BlackBerry® Bold™

[starfarfel]

Where is the "column view" option for OS6 browser?  Many pages are unreadable now without that option.

[RuSerious]

I would love to know the answer too. Guess they expect us all to have microscopes.

[DarylS]

The webkit browser zooms quite nicely and with the enlarged view one has the ability to scroll over the entire page.  Column view is therefore not necessary and was always a mess and a disadvantage of the old browser.  The only way I know to get that view back is to return to OS 5 and the old browser.

[starfarfel]

But when you zoom into a page, you have to scroll side to side as well as up and down, making reading a long/wide sentence very difficult. There were plenty of problems with the old browser, but having the option of column view wasn't a complaint of mine.

[DarylS]

I'm sorry to say that there were many things available in OS5 that I used that are not available with OS6.  Its for each of us to decide which feature is most important to us and choose the OS that best suits our needs.  I have been very vocal here in these forums about the issues that RIM has left us with but the facts are the facts.  One has to wonder where if at all they did their market research for the features.

[ScottPo]

This is why my next phone probably won't be a Blackberry if they don't fix this. I'm over 40, and don't want to use a microscope to use the browser!

People will give you two excuses: 1) That column view isn't needed because you can click on a column and it resizes text, and 2) blame webkit, that's just how it works.

But 1) the text resize feature (which IS column view, by another name!) only works on pages formatted with columns. Mobile sites and some regular sites aren't. and 2)if webkit were to blame, all webkit-based browsers would have this problem; my daughter's Ipod Touch displays the same mobile sites beautifully, with readable fonts and everything! At least I know an Iphone wouldn't have this problem, and shows that RIM is NOT catching up to Apple with their terrible browser.

[starfarfel]

ScottPro:

Exactly!!

[DarylS]

Scott,  I'm well over 40 and am constantly complaining to RIM in feedback I send about type being way too small on many apps.  Are you aware that the base of the iOS browser is webkit?  Yes RIM probably has the working of it structured differently and all wrong for those of us who have aging eye sight.  For most site I use the zoom function makes it big enough for me. (not all) But it also has to do with the way the site is structured.  The old column view didn't always work well either.  There is no sense comparing iOS to any RIM OS because they are apples and oranges.  Just a matter of deciding which one likes better.  RIM product has a lot of advantages over iOS or Android over and above the security issues but its not for everyone.  I have said before and will say again that RIM is way behind in many areas and I suspect that many people will switch to iPhone on Verizon when its available.  As much as I hate touch screen I may consider it if only because RIM has such poor support for their product and they just don't take care of their users.

Perhaps if enough people write them the column view could be put back in a future version but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.  They think it makes the browser work too much like the old one I suspect.

[ScottPo]

Hi Daryl, I think we're on the same page here. I'm aware iOS browser is webkit; that was my point--that it's not a webkit-specific problem in the RIM browser, because the same mobile sites display well and legibly in the iOS browser. It just that Apple is apparently much better at (and more concerned with) usability. It seems that RIM is telling people over a certain age (say, old enough to know that satellie radio music sounds terrible ) to take a hike. Sadly, I guess I'll have to.

[DarylS]

Scott,  I'm not defending RIM here but there are some other differences.  Apple basically produces ONE phone.  RIM produces several and many with different hardware inside.  Supporting one as opposed to many is way different.  CUDOS to Apple that they support their phone very well.  RIM should not be producing so many if they can't or won't support them correctly.  Apple markets to the people who like their product.  RIM tries to be all things to all people and fails miserably. NOtice that all current news about RIM is about product not even in production yet. 

And here is a question for everyone.  I could be wrong but I seem to remember that the first version of OS6 that I loaded did have column view on the options menu for the browser.  I wonder if anyone else remembers this or am I just confused?