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iPhone support.

Discussion in 'Empty Closets Help and Feedback' started by Last Gentleman, Jan 9, 2013.

  1. Last Gentleman

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    A search brought up a few topics on it, but I thought I'd add my vote for iPhone/Android support.

    In particular I like the tapatalk app. It presents the forums in such a clean and easy way compared to using the site as it is now. I have to zoom in to click on links, zoom out to read.
     
  2. -Michael-

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  3. theMaverick

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    In case you didn't know, you can go down and click on the drop down box and change it to mobile style.

    However, that still leaves tons to be desired, so some kind of native app or web app would be awesome to have. So I second this.
     
  4. Clown

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    The only problem I see with an app is that it'd be an obvious giveaway for anyone who's phone can be acquired/stolen/borrowed/etc.

    But it would make things a million times easier for me since I always use my iPhone and hardly my desktop to read things/lurk.
    There is the mobile setting but (and no offense to whoever designed/chose it, but I can't use it. I just feel so cluttered. I welcome any app!
     
  5. SomeNights

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  6. -Michael-

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    They day I leave my phone without a passcode or actually let someone type their own text on it is the day gays are accepted worldwide and unanimously.


    Though I think i'm at the point now where my friend know only scarring things can be found on my phone.
     
  7. Clown

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    True enough. Haha. I also meant for people under 18 who's parents night confiscate their phone.
     
  8. BudderMC

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    I'm not speaking on behalf of the staff here, because I'm really not sure what all the tech people are thinking.

    But the way I see it, I think that a mobile option might be something looked into, but not for a while. The fact that the general forum upgrades to the newest vBulletin are already taking forever speaks for itself.

    tl;dr It's a matter of priorities, and generally speaking I don't think a mobile app is as high up on that list as some other things. (but that's just my opinion)
     
  9. Last Gentleman

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    Just having access to a mobile app doesn't mean people MUST use it. It's an option for people like myself who have total control over their phone and desire to use it.

    As for the mobile option, it already exists and is EASY to implement.
    Tapatalk

    Download and install instructions on that page. Give any 13yo kid on these forums the servers FTP access and they can install it and have in working in half an hour.

    No fuss no mess. Given how easy it is I can't see why it hasn't already been done.
     
  10. -Michael-

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    I think there's just a lot of talk that has to happen with the staff.

    If there was 1 or 2 staff who could just take control and do it, it'd be fab.

    But they need to organise with however many staff there is and of course things can always go wrong to the point of the site being unusable.

    To be honest, the site hasn't evolved much in the 4 years i've been a member.
    It's the main reason why I essentially left after a year or two and just pop in and out during the year.

    The only things that has changed are stricter rules for the safety of the members.

    There was meant to be a big revamp of the site.
    But I think that idea stretches back to about a year ago, if not more?
    I recently asked but the answer was vague.

    *​

    I don't understand why it could take so long.
    I use vbulletin on a forum I run and it's literally the case of pressing a button and waiting for it to install itself.


    Who's actually in charge of the site?

    Who's the 2013 equivalent of Paul?
     
  11. RainbowMan

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    I'd venture a (fairly safe) guess that this installation of vBulletin is not exactly the vanilla variety. Once you start customizing code, things get incredibly complex very quickly.

    Not basing this on anything I know particularly about EC, just about technology in general.
     
  12. Martin

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    Well simply because easiness doesn't always make something a viable solution. vBulletin already has its own mobile application that integrates into its forum software better than alternative options do, but the issue isn't simply about getting on with it, but instead a matter of how much we can stretch our current resources.

    The forum membership base has already grew considerably since we implemented vBSEO, and that has seen our activity stretched to new levels. The downside of that is that anybody who is active (whether staff or member) has either had to dedicate even more time to stay up to date with EC threads, or they fall behind and hope they don't miss anything major. Now if you're somebody who is interested in offering advice on a certain area of support, such as gender identity queries, then the boom in activity becomes a bit problematic for you when you're potentially missing out on important threads of interest for you to offer advice on.

    There's also a practical issue from the staff perspective as it isn't a sensible option to begin tapping into the mobile/app market when our current organisational structure is finding itself difficult to keep up with demand as it is. That's why one of my immediate priorities is not necessarily to focus on widening our accessibility, but instead creating a forum structure that better reflects the increase in activity that we are seeing. Michael is absolutely right to point out that the forum has changed very little over the last couple of years (from a structural/design POV), and we are essentially still left with a forum structure that was designed for a much smaller forum than we have now. If we don't tackle that first then it will only continue to overstretch staff to the point that they burn out, as well as having a negative effect on your ability to offer support or receive support due to our forums covering a broad range of topics, which results in threads being pushed out of view far too quickly.

    That isn't to say that the mobile/app market should be ignored. We realise it's an important area to invest into, and that it also increases the accessibility for our existing member. However, there's greater issues that are immediately impacting on our member base, and I think the priority at this point should instead be on creating an organisational structure that meets the aims of the forum so we can offer support and advice, rather than getting greedy and setting an agenda that aims to widen our accessibility as much as possible (even at the expense of being unable to accommodate such a high load of service user needs). If we did the latter, the people that would lose out the most are those who are already here and feel they can benefit from our resources as the demand would simply become too high for us to give each individual the appropriate level of time needed to help advise on their hardship.