now. As smart phone tech improves I could see a large portion of people only using them as their main computer. Do u. Really want to dismiss this technology and say it has nothing to do with webmasters?

 

As others have said, Shawn will spin off new forums as he sees a need (meaning when there are enough threads about a topic to warrant it). There are not many threads started about Android right now. Other browsers and operating systems which are much more established don't have their own forums here either.

 

agreed and I'm not like demanding one b added or anythong, just a suggestion. I do however feel mobile formats such as the Android need a little more tlc to optimize a site for than say optimizing a site for a MAC browser or something. As more and more people surf the web with these I'm sure we will see more threada on it. Go to the Google webmaster forum and you will see quite a few threads on it there so it will n coming here. Granted a large percentage of members here are from. Non_US areas so prolly not as many people using these devices in some of those areas so not much of a concern for tjem yet.

Y the need to b so negative on a simple suggestion neway?

 

Not sure how telling you it's not likely is being negative. It's not. Forums aren't spun off just because their might be more members coming here to discuss something. There are already places they can discuss android issues even without it getting its own forum. If every possible topic of interest to webmasters had its own forum here, the forum navigation would be completely unmanageable (and I'd argue that's almost already the case with the huge number of sub-forums here). You made a suggestion. Thank you. Now if and when there's actually enough interest from the community as a whole, based on threads created on the topic, it might be added. That's really all there is to it.