Forum Application for Android devices

evolutionqy7

There's an app called tapatalk pro used on android devices which allows users to easily navigate through various forums around the world .

I was wondering could boards.ie could look into making boards.ie compatible with the application.
Sorry mods if its in the wrong place. Feel free to move it.
Thanks

AlmightyCushion

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055783932&page=2

It's been brought up a few times. Doesn't look like it'll happen any time soon unfortunately. I wonder is there another option, maybe there is a theme for vbulletin that works well on a touchscreen smartphone.

evolutionqy7

Yeah but even so it wouldn't be half as nice and smooth as it would go on tapatalk. Its really easy to navigate on the app. There's hundreds of smaller forums than boards.ie and even they made it work. Most of them are vBulletin forums.

Conor

Realistically, Tapatalk isn't going to even be looked at until we hire more tech staff. Even then, I'm not convinced we'll do it, since we're not really running vBulletin any more.

evolutionqy7

well if it wasnt atleast a better version of boards.ie mobile version should be looked at.

Thanks for the explaination atleast

TouchingVirus

Conor wrote: »

Even then, I'm not convinced we'll do it, since we're not really running vBulletin any more.

*looks at URL* ... We're ...not?

Conor

TouchingVirus wrote: »

*looks at URL* ... We're ...not?

We've modified the internals fairly heavily in some places and in the process the plugin system was ripped out. There have been a few minor, but potentially incompatible, changes made to the database schema as well. I figure that since we can't upgrade using the installer and we can't install any plugins except by hand then it's not really vBulletin any more, at least from the "please install extension/modification/plugin X" point of view.

AlmightyCushion

Conor wrote: »

We've modified the internals fairly heavily in some places and in the process the plugin system was ripped out. There have been a few minor, but potentially incompatible, changes made to the database schema as well. I figure that since we can't upgrade using the installer and we can't install any plugins except by hand then it's not really vBulletin any more, at least from the "please install extension/modification/plugin X" point of view.

Is adding a more smartphone friendly theme doable? Seeing as there are other themes on here I imagine it is.

Conor

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Is adding a more smartphone friendly theme doable? Seeing as there are other themes on here I imagine it is.

I can't see us adding more themes without removing some first.

Adding it is easy. Supporting it afterwards is not.

There's a maintenance overhead with themes where some UI changes have to be applied individually to all skins. Also, it complicates testing since changes which potentially affect the UI need to be tested across roughly 20 skins.

A smartphone theme would be very different to any of the current themes and hence would be one of the ones which would need manual application of UI changes (where appropriate) and it would need more testing effort than most. We just don't have the manpower to support stuff like that.

evolutionqy7

thats why i think looking into tapatalk would be easier cause it would take out theming and different resolution sizes out of the equation

Conor

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

thats why i think looking into tapatalk would be easier cause it would take out theming and different resolution sizes out of the equation

I theory, yes.

In practice, Tapatalk is roughly 15,000 extra lines of PHP to merge into our codebase. That would take more development time than we have spare at the moment.

evolutionqy7

Whatabout considering hiring some one to do it.

I know its not something that happens alot, but Tapatalk supports advertisement in the app. So in time (?) it could pay off as well as providing a better experience to users

Conor

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Whatabout considering hiring some one to do it.

I'd love to hire more people for boards. We have work for at least 3 more tech people, but good tech people are hard to find and the money to pay them with is even harder to find!

When we hire more people, solving the mobile device issue is one of the things I'd like to get looked at, but TBH fixing our main UI is a much more pressing issue (since it represents so much of our traffic) and it's a huge project.

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

I know its not something that happens alot, but Tapatalk supports advertisement in the app. So in time (?) it could pay off as well as providing a better experience to users

I don't have the figures for our advertising to hand, but from the last time I heard about them I don't think we could count on the app to pay for itself unless it had a significantly better advertising yield than the rest of the site.

evolutionqy7

Lets say 30% of boards.ie users have an iPhone, Android a Nokia and a blackberry (Which are all supported by Tapatalk forum app) and would use Tapatalk. If it was made available to them they wouldn't access the full site anymore because the app is simple and easy to use and navigate.

Maybe the reason the majority of traffic is on the full version because theres no other way of accessing it.

Id rarely go onto a pc unless i got some work to do. Most of my social life is spent on the mobile. Facebook App, Twitter App and other forums that i access are accessible through Tapatalk.

Saves alot of time and effort

The advertisement in the app is at the bottom of the screen (like in the picture) and it basic but its obviously has some use if forums bother of bring the app to use.



Maybe contacting tapatalk developers would clear up what sort of money does the advertising bring and then you could put your figures together and see in which direction to go.

Maybe it would turn out better rather than developing a mobile version of boards. Since the mobile version has no advertisement at all.

http://tapatalk.com/

Anyway im sure im missing bits and bobs on the way this thing works, but hey everything starts with an idea

You dont ask, you dont get :P

evolutionqy7

I urge to reconsider looking into tapatalk again.In mist cases you only have to install a free plugin from tapatalk.com

Conor

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

I urge to reconsider looking into tapatalk again.In mist cases you only have to install a free plugin from tapatalk.com

I can reconsider all I like, but the resources aren't there.

It's not a simple install for us.

5starpool

On an extreme tangent (but you mentioned it first), since boards uses an extremely modified version of vbulletin, does this rule out any upgrade to vbulletin 4 (or subsequent versions) due to the amount of extra changes that would be needed, at least until such time (if ever) that you have enough tech guys to do what would be needed? I presume there is no move planned to a totally bespoke forum software platform, not just defacto bespoke due to the amount of changes/improvements made by yourself/Ross?

Sorry for the OT, but I'm a curious cat.

Conor

We've pretty much abandoned any plans to upgrade to vBulletin 4.x. From what I've seen of it, it doesn't offer us very much above what we have now. It would have to be significantly better than 3.8.x to be worth the effort.

A totally bespoke platform is not out of the question, but if we end up with one it will be by a long and slow migration rather than a build-and-switch like how Adverts was done.

Zerg

Would me nice to by part on almost 14,000 Tapatalk forums.

h57xiucj2z946q

This would be nice to have, as m.boards.ie looks awful on the phone to be honest, and the full site is a killer on memory on the phone, especially with them flash ads.

h57xiucj2z946q

vBulletin do mobile support themselves also:
http://www.vbulletin.com/index.php?do=mobile

Conor

None of these solutions will work, since we've modified vBulletin past the point of no return.

There are native apps for both iOS and Android in the pipeline as well as a "touch"-focused web site.

Please just be patient, we'll let you know when they're ready for testing.

h57xiucj2z946q

Not to side track, but wont that haunt you's if you's every try to upgrade or migrate?

Looking forward to the native apps though, thanks for the update.

Conor

Sterling Inexpensive Tollbooth wrote: »

Not to side track, but wont that haunt you's if you's every try to upgrade or migrate?

We've made more changes to vB 3.x in the last year than Jelsoft/Internet Brands have and vB 4.x doesn't appear to be worth upgrading to. We pretty much gave up following vBulletin's path about a year ago.

The root of the problem is that vBulletin isn't really designed to do what we do with it. That's not to say that it's bad, simply we're not its target market.

evolutionqy7

That just seems silly to put out your own apps.

Tapatalk is supported on nearly every touchscreen phone.Android, windows phone, IOS, BlackBerry, Nokia. Now by doing that will just upset the rest of the boards because some one can view it and some can't.

Conor

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

That just seems silly to put out your own apps.

Tapatalk is supported on nearly every touchscreen phone.Android, windows phone, IOS, BlackBerry, Nokia. Now by doing that will just upset the rest of the boards because some one can view it and some can't.

We don't have a choice. We're not just spending money for the giggles. We have thought this through. We're not idiots.

Tapatalk is not an option. I don't know how many times I can explain that to people. Please, for the love of god, drop it.

tommy2bad

Tapatalk is not an option. I don't know how many times I can explain that to people. Please, for the love of god, drop it.

So thats a no then?

AlmightyCushion

tommy2bad wrote: »

So thats a no then?

No it's a "Ask me again in two months time".

Boards.ie: Danny

tommy2bad wrote: »

So thats a no then?

Most definitely.

The touch-focused site was delivered as Conor said previously, there's no reason to think the native applications won't come down the pipeline - better than Tapatalk too.

visitsguided

We don't have a choice. We're not just www.gomercury.com pre approved application

money for the giggles. We have thought this through. We're not idiots.