Jaydeep Bhatt - Vision Consultants

📱 On Your Phone — User Guide

Everything a phone reader needs to get around: the header at the top, the section rail at the top of the page, the five-button bar at the bottom, and the little numbers that appear on them.

1. What changes on a phone

On a small screen the site adds two things: a bar of five buttons pinned to the bottom of the screen, right where your thumb already rests, and a scrolling rail of section names at the top of the page itself — below the header and above the topic chips, so you can move to another section without opening the menu. Everything else is the header the site has always used on a phone: the menu button, the logo, the alert bell, Install App, search and your account.

On a larger screen — a tablet held sideways, or a computer — the bottom bar does not appear at all. The wide layout keeps its full menu across the top, row by row, exactly as before; nothing about it changes when you read on a phone, and nothing about the phone changes when you read on a computer.

2. The bar at the top

This is the site's usual phone header, left to right:

What you see What it does
The menu button (three lines) Opens the full list of sections over the page. Tapping the × that replaces it closes the list, and so does choosing a section. This is how you reach every part of the newspaper on a phone.
The logo Returns you to the front page.
The alert bell — the first button on the right Your alerts, in a small card that drops out just below the bell. It leads the row because it is the only button there that reports something instead of taking you somewhere, and it is drawn in the same yellow as the buttons beside it. A small number on it counts what you have not read. It appears only when you are signed in and have alerts switched on — the Profile guide explains that.
Install App Offers to add Gujaratmitra to your home screen. It disappears by itself once the site is added, or on a browser that cannot add it. See Install the App.
The yellow magnifier Opens search over the page. Full details are in the Search guide.
The round button on the right Your account — your picture when you are signed in, or a simple person icon that opens the sign-in window when you are not. See Sign In & Account.

The header stays in place as you scroll, and the scrolling headline strip sits just under it.

Your sections are one swipe away. At the top of the page, just above the Tags and Flags rows, is a rail of section buttons — the same sections as the menu, laid out flat so you can move between them without opening anything. It scrolls away with the page rather than staying fixed, so it takes nothing away from your reading space. Swipe it sideways, or use the round arrow at either end, and look for the button that is filled in and slightly larger: that is the section you are reading, and the rail scrolls it to the middle for you. On a wide screen the rail is not shown, because the same sections are already listed across the page there.

If you would rather not see the rail at all, switch Hide Categories on in Profile. The sections stay one tap away in the menu and on the Explore page, and you can turn the rail back on at any time.

3. The bar at the bottom

Five buttons, left to right. The one you are currently in is drawn in red with a small dot beneath its icon; the icon also shrinks slightly as you press it, so the tap feels immediate.

Button Opens
Home (a house) The front page — the lead story, top news and the section bands.
Saved (a bookmark) The list of stories you have kept to read later. Each one can be opened from the list and removed from it once you are done. See Articles.
Videos (a video camera) The video gallery — uploaded videos and the YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion channels in one place. See Videos.
E-Paper (a newspaper) The paper as it was printed, page by page. See E-Paper.
Explore (a compass) Every section on one screen, together with the topics readers are looking at most. See Explore.

Saved is personal, so if you are not signed in, tapping it opens the sign-in window first. Nothing is lost — you land in the right place once you are signed in.

Your account and your alerts are not on this bar. Both sit in the header at the top of the screen: the first button on the right is the alert bell, and the round button at the end is your account. See Profile.

The bar stays at the bottom the whole time you read, and every page leaves room for it, so nothing on the page is ever hidden behind it.

4. The little numbers (badges)

Two buttons can carry a small red number:

Badge What the number means
On Saved (bottom bar) How many stories you have saved.
On the alert bell (header) How many alerts you have not read yet.

The number on the bell goes down as you read alerts, and returns to zero after Mark all read.

5. Refreshing, and the amber strip

Pull down to refresh

When you are at the very top of a page, pull the page downwards and a small round arrow appears. Let go once it has turned most of the way round and the page reloads with the newest stories; let go earlier and it slides back and nothing happens. It works only at the very top, so a pull in the middle of a story simply scrolls as usual.

The amber strip

If your phone loses its connection, a short amber strip appears across the very top of the screen telling you that you are offline. Stories you have already opened stay readable; anything new will not load until the connection returns. The strip slides away on its own the moment you are connected again — there is nothing to tap.

6. Closing the panels

The search panel covers the page and has its own × at the top edge. Close it by tapping that ×, by tapping the darkened area around it, or on a keyboard with the Esc key.

The alerts card is a small panel that drops out from under the bell rather than covering the page, so it has no ×. Close it by tapping anywhere else on the page, or with the Esc key. Opening an alert closes it too, because you have already moved on to the story.

The page behind never moves, so you come back to exactly where you left off.

7. Troubleshooting

What you notice What it means
There is no bar at the bottom The screen is wide enough for the full layout, so the phone bar is not used. Rotate the device upright, or narrow the window.
A button on the bottom bar does nothing Every button goes somewhere. If one looks unresponsive, a refresh restores it — and if it happens again on the same page, note the page's address and tell the newsroom.
No red number on Saved or on the bell Either you are not signed in, or there is genuinely nothing to count. Sign in and the badge appears as soon as you have saved a story or received an alert.
The alerts card says there is nothing to show You have no alerts yet. Alerts are switched on in your profile's preferences — reach your account from the round button at the right of the header; the Profile guide explains how to turn them on.
The last thing on a long page sits behind the bar Scroll to the very end — every page reserves room for the bar, so the last link and the legal strip both clear it. If something still looks covered, a refresh restores the spacing.
The header at the top looks different from a friend's phone The Install App button keeps its place only while it can be used, and the bell appears only when alerts are switched on for your account, so a shorter row is normal on a device that already has the app or has no alerts enabled.
There is no rail of sections above the topic chips Either the screen is wide enough for the full layout, where the same sections are listed across the page, or you switched Hide Categories on in your profile. Rotate the device upright, narrow the window, or turn the preference back off.
An amber strip keeps appearing at the top Your phone's connection is dropping. Nothing is broken — the site is telling you why a new page will not load. Look for a stronger signal or a different network; the strip disappears on its own.

8. Related guides