A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

8.5 Ball

By Jimmy Johnson

 

Ah, the good ol’ days, when you signed onto a lengthy and expensive contract with a mobile carrier and received a “free” or discounted phone upgrade. I have been made acutely aware in the course of this Web-page business that there are two distinct trends in opposite directions. Modern monitors are so much better than earlier versions that width and resolution and colors are not the limiting factors they used to be. That’s a very good thing! At the same time, one must be conscious of how the finished product will look on a mobile screen of maybe ten square inches. Now don’t take this personally, but I have a feeling my audience here is different in that more people view this site on a laptop or even a desktop than on a tablet or phone, at least proportionately. That might be interesting to know.

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57 responses to “8.5 Ball”

  1. Todd in TN Avatar
    Todd in TN

    Always on a desktop or laptop. Never on a phone or tablet. And I’m an IT person but I like larger screens. Possibly related to the need for glasses! 🙂

  2. Robert Avatar
    Robert

    Always (daily) on a laptop.

  3. Charlie Avatar
    Charlie

    desktop, mine is ten years old and i see either a laptop or more likely another desk top with a larger screen.
    love your stuff, keep up the good, no great work

  4. Kathleen Avatar

    Desktop with 21″ wide screen. 🙂

  5. Linden Lentz Avatar
    Linden Lentz

    You should have access through your provider to analytics that will tell you much about your viewers, including what and how many of each kind of device are being used to access your web page.

  6. Donn King Avatar

    Linden is right—fairly easy to find out via analytics. In case you don’t want to add that to your learning curve, though: I’m another laptop/desktop guy.

  7. Jim in TN Avatar

    I have a local news blog page I run and was amazed at the percentage of mobile visitors I get. While I usually visit her on a laptop I find I’m using the phone more and more…

  8. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    Desktop, 9-inch tablet, or 5-inch phone. It just depends on where I am and what I’m doing. I always have the phone, frequently have the tablet, and have the desktop (which I prefer if I’m home).

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Similarly to David, iPhone 7, 8″ Fire tablet, 10″ iPad, 13″ laptop, or 17″ laptop, depending on my location and situation. Oh, and Jackie has a virtually unused MacBook Air I’m going to teach myself to use, if I ever have the time.

      If one were to assume I like gadgets, one would probably not be wrong.

  9. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Laptop every day; rarely, on a desktop.
    Glad that we again have access to “comments”.

  10. Bob Avatar
    Bob

    Usually laptop; sometimes desktop. Don’t even have a phone that would be able to get the comic.

  11. Dave G Avatar
    Dave G

    Use my phone to view. The multi-column is somewhat irritating. Two columns are better than three though…

  12. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    I am so sorry to hear that Alex Trebek is seriously ill. He made “Jeopardy” a very pleasant and educational program for me. May he be one of those who beat pancreatic cancer.

    1. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

      I have always associated Art Fleming with Jeopardy, but obviously Alex was host much longer.

    2. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      Amen to that.

  13. TruckerRon Avatar

    I can’t misplace or otherwise lose my desktop computer.

  14. Don from Oklahoma Avatar
    Don from Oklahoma

    I view with my iPhone most often

  15. Jeff Avatar
    Jeff

    Desktop. Probably every day.

  16. Ralph Avatar

    Desktop 16:9 ratio – large screen

  17. Matthew Bond Avatar
    Matthew Bond

    As with most of the comments above, I read Arlo & Janis on a laptop. Smart-phones are good for bathroom reading, that’s about all.

  18. DaveP Avatar
    DaveP

    Desktop, 19″ display. Viewing carefully drawn comic strips on a cell phone should be punishable by fine and a lashing.

  19. Ruth in Milwaukee Avatar
    Ruth in Milwaukee

    Laptop and occasionally a tablet.

  20. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    I’m in the tablet or desktop camp, although I just tried using my phone and was pleasantly surprised. It wouldn’t be my first choice but it’s nice to know that the phone is a reasonable option, assuming wifi is available – I’m pretty stingy with my data usage.

  21. Susan in NC Avatar
    Susan in NC

    Monitor at work (!). If I’m traveling, I look at it on my phone.

  22. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Just realized something – the first time I tried to look at this website on my phone was before all the recent renovations and it was so small that it was almost unreadable. Now it’s acceptable. You must be doing something right!

  23. Mark Fontanella Avatar
    Mark Fontanella

    Always computer and prefer my docking station with double monitors. Will do laptop if absolutely have too, rarely tablet and never phone. Would rather wait and catch up, on the computer.

  24. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    JJ, I previously made a joking comment about some commenters being “special” and having their names appear in a red font at the top of their comments, as opposed to the (I suppose) more normal black. But now I’m actually curious. Something you intentionally did; unintentionally did; or don’t know how the #&%* you did it?

    1. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
      Ruth Anne in Winter Park

      G – You know that space below where you fill in your name and email address? If you have a website (which I know you don’t) and list it there, then your name gets to be colorful and becomes a link to your website.

      1. Ghost Avatar
        Ghost

        Aha!

        Thank you, Ruth Anne. Leave it to a librarian to know stuff. 🙂

        1. Jimmy Johnson Avatar
          Jimmy Johnson

          This is all news to me! You learn something every day.